Live: Israel dropped 153 tonnes of bombs on Gaza on Sunday

Muqbel Barghouti, brother of the prominent Palestinian political prisoner Marwan Barghouti, expressed fears that his brother’s life is in danger.

In an interview with the Italian outlet la Repubblica, Barghouti said he hoped his brother remained safe but added: “During the Zionist occupation, I’ve seen anything happen.”

The 59-year-old brother noted that Marwan, who has been imprisoned for over 20 years, was severely beaten on at least three occasions since October 2023. 

"We ask the free world to save Marwan Barghouti," he said. 

Israeli fighter jets carried out air strikes on Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Sunday, in the latest reported violation of the ceasefire.

Israel’s Channel 12 reported that the strikes were launched in an attempt to protect the militias of Yasser Abu Shabab, an Israeli-backed gang accused of stealing humanitarian aid and attacking Hamas fighters during Israel’s two-year genocidal war on Gaza.

Channel 14 also reported an explosion in an Israeli military vehicle in the Rafah area, while other outlets reported clashes involving Israeli troops.

Good morning Middle East Eye readers,

Here are the latest updates from Israel's war on Gaza:

• Israeli warplanes launched attacks on the city of Rafah, in southern Gaza, on Sunday morning. Local reports described panic among residents and material damage. Several other areas across the besieged enclave were also targeted.

•  A Palestinian man was killed in al-Ein refugee camp in Nablus, occupied West Bank, during an Israeli military raid. Israeli incursions in the occupied territory have escalated in recent days.

• Sameh Hamad, a forensic expert and member of the Palestinian Ministry of Health's morgue committee, confirmed that the bodies of 25 Palestinians have been identified. The remains were released from Israeli detention as part of the latest ceasefire deal. 

• A Palestinian woman and a foreign activist were injured in a settler attack on farmers in the occupied West Bank town of Turmus Ayya, sources told Al Jazeera.

• The bodies of 16 Israeli prisoners remain in the Gaza Strip, with more expected to be handed over once they are found.

Our live blog will shortly be closing until tomorrow morning.

Here are the day's key developments:

• The Palestinian Civil Defence said it had recovered the bodies of nine Palestinians killed after Israel targeted a bus on Friday night.

• The death toll from Israel's two-year onslaught in Gaza has risen to 68,116, with 170,200 others wounded.

• The Palestinian Ministry of Health in Gaza announced on Saturday that it had received 15 remains from the Red Cross that had been held in Israeli custody.

• The government media office in Gaza said in a press statement that Israel committed 47 breaches of the truce deal since it came into effect last week. 

• The Israeli prime minister’s office says Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered that the Rafah crossing remain closed “until further notice”.

• Hamas said on Saturday that Rafah's continued closure by Israel in defiance of the ceasefire agreement will delay handing over of the captives remains. 

• Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem says the group has no intention of directly taking up an administrative role in governing Gaza.

• UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher inspected a wastewater treatment plant in northern Gaza City that stopped operating as a result of the genocide.

• US envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff expressed that Donald Trump felt "Israelis were getting a little bit out of control" after their assasination attempt on Hamas leadership in Qatar. 

• Organisers of the Jewish International Film Festival say they have been forced to postpone the event after every cinema in the Swedish city of Malmo declined to screen its films, citing security concerns.

• The Israeli army says the International Committee of the Red Cross has taken custody of two coffins containing the bodies of Israeli captives in Gaza and is now transporting them to Israeli forces for the handover.

Rawhi Fattouh, president of the Palestinian National Council, the legislative body of the PLO, has called on the international community to deploy international protection forces in Gaza.

He condemned Israel’s killing of 11 members of the same family in Gaza City, describing it as “part of Israel’s ongoing policy of killing and destruction”.

“This crime is not an isolated act but part of a continuous pattern of killing and destruction amid clear international inaction to hold the perpetrators accountable,” Fattouh said.

He said the Israeli government bears “full responsibility for this war crime against humanity” and urged world powers to “take immediate measures to deploy international forces to provide protection to the Palestinian people”.

The Israeli army says the International Committee of the Red Cross has taken custody of two coffins containing the bodies of Israeli captives in Gaza and is now transporting them to Israeli forces for the handover.

Hamas spokesperson Hazem Qassem says the group has no intention of directly taking up an administrative role in governing Gaza.

In a statement from Gaza, Qassem said Hamas has instead agreed to establish a “community support committee” to temporarily manage affairs.

“We call for the rapid formation of the Community Support Committee until the formation of the Gaza Management Committee. Government agencies in Gaza continue to perform their duties, as the vacuum is very dangerous,” he said.

He added that existing institutions will keep operating “until an administrative committee is formed and agreed upon by all Palestinian factions”.

Qassem confirmed that talks with mediators are ongoing to set the stage for the second phase of negotiations.

