Live: Trump threatens Gaza residents with death as his team holds direct talks with Hamas about captives
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Food, medicine and shelter stockpiles in Gaza are limited and aid intended for Palestinians in desperate need may spoil following Israel's suspension of deliveries to the enclave, humanitarian agencies said on Monday.
Israel blocked the entry of aid trucks into Gaza on Sunday.
Medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) warned that the suspension of aid will add significant pressure on the two million Palestinians in the enclave who are still suffering from shortages of essential goods following 16 months of war.
Israel has previously accused Hamas of hijacking aid, which the group denied.
"Any further challenges to access to food and access to clean water could have devastating consequences. The spike in food and good prices is creating fear and uncertainty", Caroline Seguin, MSF emergency coordinator in Gaza, told Reuters.
Salama Marouf, head of the Gaza government media office, said enough food was in markets for at least two weeks and urged Palestinians not to panic.
More than 300 trucks loaded with aid were stopped from crossing the border from Egypt on Sunday, according to the International Federation of the Red Cross.
Its five warehouses in Egypt, which stock food, water, and medicines, are currently at 50 percent capacity, and expiration dates are being checked.
- Reporting by Reuters
An alternative plan for Gaza's future, drawn up by Egypt to counter US President Donald Trump's proposals, would see Hamas replaced by interim bodies controlled by Arab, Muslim and western states, according to a draft seen by Reuters.
The proposal, which is due to be presented at an Arab League summit on Tuesday, does not specify whether this would be implemented before or after any permanent peace deal to end the war. The plan also does not tackle key issues such as the financing of Gaza's reconstruction and its governance.
Hamas has said it is willing to cede political power and administrative governance of Gaza to a Palestinian unity government, but would not disarm unless an independent Palestinian state is achieved.
“We are ready today, if not yesterday, to step back from governance to hand it over to a body, a government, a committee, that is ready to run the Gaza Strip," senior Hamas official Basem Naim said in February.
Reporting by Reuters
The armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the Al-Quds Brigades, has said one of its fighters was killed in Lebanon while confronting Israeli "aggression".
The group identified the fighter as Abdulaziz Ahmad Sahli, but did not provide any details about how or when he was killed.
Israeli forces have remained in five positions in southern Lebanon in violation of a ceasefire agreement between Tel Aviv and Hezbollah which has been in force since November.
Israeli forces have also conducted multiple strikes across the country.
Israeli authorities are planning to cut off water and electricity to the Gaza Strip, and renew the push to displace the population from northern Gaza to the south, according to Israeli broadcaster Kan 11.
The plan by the government is part of a strategy to apply "maximum pressure on the Gaza Strip and Hamas".
It follows the blocking of aid from entering the Gaza Strip on Sunday after the end of the first phase of the ceasefire deal.
The move, coinciding with the holy month of Ramadan, comes after Hamas demanded that Israel moves to the second phase of the deal as previously agreed.
The second phase includes a definitive end of the war, an Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and the release of the remaining Israeli captives.
Read more: Israel plans to cut off electricity and water to Gaza after blocking aid
Israeli forces and settlers conducted 1,705 attacks against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank in February alone, a new report has revealed.
The report by the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission found that Israeli forces were responsible for 1,475 attacks, while settlers conducted 230. The attacks were concentrated in Nablus, which saw 300 attacks, 267 were in Hebron and 263 in Ramallah.
The report also detailed 68 incidents of property vandalism and theft, and the uprooting of 642 trees by settlers, including 610 olive trees.
The Turkish Foreign Ministry has issued a statement condemning Israel's decision to block the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza as a "blatant violation of international law".
It added that the move "also jeopardizes the efforts to establish a lasting ceasefire in Gaza".
Regarding Israel’s Decision to Halt the Entry of Humanitarian Aid to Gaza https://t.co/qQMT0caEiy pic.twitter.com/5HXyFzS9oV
— Turkish MFA (@MFATurkiye) March 3, 2025
In the crowded streets of Gaza City’s Omar El Mukhtar, Ahmed Daban busies himself with setting up Ramadan decorations on his stall.
Once an electrical engineer, Daban now earns a living selling sweets like qataief, a traditional Ramadan treat, after the devastating Israeli war on the besieged Strip.
