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

Sigrid Kaag, the UN envoy for the peace process in the region, has warned against calls for Israel to annex the occupied West Bank.

"The Middle East today is undergoing rapid transformation - its scope and impact remain uncertain, but it also presents a historic opportunity," Kaag told the UN Security Council on Tuesday.

"The people of the region can emerge from this period with peace, security, and dignity. However, this may be our last chance to achieve the two-state solution," Kaag said. 

Lebanese media is reporting that an Israeli air strike in the Bekaa Valley region in eastern Lebanon killed two people on Tuesday. 

Israel has maintained a troop presence in five strategic regions of Lebanon. 

Airwars, a not-for-profit watchdog which tracks, assesses, and archives civilian casualties, released a tool on Tuesday which allows people to search the names of all Palestinians killed by Israel's offensive on the Gaza Strip.

Airwars said the Palestinian Ministry of Health released the names and IDs of tens of thousands of Palestinians, and the tool will allow users to search through the lists that were published as PDFs. 

Two Palestinians were injured by Israeli military fire in Nablus in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday, the Palestinian Red Crescent reported. 

The report said one of the injured was a child. 

A former Palestinian prisoner has said that Israeli soldiers poured acid and other chemicals on his body during an interrogation while he was in their custody. 

Mohammed Abu Tawila, who was kidnapped from Gaza during the Israeli invasion launched in October 2023, was subjected to severe beatings, which included targeting his eye. 

He told local media soldiers kidnapped him from an area near the Civil Affairs office in Gaza City to a home belonging to the al-Yazji family.

There he was tortured with chemical substances, including acid, chlorine, dishwashing liquid, laundry detergent, soap and air fresheners.

"They were ignited on my body for three days," the former detainee said.

Read more: Palestinian says Israeli interrogators poured acid on him during torture

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid on Tuesday said Egypt should control the Gaza Strip as part of his post-war plan for the enclave. 

"Israel cannot agree to Hamas remaining in power,” he said.

“The Palestinian Authority is neither willing nor able to manage Gaza in the near future. Israeli occupation is neither desirable nor possible. A constant state of chaos is both a security threat and a humanitarian disaster," he added. 

Lapid said he wants Egypt to control Gaza for eight years and potentially extend its control for 15 years. 

Israel is considering an extension of the initial phase of the ceasefire deal in Gaza, Israeli officials have said.

The first phase is due to conclude on Saturday, but it is unclear what will follow.

"We are being very cautious," Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel told reporters in Jerusalem when asked whether the truce might be extended without the start of talks on a second phase, which would include difficult issues such as a final end to the war and the future governance of Gaza.

"There wasn't a particular agreement on that, but it might be a possibility," she said. "We didn't close the option of continuing the current ceasefire, but in return for our hostages, and they have to be returned safely."

Two officials who have been involved in the ceasefire process told Reuters that Israel and Hamas have not engaged in negotiations to finalise an agreement over phase two of the ceasefire, which will have to bridge wide gaps between the two sides to be concluded.

Reporting by Reuters

The death toll of Palestinians killed in Gaza since 7 October 2023 has risen to 48,348, with another 111,761 injured, the enclave's health ministry said today.

This follows the discovery of a body and one new fatality in the last 24 hours.

The World Health Organization has said that the US suspension of aid funding could leave six areas of the Gaza Strip underfunded.

This will impact EMT operations, the rehabilitation of health facilities, coordination with partner organisations and medical evacuation operations, Rik Peeperkorn, the WHO's representative in the West Bank and Gaza, said.

Peeperkorn added that the organisation is going "full speed ahead" with these operations using the remaining money.

"The war in Gaza and the disastrous situation in the Middle East have led to a freeze in cooperation between Arab countries and Israel," Youssef Amrani, Morocco's ambassador to the United States, told Al Hurra television on 13 February.

This situation seems to be true for some countries, such as Saudi Arabia, but certainly not for Morocco, which has deepened its ties with Israel without even hiding it.

The latest example is the purchase, announced in early February, of 36 Atmos 2000 self-propelled artillery systems from the Israeli manufacturer Elbit Systems.

Morocco is once again turning away from one of its traditional suppliers, France, from which it had purchased in 2020 the Caesar system, which is manufactured by KNDS and is similar to its Israeli competitor. These are cannons that are especially useful in the desert thanks to their mobility.

Last July, Morocco's Royal Armed Forces had already given up replacing their Mohammed VI-A and Mohammed VI-B spy satellites, manufactured by European companies Airbus and Thales, with "made in France" models.

Read more: The Gaza war has not distanced Morocco from Israel, quite the opposite, Opinion by Ignacio Cembrero

Israeli forces have shot and wounded an elderly Palestinian man during their ongoing raid on the city of Nablus, in the occupied West Bank, Al Jazeera is reporting, citing local sources.

According to the sources, Israeli soldiers opened fire and wounded the man in the waist. He was subsequently transferred to hospital for treatment.

Soldiers also fired tear gas at journalists and medical teams near the Old City in order to disperse them.

Around 35,000 families in Gaza are facing severe shortages of basic supplies including blankets, tents and heating devices amid worsening wintry weather, a medical official has said.

The director of medical relief in Gaza, Mohammed Abu Afash, said in an interview with the Voice of Palestine Radio that 60,000 caravans and 200,000 tents are still needed to provide adequate shelter.

Some 50 patients have been evacuated from Gaza through the Rafah crossing  for treatment abroad in the 23rd medical evacuation since the ceasefire was implemented.

Al Jazeera Arabic reported that most of the patients are amputees due to attacks by Israeli forces and disease.

مغادرة الدفعة 23 من مرضى وجرحى #غزة عبر معبر رفح لتلقي العلاج في الخارج#الجزيرة #فيديو pic.twitter.com/S6a8WJJKLk

— الجزيرة فلسطين (@AJA_Palestine) February 25, 2025

Five Palestinian newborn babies have died from extreme cold in the war-torn and besieged Gaza Strip, a hospital director has said, amid continued Israeli delays in allowing the entrance of caravans and tents to shelter displaced families.

Saeed Salah, the chief of Friends of the Patient Charity Hospital, told media outlets on Monday that the nursery department had handled nine cases over the past two weeks, all of which involved severe health conditions caused by the harsh weather.

He added that these cases had all come from northern Gaza, where the majority reside in poorly made tents made of worn-out-cloth that are out in the open and without heating. 

Dr Salah noted that one child remains in intensive care, where he is placed on a ventilator, and three others have been discharged from the hospital as their condition had improved. 

The five dead infants were aged between one day and two weeks, according to him.

Read more: Gaza: Five Palestinian infants die from extreme cold amid Israeli siege

The Islamic Christian Authority for the Support of Jerusalem and Holy Sites has condemned the recommendations of the Israeli occupation police to restrict the access of worshipers to Al-Aqsa Mosque during the month of Ramadan, Wafa news agency reported.

The Israeli authorities recommended allowing only 10,000 worshipers to perform Friday prayers during the month.

The authority said in a statement that this "unprecedented decision since 1967 constitutes a dangerous precedent and a provocation to the feelings of Muslims and a flagrant violation of the legal and historical status of Al-Aqsa Mosque and a consecration of Israeli control over the Noble Sanctuary".