He said the next stage of the ceasefire deal is “complex” and efforts are under way to build a unified national position around its key terms.

Hamas said on Saturday that Rafah's continued closure by Israel in defiance of the ceasefire agreement will delay handing over of the captives remains. 

Earlier on Saturday the Israeli prime minister’s office says Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered that the Rafah crossing remain closed “until further notice”.

A statement from his office says any decision to reopen the crossing will depend on “the manner in which Hamas fulfils its part in the return of the deceased hostages and in implementing the agreed-upon framework”.

Hamas on Sautrday said it plans to hand over the bodies of two Israeli captives tonight at 10pm local time (19:00 GMT).

The International Committee of the Red Cross is on its way to a location in southern Gaza to receive several coffins

The Israeli army says the International Committee of the Red Cross is on its way to a location in southern Gaza to receive several coffins containing the bodies of Israeli captives.

What would Arab or Muslim troops patrolling Gaza do if they came under Israeli fire? Arab diplomats and officials with experience in peacekeeping say the potentially explosive scenario hovers over plans for an "International Stabilisation Force" to deploy to the enclave.

“This is not hypothetical. Unifil peacekeepers in southern Lebanon came under attack from Israel,” a United Nations official with decades of peacekeeping experience in the region told Middle East Eye, referring to peacekeepers from the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (Unifil) who were hit by several Israeli strikes over the last two years. 

“There, we had Irish and Italian troops who acted with restraint. How would Egyptian or Jordanian soldiers respond if they come under Israeli fire?” the diplomat asked. 

Both Egypt and Jordan have peace treaties with Israel, but those agreements are managed by spy chiefs, diplomats and high-ranking military officials because their populations and rank-and-file soldiers are largely hostile to Israel over its occupation of Palestinian territories. 

After Israel invaded the southern border town of Rafah in May 2024, two Egyptian soldiers were killed in an exchange of fire with Israel.

Read more: 'A rock and a hard place:' Arab peacekeepers will face pitfalls and perils in Gaza

Organisers of the Jewish International Film Festival say they have been forced to postpone the event after every cinema in the Swedish city of Malmo declined to screen its films, citing security concerns.

The festival, which was meant to mark 250 years of Jewish life in Sweden, had been scheduled to run from November 29 to December 2.

In a statement posted on Thursday, organisers said they were “stonewalled by all commercial and art-house cinemas in the city”.

Ola Tedin, one of the organisers, told Swedish broadcaster SVT that cinema operators refused out of fear that staff or audiences could be put at risk.

The cinema chain Filmstaden later said its decision had been made earlier this year, claiming: “In this particular case, after thorough assessment, we concluded that we could not host the festival due to safety concerns. Our priority is always to ensure a safe and positive experience for both our guests and employees.”

The International Criminal Court (ICC) has rejected Israel’s appeal to cancel arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.

In May, Israel requested the ICC withdraw the warrants while a separate challenge over the court’s jurisdiction was still under review.

The court dismissed the request on 16 July, ruling there was “no legal basis” to cancel the warrants while the jurisdiction issue remained unresolved.

Israel sought to appeal that decision a week later, but on Friday, ICC judges ruled that “the issue, as framed by Israel, is not subject to appeal”.

Although Israel is not a member of the ICC, the State of Palestine was granted membership in 2015. 

Read more: ICC rejects Israel’s appeal to cancel Netanyahu's arrest warrant

Hamas says it plans to hand over the bodies of two Israeli captives tonight at 10pm local time (19:00 GMT).

The group says the bodies were exhumed from a location inside the Gaza Strip earlier this evening and will be transferred to Israel as part of the ongoing arrangements.

The Israeli army says an explosive device was thrown at its forces during a raid in the occupied West Bank city of Tubas, leaving two soldiers “moderately” wounded.

Both have been taken to hospital, and Israeli troops remain deployed in the area.

Hamas responded defiantly, saying: “The resistance in the West Bank will not be broken, and the will of our people is stronger than all tools of oppression.”

In statement, the group added: “The Tubas operation confirms that the resistance in the West Bank will not be broken or subdued. The will of our people is stronger than all tools of oppression, and it will not be broken by policies of brutality and terrorism."

"Our people have the legitimate right to respond to the escalating crimes of the occupation. We salute the heroes of the resistance who remain steadfast in the field despite all difficulties. We affirm that the continuation of these operations is a sincere expression of our people's anger and rejection of the occupation,” it added.

The Israeli prime minister’s office says Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered that the Rafah crossing remain closed “until further notice”.

A statement from his office says any decision to reopen the crossing will depend on “the manner in which Hamas fulfils its part in the return of the deceased hostages and in implementing the agreed-upon framework”.

Earlier, the Palestinian embassy in Cairo said Palestinians living in Egypt would be permitted to return to Gaza through Rafah beginning Monday.