“I’m lucky to find a job that allows me to share joy and make a living, until the borders open, and I can return to my work,” says the 23-year-old.
Daban reflects on the bittersweet nature of this year's Ramadan, which arrives during a fragile ceasefire, following 15 months of Israeli bombardment that killed over 48,000 Palestinians and caused widespread destruction.
“Despite the pain of losing my brother and the destruction of my house, I try to stay optimistic and share joy with the people around me,” he tells Middle East Eye.
Read more: Gaza welcomes a Ramadan of bittersweet joy and lingering loss
Hamas has issued a statement accusing Israel of "torture" and "mistreatment" of Khaled Abdullah, a Palestinian detainee who died in Israeli custody.
The group said that Israel's "brutality" and "policy of medical neglect" of detainees results in the "slow death of prisoners".
“We warn against the continuation of this criminal policy… and renew our call to all free people of the world, human rights and legal organisations to pressure the occupation and hold it accountable for its crimes against our people," the statement reads.
Senior Hamas official Osama Hamdan has said in a televised statement that Israel "is pushing to return things to square one" with requests to extend the first phase of the ceasefire agreement.
Hamdan added that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is "fully responsible" for the consequences of the collapse of the deal.
“We condemn the cheap blackmail that Netanyahu and his extremist government are committing against our people by using humanitarian aid as a pressure card in the negotiations,” Hamdan said.
Hamdan said that Hamas is fully "committed to the agreement", adding that Hamas has honoured its own commitments to the deal in a "precise and timely manner", while Israel has committed multiple violations since the ceasefire was implemented.
They say you can see the world in a grain of sand.
In some cases, you can indeed view a global shift in ideology through the lens of a single incident. Take British Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s recent response to a Palestinian family who came to the UK using a refugee scheme designed for Ukrainians.
Starmer was outraged. He went so far as to unreservedly agree with Tory leader Kemi Badenoch when she raised the case in the Commons. Prime ministers almost never give opposition leaders this kind of unqualified endorsement at the dispatch box.
Both Starmer and Badenoch were criticising the judge who upheld the Palestinians’ case. For this attack on the judiciary, the chief justice, Baroness Sue Carr, slapped them both down, saying such criticism undermined the independence of the courts.
Read more: Starmer's move against Palestinian refugees highlights collapse of liberal centre Opinion by John Rees
Germany’s foreign ministry says Israel’s move to ban aid into Gaza is “not a legitimate means of pressure in ceasefire negotiations,” Al Jazeera reported.
“Unimpeded access for humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip must be guaranteed at all times,” ministry spokesperson Sebastian Fischer told a press briefing.
Germany has been one of Israel’s major allies during its war on Gaza.
Khaled Mahmoud Qasim Abdullah, a 41-year-old Palestinian detainee from Jenin refugee camp, has died in Israel’s Megiddo Prison, the Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs Commission and the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) confirmed.
The Wafa news agency reported that Abdullah was held without charge under administrative detention since 9 November 2023. His family says he had no prior health issues before his arrest.
Rights groups accuse Israel of medical neglect and worsening mistreatment of detainees, especially since the war on Gaza began. His death adds to the growing number of Palestinians who have died in Israeli prisons in recent months.
Police confirm that the perpetrator of a stabbing attack in Haifa this morning is a Druze citizen of Israel from Shfar’am, who returned to Israel a week ago after spending several months abroad, The Times of Israel reported.
Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun will ask Saudi Arabia to reactivate a $3bn aid package to the Lebanese army in his visit to the kingdom next week, Aoun said in an interview with Asharq television broadcast on Friday.
Aoun, who was serving as commander of Lebanon's army before he was elected president on 9 January, is set to meet with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman on Monday in his first trip abroad.
He told Asharq he would ask Riyadh "if it is possible to reactivate the grant" halted in 2016, after Lebanon failed to condemn attacks on Saudi diplomatic missions in Iran.
Saudi Arabia once spent billions in Lebanon, depositing funds in the central bank, helping to rebuild the south after the 2006 Hezbollah-Israel war, and supporting a number of Lebanese politicians.
Reported by Reuters
The assailant who carried out a stabbing attack this morning in Haifa is an Israeli citizen, said police spokesman Aryeh Doron, according to The Times of Israel.
Confirming that the attacker was shot dead, the police said he was shot by a bus station security guard.
