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

A group of 7 October 2023 survivors are suing Al-Jazeera in a US court, alleging that the network provided “substantial assistance” to Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad.

The case was filed in federal court in Washington, DC, by dozens of victims of the attack on southern Israel. 

The claimants are citing American counter-terror laws, alleging that the channel carried Hamas content. 

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich is set to meet his US counterpart, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, in Washington DC, next Wednesday, the Israeli minister's office said on Thursday. 

The Biden administration boycotted Smotrich and refused to meet him over his extremist settler views.

At least 12 people were injured in a car ramming north of Tel Aviv, Israeli medical officials said on Thursday.

At least one person, a 17-year-old female, is in critical condition. 

A 60-year-old man and a 19-year-old woman are in serious condition. 

Israel is considering allowing the entry of Druze communities from Syria to work in the occupied Golan Heights, according to Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz. 

The plans were part of a "great commitment to our Druze friends in Syria", Katz said on Thursday. 

"We are currently considering allowing those nearby to come and work in the Golan Heights on a daily basis and are prepared to assist them through organisations and in various ways. We want to see them protected - and we are working towards this intelligently," he said.

Syria's Golan Heights, occupied by Israel since 1967, is mostly inhabited bymembers of the Syrian Druze community. 

Earlier this week, Israel carried out a series of air strikes on what it said were military bases in Syria, following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech on Sunday demanding a "complete demilitarisation" of the country’s south. At least two were killed in the attacks. 

READ MORE: Israel considering allowing entry of Syrian Druze communities for work

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said his army is "staying indefinitely" in a buffer zone they set up in Lebanon, with their deployment being "situation-dependent".

"There is a buffer zone [on the border with Lebanon]. It wasn’t easy but I stood my ground, and we received a green light from the United States, we gave them a map, and we are staying indefinitely. This is situation-dependent, not time-dependent," he said at a news conference, according to a statement from his office on Thursday.

Over 40 Palestinian women and children have been released from Israeli prisons following delays and arrived to southern Gaza's Khan Younis, Al Jazeera reported on Thursday.

Israel's National Unity party chairman, and former member of the war cabinet Benny Gantz said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu wants to extend the first phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal out of "political interest".

"Extending the deal strengthens Hamas," he said in a video address, saying his country should instead work to "get as many hostages as possible, as quickly as possible" rather than doing so in "trickles".

Without providing evidence, Gantz said that Hamas is "arming itself and rehabilitating itself militarily and politically" during this time.

Gantz' message comes amid Israeli media reports that Netanyahu plans to extend the first phase of the ceasefire, which is set to end on 1 March.

Hamas expressed in a statement its condemnation of Israel's refusal to withdraw from the Philadelphi Corridor between Gaza and Egypt, calling it a "clear violation of the ceasefire agreement".

"Hamas while confirming its full commitment to the ceasefire agreement … is also urging the mediators, the international community and all relevant parties to take immediate and serious action to compel the Israeli occupation to abide by the requirements and provisions of the agreement, and to work hard to prevent Netanyahu and his criminal government from disrupting and thwarting it," the statement read.

More than 600 Palestinian detainees were freed on Thursday from Israeli jails in the final batch of the first phase of the Israel-Hamas captive exchange and ceasefire deal.

This follows several delays by Israel in the release of more than 640 prisoners, according to figures from the Palestinian Prisoners' Society (PPS) and the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, which was originally scheduled for Saturday.

Around 450 of them were released to Gaza, with several needing immediate medical care upon arrival and were administered into the European Hospital in Khan Younis, in the south of the besieged enclave. 

More than 15 prisoners serving life sentences or long-term sentences were among those released, including 40 freed to the West Bank. 

Read more: More than 600 Palestinian captives freed as first phase of Gaza deal concludes

Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday instructed Israeli negotiators to head to Cairo for talks on the Gaza ceasefire, his office said, according to AFP.

"Prime Minister Netanyahu has instructed the negotiation delegation to depart for Cairo today to continue the talks," the statement from his office said, without providing details of the discussions.

Defence Minister Israel Katz has told Israeli broadcaster Channel 7 that the Philadelphi Corridor in Gaza will remain a buffer zone “just like in Lebanon and Syria”, confirming earlier reports on Israeli media.

Israel was set to begin withdrawing from the area along the border between Egypt and Gaza on Saturday under the terms of the ceasefire agreement.

In a separate statement on Tuesday, Katz said Israel has received a "green light" from the United States to remain in the buffer zones in Lebanon and Syria "without a time limit", depending on the situation, Haaretz reported.

The Palestinian health ministry reported that 17 bodies were brought to hospitals in Gaza over the past 48 hours, raising the death toll since 7 October 2023 to 48,365.

Nael Barghouti, the world's longest-serving political prisoner and the “dean” of Palestinian detainees, has been freed from an Israeli jail after spending nearly two-thirds of his life behind bars. 

The 67-year-old was released on Thursday as part of the captive exchange deal between Israel and Hamas. 

Barghouti, known among Palestinian prisoners as "Abu al-Nour", spent 45 years in Israeli custody, including 34 consecutive years, making him the world's longest-serving political prisoner, according to the 2009 Guinness World Records.

He was freed by Hamas in the 2011 Gilad Shalit prisoner exchange and returned to live in his home town of Kobar, near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.

Read more: Nael Barghouti: World's longest-serving political prisoner freed from Israeli jail

Israel will not withdraw from Gaza's Philadelphi corridor despite the upcoming Saturday deadline, Haaretz reported.

An unnamed official said Israel "will not allow Hamas to roam our border again". 

The Philadelphi Corridor is a buffer zone between Egypt and Gaza which has existed for more than four decades, and has been maintained on the basis of two bilateral agreements between Cairo and Israel. 

Israel agreed to begin its withdrawal from the area at the end of the first stage of the ceasefire deal, which falls on Saturday.

Israeli forces injured a young Palestinian man during a military raid into Balata refugee camp, east of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, according to the Wafa news agency. 

Red Crescent said ambulance crews transported the 32-year-old man, who was shot in the thigh by Israeli forces near Balata camp.

The agency said the Israeli forces also detained a Palestinian woman from the city at dawn today as they stormed the vicinity of the old An-Najah University campus, raided several homes and a restaurant.