UN says Gaza needs remain 'immense' as Rafah crossing to reopen Saturday

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The Trump administration is considering sending 24,000 assault rifles to Israel that were held back by the Biden administration, according to the New York Times.

Former secretary of state Antony Blinken had blocked Israel's request for the weapons on fears that they may end up in the hands of extremist settlers.

Israeli forces have raided multiple towns across the occupied West Bank in recent hours, according to reports by Al Jazeera Arabic.

Towns around Ramallah, Bethlehem and Nablus were targeted on Friday night and early Saturday morning, sources told the Qatari broadcaster.

Israeli troops also blew up a house in Jenin refugee camp, which has been under assault by the Israeli military and Palestinian security forces for almost two months.

Saudi Foreign Minister Faisal bin Farhan spoke to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Friday about recent events in the Middle East.

"The secretary and foreign minister discussed the path forward in Gaza and ways to advance shared interests in Syria, Lebanon, and across the region," a US State Department readout said.

"The secretary thanked the foreign minister for Saudi partnership in helping to chart a new course for Lebanon and humanitarian assistance to Syria and Sudan."

Cairo has called a meeting with top diplomats of four Arab countries to discuss the situation in Palestine, as Donald Trump continues to push for the displacement of Palestinians into Egypt and Jordan.

The foreign ministers of Egypt, Qatar, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the UAE, as well as the secretary-general of the Arab League Ahmed Aboul-Gheit, will meet in the Egyptian capital on Saturday to discuss the situation, according to reports in Arab media.

The Trump administration is putting pressure on Egypt and Jordan to take in 1.5 million Palestinians from Gaza - an idea that the leaders of both countries have forcefully rejected.

President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi said Wednesday that the displacement of Palestinians is "an injustice in which we will not participate".

Donald Trump has reiterated his 'confidence' that Egypt and Jordan will cooperate with his plan to expel 1.5 million Palestinians from Gaza, despite both nations firmly rejecting the idea.

The president's comments came during a press conference in Washington on Friday.

Belize has become the latest country to join South Africa's genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

In a statement Friday, the UN court said the Central American country had filed to intervene on the side of South Africa, which accuses Israeli leaders of committing genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza.

PRESS RELEASE: On 30 January 2025, #Belize filed an application for permission to intervene and a declaration of intervention in the case #SouthAftrica v. #Israel, referring to Articles 62 and 63 of the #ICJ Statute. https://t.co/cNBFWnen2u pic.twitter.com/raJZLw0lor

— CIJ_ICJ (@CIJ_ICJ) January 31, 2025

Egyptian president Abdel Fattah El Sisi has congratulated Syria's new interim president Ahmed Al-Sharaa after he was appointed to lead the country on Wednesday.

"I wish him success in achieving the aspirations of the Syrian people for more progress and prosperity," he wrote in a post on X.

Egypt backed Assad during Syria's 14-year civil war, and since his ouster has been cautious to engage with the country's new Islamist-led government.

Sisi came to power in 2014 after overthrowing the Muslim Brotherhood, and subsequently cracked down on Islamist forces.

أتوجه بالتهنئة للسيد/ أحمد الشرع لتوليه منصب رئاسة الجمهورية العربية السورية خلال المرحلة الإنتقالية ، وتمنياتي له بالنجاح في تحقيق تطلعات الشعب السورى نحو مزيد من التقدم والإزدهار

— Abdelfattah Elsisi (@AlsisiOfficial) January 31, 2025

Fifty Palestinians from Gaza affiliated with the Palestinian Authority will work at the Rafah border crossing when it opens on Saturday, according to Israeli public broadcaster Kan.

The crossing on the Egypt-Gaza border is set to open tomorrow for the first time in months after the fourth exchange of prisoners between Hamas and Israel.

Israeli forces have raided the home of a freed Palestinian prisoner in a town near Bethlehem, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa. 

Troops fired tear gas and sound bombs during the attack, which targeted the home of Rami Hamamreh, who was freed on Thursday under the ongoing prisoner-exchange deal with Hamas.

