Live: Trump threatens Gaza residents with death as his team holds direct talks with Hamas about captives

Israeli forces fired "warning shots" at a Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) crew in the Nur Shams refugee camp east of Tulkarm in the occupied West Bank.

In a post on X, PRCS said that Israeli forces fired live bullets at the crew while they were en route to evacuate a family, despite prior coordination.

"The forces blocked their entry, preventing them from carrying out the evacuation," the organisation said.

The occupation forces targeted the Palestine Red Crescent Society’s Disaster Risk Management team by firing “warning” live bullets at them while they were en route to evacuate a family in Jabal Al-Nasr in #NurShams camp in #Tulkarem despite prior coordination. The forces blocked…

— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) February 28, 2025

Boxes of cash valued at nearly $28m, gold bars, luxury jewellery and 183,000 pieces of weaponry.

These are just a few of the items looted by Israeli soldiers from Syria, Lebanon and Gaza, according to a new report by Israeli outlet Ynet. 

The looting was so widespread that soldiers joked the items “broke their backs” from carrying them. 

Most of the looting has been conducted by and collected by special army units dedicated to "seizing" money and other property from “enemy” territory. But "independent" looting by soldiers has also been rampant. 

During the ongoing invasions of Syria, Lebanon and Gaza, soldiers have seized enough pieces of weaponry to form a small army, according to Ynet.

Read more: Report reveals vast loot Israeli soldiers took from Gaza, Lebanon and Syria

The German government has urged Israel to better protect civilians and civilian infrastructure in the northern West Bank and to pave the way for displaced people to return to their homes.

"We call on the Israeli government to protect civilians and civilian infrastructure more effectively during the military operation and to ensure that the 40,000 people can return to their homes as soon as possible," the foreign ministry said in a statement.

Reporting by Reuters

Lebanon's Beirut airport authorities seized $2.5 million in cash destined for Hezbollah concealed with a man arriving from Turkey, three sources said on Friday.

One of the sources said it was first time such a seizure had been made. There was no immediate comment from Hezbollah.

Reporting by Reuters 

New Lebanese prime minister, Nawaf Salam has called for a full withdrawal of Israeli troops from the country as he toured border areas that were heavily bombarded by Israeli forces during the 14-month Israel-Hezbollah war.

“This is the first real working day of the government. We salute the army and its martyrs,” Salam said in the southern port city of Tyre while meeting residents of the border village of Dheira. “We promise you a safe return to your homes as soon as possible.”

He added that the government is committed to the reconstruction of destroyed homes which “is not a promise but a personal commitment by myself and the government".

Israeli troops remain at five key posts inside Lebanon in violation of the US-brokered ceasefire which was implemented on 27 November.

Hamas has called for a "large mobilisation" to resist Israeli restrictions in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem during the holy month of Ramadan.

In a statement published on the group's Telegram channel, senior Hamas Member Abdul Rahman Shadid urged Palestinians not to "surrender to the expected restrictions of the occupation" and "confront them with all our strength and adhere to our historical and religious right to the blessed mosque".

Shadid called for "roaring crowds" to protect the compound throughout the holy month.

An internal Israeli army investigation has concluded that Hamas tricked Israel for years and swiftly overran and defeated an entire Israeli military division on 7 October 2023.

Released on Thursday, the probe found that the Israeli military "failed" to protect Israeli civilians and was not prepared for the Hamas-led attack, during which around 1,180 people, including 379 security forces, were killed and 251 taken as captives. 

The command-and-control of the so-called "Gaza Division" of Israel's Southern Command collapsed within hours of the attack, launched by the Palestinian movement's armed wing at 6.29am.

Top Israeli officers, including the division’s Southern Brigade commander Asaf Hamami and many company and platoon commanders, were killed by Hamas fighters by 7am.

According to reports citing Israeli security sources, only 767 soldiers were stationed at the boundary with Gaza on the day. Around 5,000 Hamas fighters entered the area by land, air and sea in different waves of the attack.

Read more: Israeli army concludes Hamas defeated it on 7 October

Doha has submitted a written memorandum to the International Court of Justice stressing  “the necessity of respecting and protecting UN and international organisation properties, including schools, medical facilities, transportation, and water infrastructure”.

The memorandum, submitted as part of a request for an advisory opinion from the court, also seeks clarification on Israel's responsibilities regarding the presence an activities of UN agencies, the UN agency for Palestinians (UNRWA) in particular.

