Live Blog Update| Israel's genocide in Gaza
This is an entry from: Live: Israel delays release of 602 Palestinian prisoners

Evening recap

7 February 2025 23:56 GMT

Good evening Middle East Eye readers, 

Our blog will soon be closing for the day. Here are some of today's main developments:

  • More than 12,000 bodies are trapped under the rubble in the Gaza Strip, the head of the enclave's Government Media Office said on Friday.

  • Medical sources confirmed to Wafa news agency on Friday evening local time that seven-year-old Saddam Hussein Iyad Rajab, from the town of Kafr al-Labad, east of Tulkarm, has died from wounds inflicted by Israeli gunfire.

  • The Government Media Office in Gaza has condemned the severe shortfall in humanitarian aid entering the besieged enclave, accusing Israel of deliberately restricting essential supplies in violation of agreements.

  • The US State Department has authorised a $7.4bn arms sale to Israel, including $6.75bn in bombs, guidance systems, and fuzes, along with $660m in Hellfire missiles, according to the Defense Security Cooperation Agency.

  • US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order suspending aid to South Africa, citing the country’s growing ties with Iran and its stance at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), where it accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.

  • Hamas’s prisoners’ media office has announced that Israel is expected to release 183 Palestinian detainees as part of a scheduled prisoner swap on Saturday.

  • US President Donald Trump has said he is in no rush to move forward with his controversial Gaza plan.

  • Morgan Ortagus, deputy to US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, told reporters in Beirut that Washington remains firm on Israel’s obligation to withdraw its forces from Lebanon by 18 February.

  • Republican Senator Ted Cruz said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu deliberately withheld details of the exploding pager attack from the Biden administration, fearing that the White House would alert Hezbollah.

  • The US deputy special envoy for the Middle East on Friday said that Hezbollah's presence in Lebanon's new government was a red line, welcoming the end of the Iran-backed group's "reign of terror".

  • Ireland has pledged $20m to the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) after an Israeli ban came into effect.

  • The UN said it deeply regretted US President Donald Trump's decision to sanction the International Criminal Court (ICC) and urged him to reverse the move.

  • The EU expressed its "regret" regarding the US executive order allowing the imposition of sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC).