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

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem has slammed senior Hamas official Moussa Abu Marzouk over his comments to The New York Times saying he would not have supported the 7 October 2023 attack on southern Israel, had he known what Israel's retaliation would be like. 

“The occupation’s aggressive and destructive behavior is the cause of the destruction in Gaza,” Qassem said. “The October 7 epic marks a strategic turning point in the Palestinian national struggle."

He also rejected Marzouk's openness to negotiate over Hamas's arms. 

“We hold onto our resistance weapon as a legitimate right, and what was attributed to Moussa Abu Marzouk does not represent the movement’s stance,” Qassem said.

“Resistance in all its forms is a legitimate right for our people until liberation and return.”

Israel's military ramped up its raids across the occupied West Bank on Monday, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported. 

Israel troops expanded their offensive to the south, into the town of Kafil Haris, which sits 18km south of Nablus city. 

A deal is being mediated that would see  Hamas transfer two bodies of killed captives to Egypt, in return for Israel releasing 301 of the 602 prisoners it was scheduled to release last Saturday, according to a report by Israel's Channel 12 on Monday.

Israel cancelled the release of prisoners despite Hamas releasing captives in Gaza. The group accused Israel of violating the ceasefire. 

Israel has seethed at anger over Hamas's captive handover ceremonies, where it has displayed its organisational and military capabilities. Israel said its war aim was to eliminate Hamas. 

The report said that the ceremonies would not occur if they went through Egypt. 

The EU supports the Palestinian Authority's return to the Gaza Strip, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on Monday. 

“We support the Palestinian Authority and its return to Gaza. We support the return of every displaced Palestinian for whom Gaza is their home,” Kallas said. 

“The EU will also support Gaza’s reconstruction together with the regional actors. Palestinians must be able to live in Gaza," she added. 

The Israeli military said on Monday that it launched strikes on Gaza.

Israel said its jets bombed two alleged rocket launch sites in Gaza including one that fired a projectile earlier in the day. 

“A projectile launch that fell inside the Gaza Strip was identified. A short while ago, the [military] struck the launch site from which the projectile was fired, as well as an additional launch site in the area,” an Israeli military statement said. 

Mousa Abu Marzouk, the head of Hamas's foreign relations office, said he would not have supported the group's 7 October 2023 attack on southern Israel had he known the devastating Israeli response that would have followed. 

“If it was expected that what happened would happen, there wouldn’t have been Oct 7,” Marzouk told The New York Times. 

Marzouk, who once lived in the United States, represents one faction within Hamas, which is further divided into military and political wings. 

He also said Hamas was open to discussing disarming, telling The New York Times when asked, "We are ready to speak about every issue." 

Another senior Hamas official, Osama Hamdan, said earlier this month that the group's arms would not be up for discussion. 

Israeli forces arrested another Palestinian man from the occupied West Bank city of Nablus, official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported on Monday. 

Israeli soldiers detained Diaa Shablo in Nablus.

Israel has escalated its assault on the occupied West Bank in recent weeks, with about 40,000 Palestinians displaced. 

Democracy for the Arab World Now (Dawn) has asked the International Criminal Court to investigate former US President Joe Biden for possible complicity in war crimes and crimes against humanity related to Israel's war on Gaza. 

Dawn said on Monday it submitted a 172-page request to ICC prosecutor Karim Khan in January. This marks the first time a US-based group has asked the ICC to investigate a former president. The US is not a party to the ICC. 

The request also asks for an investigation into former US Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Defence Secretary Lloyd Austin. 

The request said the former Biden administration's $17.9bn in military support, diplomatic backing, intelligence-sharing, and endorsement of Israel's war on Gaza were "deliberate and purposeful decisions" by the administration. 

Palestinians forcibly displaced by Israel in the occupied West Bank are struggling to access basic needs such as clean water, food, medical care and shelter, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said on Monday.