Qatar's foreign ministry confirmed in a statement issued on Friday, that the memorandum was in response to a resolution by the UN General Assembly in December, titled "Request for an Advisory Opinion from the International Court of Justice on Israel’s Obligations Regarding the Presence of United Nations Activities, International Organizations, and Third States".

“Israel must allow UN agencies, including UNRWA and other humanitarian organizations, to operate freely within its borders and the occupied Palestinian territories," the submission reads.

In October, the Knesset passed two bills that effectively ban UNRWA activities in Israel and occupied Palestinian territory.

Israeli forces have torched homes in Nur Shams camp in the northern occupied West Bank, Palestinian media is reporting.

Footage circulating on social media shows plumes of smoke billowing from several buildings in the camp.

Israel's military assault on the camp is entering its 20th day.

Elswhere in the West Bank, the Israeli raid on the city of Jenin and its refugee camp has entered its 39th day, while the assault on Tulkarm and its refugee camp has marked its 33rd day.

Israeli forces arrested 50 people in overnight raid across the West Bank, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society and the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs are reporting.

Watching politics in the United States is akin to seeing a never-ending parade of compromised individuals finding new ways to devote themselves to the Israeli cause. 

The genocide in Gaza and mass killings in the occupied West Bank are seemingly no impediment to their commitment. Voices supporting Palestine, or at the very least questioning Israeli tactics, are few and far between. 

But American public opinion is shifting, quite radically in some cases - including within the Jewish community. 

Israel is increasingly a country that’s wholly backed by evangelical Christians, conservative Jews, European political parties with Nazi backgrounds, and the global far right. A hatred of Muslims, Islam, multiculturalism and democratic plurality is the glue that binds these disparate groups together. 

A recent Economist/YouGov poll in the US is a stark reminder that Israeli actions in Gaza and beyond since 7 October 2023 have caused a monumental drop in American support for the Israeli state. 

Read more: Why American Jews are turning away from Israel Opinion by Antony Loewenstein

US aid cuts have forced the UN children’s agency Unicef to suspend or scale back many programs in Lebanon where more than half of children under the age of two experiencing severe food poverty in the country’s east, an official said.

“We have been forced to suspend or cut back or drastically reduce many of our programs and that includes nutrition programs,” Unicef’s deputy representative in Lebanon, Ettie Higgins, told reporters in Geneva via video link from Beirut.

In the last two years the number of children facing food shortages in the eastern Bekaa and Baalbek regions of the country has doubled, according to a Unicef report that studied the impact of cross-border clashes between Hezbollah and Israel since 8 October 2023, a day after the start of the war on Gaza.

"The assessment revealed a grim picture of children’s nutrition situation, particularly in the Baalbeck and Bekaa governorates, which remained densely populated when they were repeatedly targeted by air strikes", said Higgins.

Hamas said it is fully committed to the ceasefire and urged the international pressure on Israel to enter the second phase without any delay.

“We call on the international community to put pressure on the Zionist occupation to fully commit to its role in the agreement, and to immediately enter the second phase of it without any delay or hesitation,” the group said in a statement.

The first phase of the ceasefire ends on Saturday as the two sides’ representatives and mediators gather in Egypt for talks over the second phase. Egypt and Qatar are mediating the talks, with the support of the US.

Haaretz reported Hamas officials saying that there will be no captive releases until Israel agrees to end the war.

Two Egyptian security sources said on Friday that the Israeli delegation in Cairo was trying to reach a deal to extend the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal for an additional 42 days, Reuters reported.

Hamas disagrees with the plan to extend and wants to proceed with the second phase as agreed, the sources told Reuters.

The University of Cambridge has failed in its attempt to secure a High Court injunction to ban pro-Palestinian protests at key university sites for five years.

On Thursday a judge granted the university a "very narrow and limited court order" prohibiting protests at a graduation ceremony this Saturday, but dismissed the longer-term application. Another hearing is expected at a later date.

The European Legal Support Centre said: "This is a significant victory – one that sends a strong message to other universities attempting to impose such draconian restrictions on freedom of assembly and protest."

It comes after Gina Romero, the UN special rapporteur for Freedom of Assembly, on Thursday morning urged Cambridge to refrain from "regulations that contravene international standards [on] human rights protection, and to stop harassing and stigmatising the university-based pro-Palestine solidarity movement".

Read more: Cambridge University loses bid to ban pro-Palestine protests on university sites