Israel is set to release 183 Palestinian detainees tomorrow in the third week of prisoner exchanges since the ceasefire came into effect. 

The Palestinian Prisoners' Media Office says 111 of the prisoners were arrested in Gaza after 7 October 2023. Eighteen are serving life sentences and the remainder serving long sentences.

This will coincide with the release of a further three Israeli captives held by Hamas in Gaza.

Renowned Palestinian resistance figure Zakaria Zubeidi on Friday called for the "urgent release" of Palestinians from Israeli jails, a day after being freed as part of an ongoing Gaza ceasefire agreement.

"The situation of the prisoners is very difficult and we hope for their urgent release," Zubeidi told AFP on the sidelines of a reception celebrating his release near the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah.

"We hope that all our Palestinian people will be released from inside the Israeli Bastille," he added, referring to the infamous French prison stormed by revolutionaries in 1789.

The 49-year-old is a former leader of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigade, the armed wing of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah party, and has been imprisoned several times by Israel.

UN investigators say that evidence of war crimes committed during Syria's 14-year civil war remains unspoiled, despite concerns about the destruction of documents and other indications of serious crimes committed during Bashar al-Assad's rule.

"The country is rich in evidence, and we won't have huge difficulty in pursuing accountability, criminal justice," said Hanny Megally of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria.

The sudden ousting last month of president Assad after decades of dictatorship has seen the commission suddenly gain access to Syria, after striving since the early days of the civil war in 2011 to probe from abroad the vast array of alleged abuses.

With families rushing to former prisons, detention centres and suspected mass graves to find any trace of disappeared relatives, many have expressed concern about safeguarding documents and other evidence.

Iran will respond immediately and decisively if its nuclear sites are attacked which would lead to an "all-out war in the region," Tehran's foreign minister told Al Jazeera TV in an interview aired on Friday.

Israel and the US launching a military attack on Iranian nuclear facilities would be "one of the biggest historical mistakes the U.S. could make," Abbas Araqchi said through a translator.

Concerns have grown among Iran's top decision-makers that US President Donald Trump might in his second term empower Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to strike Iran's nuclear sites while further tightening U.S. sanctions on its oil industry.

Read more here.

Royal Jordanian on Friday became the latest airline to resume flights to Syria following the overthrow of the Assad regime in December.

The flag carrier made its first trip from Amman to Damascus in 13 years on Friday, and announced it would initially operate four flights a week.

Read more here.

Israeli forces continue to blow up houses in Jenin, in the occupied West Bank, as Israel continues with its offensive for the eleventh consecutive day.

Wafa reports the forces ploughed through infrastructure, including a road that leads to Jenin Government Hospital, as the soldiers restricted the ambulances from going in and out of the hospital.

Videos also show residential buildings in the Tulkarm refugee camp being demolished by an Israeli strike.

Footage captures the initial moments after Israeli occupation forces detonated residential buildings in Tulkarm refugee camp during their ongoing invasion of the camp earlier today. pic.twitter.com/OxcfxaBLir

— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) January 31, 2025

Crowds of Jordanians gathered in Amman, the capital, chanting to honour the Al-Qassam Brigades commanders killed during Israel's war on Gaza.

Videos show crowds waving green flags and chanting.

Hundreds of Jordanians gathered in the capital, Amman, chanting in honor of the Al-Qassam Brigades commanders who were killed during the Israeli genocide in Gaza. pic.twitter.com/FeIu2RB5Wb

— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) January 31, 2025

The World Health Organisation (WHO) says it has welcomed the planned medical evacuation of 50 patients via the Rafah border crossing on Saturday.

This would be the first medical evacuation since the ceasefire begun and the first through the Rafah crossing, that had been seized by Israeli forces in May.

"@WHO calls for an accelerated pace of medical evacuations through all possible routes, including the resumption of referrals to the West Bank, including East Jerusalem," WHO said on X.

WHO welcomes the planned medical evacuation of 50 patients via the #Rafah crossing tomorrow—the first since the ceasefire began and the first through Rafah since its closure in May 2024.