The ICRC said it "is deeply concerned with the impact of ongoing security operations on the civilian population in Jenin and Tulkarem, Tubas and other locations in northern West Bank," adding that "many people have
fled their homes to take shelter, including in crowded mosques and schools".

The International Criminal Court has responded to Friedrich Merz, the likely next German chancellor, for inviting Benjamin Netanyahu on a visit in defiance of an arrest warrant. 

The Hague-based court said that it was a legal obligation for signatories of the Rome Statute to enforce ICC decisions and that any concerns should be addressed with the court in a timely and efficient manner. 

"It is not for states to unilaterally determine the soundness of the court's legal decisions," the ICC said.

Friedrich Merz, Germany's incoming chancellor, has confirmed that he invited Benjamin Netanyahu for a visit despite an International Criminal Court arrest warrant.

The leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) party held a phone call with Netanyahu hours after his party won the most votes in Germany's national election on Sunday.

"I think it is a completely absurd idea that an Israeli prime minister cannot visit the Federal Republic of Germany," Merz said during a press conference on Monday. 

He added that he told Netanyahu "that we would find ways and means for him to visit Germany and leave again without being arrested".

In November, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, his former defence minister. 

The two were accused of "the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts" during Israel's ongoing war on Gaza, which began following the Hamas-led attacks of 7 October 2023.

All 124 members of the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC, are now compelled to arrest the two Israeli leaders and hand them over to the court. Germany is amongst the signatories. 

The number of people killed and wounded by Israeli forces in Gaza has risen, the health ministry announced on Monday. 

A total of seven fatalities were recorded over the past 24 hours, of whom two were newly killed, while five bodies were recovered. Six others were wounded over the past day. 

That takes the total death toll in Gaza since October 2023 to 48,346. A further 111,759 others have been wounded by Israeli forces in that time. 

Israel is set to deny entry to Rima Hassan, a French-Palestinian member of the European parliament, at the order of Interior Minister Moshe Arbel based on a recommendation from the Israeli Ministry of Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism.

Hassan had been expected to land from Brussels this afternoon. 

Often seen with a keffiyeh wrapped around her shoulders - “my superhero cape”, as she described it - Hassan is the granddaughter of Palestinians made refugees in the 1948 Nakba. 

She has said that in Brussels she will work on her objectives to see Europe “recognise Palestine as a state to counter Israel’s colonisation plans, impose economic sanctions by suspending the EU-Israel Association Agreement, enforce an arms export embargo for human rights violations, and implement diplomatic and political sanctions on Israel akin to those on apartheid South Africa until international law is upheld”.

You can read more about Hassan here. 

Germany's next chancellor has invited Benjamin Netanyahu to the country in defiance of an International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant, according to the Israeli prime minister's office.

Netanyahu's office said he had a "warm conversation" with Friedrich Merz, the leader of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), after the party won the most votes in Germany's national election on Sunday.

"Chancellor-designate Merz thanked the Prime Minister for the conversation and said that he would invite him to make an official visit to Germany, in overt defiance of the scandalous International Criminal Court decision to label the Prime Minister a war criminal," the prime minister's office said. 

A spokesperson for the CDU told Reuters that the two leaders spoke on the phone following the election, but would not elaborate on the details. 

In November, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Yoav Gallant, his former defence minister. 

The two were accused of "the war crime of starvation as a method of warfare and the crimes against humanity of murder, persecution, and other inhumane acts" during Israel's ongoing war on Gaza, which began following the Hamas-led attacks of 7 October 2023.

Read more: Netanyahu invited to Germany in 'overt defiance' of ICC warrant, says Israel

Video footage shows widespread destruction in Burqin, west of Jenin in the occupied West Bank, following Israeli raids.

For the 35th day, Israeli forces continue military operations in Jenin, killing at least 27 Palestinians, according to Wafa news agency. pic.twitter.com/X9wZHyiXAI

— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) February 24, 2025