An estimated 12,000 to 14,000 people still require medical evacuation outside #Gaza. @WHO… pic.twitter.com/g5NMntTXQm

— WHO in occupied Palestinian territory (@WHOoPt) January 31, 2025

Several Palestinians suffocated after Israeli forces raided Husan village, west of the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem.

Rami Hamemreh, Head of Husan Village Council, said the forces fired teargas canisters and concussion grenades, causing many civilians to suffocate from excessive teargas inhalation.

Hamamreh added the soldiers broke into a house of a villager who had been recently imprisoned and threatened him and his family.

This comes after the forces released tear gas in Nablus, suffocating Palestinians earlier on Friday.

The EU's top diplomat said on Friday the bloc has deployed a monitoring mission at the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt, which looked set to reopen following a truce agreement between Israel and Hamas.

"The EU's civilian border mission deploys today to the Rafah Crossing at the request of the Palestinians and the Israelis," Kaja Kallas wrote on X. "It will support Palestinian border personnel and allow the transfer of individuals out of Gaza, including those who need medical care."

Europe is here to help: the EU’s civilian border mission deploys today to the Rafah Crossing at the request of the Palestinians and the Israelis.

It will support Palestinian border personnel and allow the transfer of individuals out of Gaza, including those who need medical care pic.twitter.com/vDXVG0T43B

— Kaja Kallas (@kajakallas) January 31, 2025

The United Nations warned on Friday that humanitarian needs in Gaza remained "immense" despite an increased flow of aid into the Palestinian territory following the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

Speaking from Gaza, Rik Peeperkorn, the WHO's representative in the Palestinian territories, said health needs in the densely populated strip were "immense", amid the "large-scale devastation of the health system".

An official with Meta's popular WhatsApp chat service said Israeli spyware company Paragon Solutions had targeted scores of its users, including journalists and members of civil society.

The official said on Friday that WhatsApp had sent Paragon a cease-and-desist letter following the hack. In a statement, WhatsApp said the company "will continue to protect people's ability to communicate privately."

Paragon declined to comment.

The WhatsApp official told Reuters it had detected an effort to hack approximately 90 users of its platform.

(Reuters)

Gaza's Rafah border crossing with Egypt is to reopen Saturday following a fourth exchange of hostages and prisoners under a truce agreement, a Hamas official and a source with knowledge of discussions told AFP.

"The mediators informed Hamas of Israel's approval to open Rafah crossing tomorrow, Saturday, after the completion of the fourth batch of prisoner exchange," the Hamas official said, with the source explaining evacuations of the injured would take place at the crossing "as per the Gaza ceasefire and hostage release agreement".

The Rafah crossing was a vital entry point for humanitarian aid to enter into Gaza before the Israeli military seized the Palestinian side of it in May.

Since then, the gateway has been closed, drawing repeated condemnation from Egypt, other countries, and aid organisations.

Support has surged for the US nonprofit that raises money for UNRWA, the UN agency that serves Palestinian refugees, since the start of the war in Gaza.

That is despite the US government cutting off funding for UNRWA and accusations from Israel that it supports Hamas.

Since October 2023, UNRWA USA has received donations from 139,000 people, a huge increase from the 7,000 people it counted among its donor base before the current war. Those donors and some institutional funders contributed $32 million in 2023.

Hundreds of people attended a protest near Egypt's border with Gaza on Friday against a plan floated by US President Donald Trump to move Palestinians from the territory to Egypt and Jordan, Egyptian media reported.

State-linked TV Al-Qahera News showed footage of hundreds of protesters waving Egyptian and Palestinian flags near the Rafah border crossing - a highly secured military zone accessible only under official escort.

Trump last week proposed a plan to "clean out" the Gaza Strip and for Jordan and Egypt to take in Palestinians from the war-ravaged territory.

Both states have strongly rejected the idea, but on Thursday, Trump again insisted that "we do a lot for them, and they're going to do it".

Ibrahim Moussawi, Hezbollah’s member of the Lebanese parliament, condemned Israel's airstrikes on Lebanon overnight, calling them "a very dangerous violation and a blatant and explicit aggression" and called on the Lebanese state to halt Israel's attacks.

Several Palestinians suffocated on Friday after Israeli forces violently dispersed a protest in the town of Beita, south of Nablus - Wafa reports.

Sources told the publication the forces quashed the weekly anti-settler Beita march with live ammunition and tear gas canisters, causing many to suffocate. They were treated on the scene.

Israel is to free 90 detainees on Saturday in the fourth swap of the Gaza ceasefire, a Palestinian advocacy group said.

"Ninety prisoners will be released tomorrow in exchange for the three Israeli detainees, nine of whom are serving life sentences and 81 of whom have long sentences," Palestinian Prisoners' Club spokeswoman Amani Sarahneh told AFP on Friday.

An Israeli campaign group confirmed the names of the three Israeli captives to be released on Saturday, who include US and French dual nationals.

The Hostage and Missing Families said the three captives to be released are Yarden Bibas, Keith Seigel, who also has US citizenship, and Ofer Kalderon, who also has French nationality.

Britain, France and Germany on Friday reiterated their "grave concern" over Israel implementing a law forbidding any contact between its officials and UN Palestinian relief agency UNRWA.

"We urge the government of Israel to work with international partners, including the UN, to ensure continuity of operations," a joint statement from the three nations, published by the British government, said.

The law, which was adopted in October and took effect on Thursday, bans UNRWA from operating on Israeli land and prevents the agency from having any contact with Israeli authorities.

(Reuters)

The UN Palestinian relief agency UNRWA said on Friday that if its humanitarian work in Gaza is forced to halt, it would put the Gaza ceasefire at risk.

"If UNRWA is not allowed to continue to bring and distribute supplies, then the fate of this very fragile ceasefire is going to be at risk and is going to be in jeopardy," Juliette Touma, director of communications of UNRWA, told a Geneva press briefing.

For now, its work in Gaza and elsewhere continues despite an Israeli ban that was due to take effect on 30 January, she added.

(Reuters)

Israel said it had received the names of captives to be released by Hamas on Saturday in the fourth captive-prisoner swap of the Gaza ceasefire.

"Israel has received the list of hostages expected to be released from Hamas captivity tomorrow. A detailed response will be provided after reviewing the list and updating the families," the prime minister's office said in a statement on Friday.

Hamas released the names of three Israeli captives that will be released on Saturday.

The hostages are Ofer Calderon, Keith Siegel, and Yarden Bibas, Hamas armed wing spokesperson Abu Obeida said in a post on his Telegram channel. 

(Reuters)

Two were killed after the Israeli military struck several sites overnight in the Bekaa Valley and along the Syrian-Lebanese border.

The army claims the targets include a facility used for underground weapons development and another associated with the smuggling of arms into Lebanon.

(Reuters)

The Palestinian health ministry said that Israeli forces killed two Palestinians in Jenin in the occupied West Bank on Thursday, after the military announced a soldier had also been killed in the territory.

The Ramallah-based ministry said in a statement that "two citizens, whose identities are not yet known, were killed by the occupation forces' bullets in Jenin camp this evening".

Earlier this month, Israeli forces launched a major offensive in the Jenin area dubbed "Iron Wall".

United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday demanded that 2,500 children be immediately evacuated from Gaza for medical treatment after meeting with US doctors who said the children were at imminent risk of death in the coming weeks.

The four doctors had all volunteered in Gaza during the 15-month-long war on Gaza that has devastated the enclave of more than 2 million people and its healthcare system.

"There's about 2,500 children who are at imminent risk of death in the next few weeks. Some are dying right now. Some will die tomorrow. Some will die the next day," Sidhwa told reporters after meeting with Guterres.

"Of those 2,500 kids, the vast majority need very simple things done," he said, citing the case of a 3-year-old boy who suffered burns to his arm. The burns had healed, but the scar tissue was slowly cutting off blood flow, leaving him at risk of amputation, said Sidhwa.

(Reuters)