Live: Israeli soldiers kill unarmed Palestinians as they surrender in Jenin

The mayor of Gaza City, Yahya al-Sarraj, has said that Israeli restrictions on the entry of heavy machinery into the Strip are preventing efforts to clear rubble and begin reconstruction.

Speaking at a news conference, Sarraj said the city requires 250 heavy vehicles and 1,000 tonnes of cement to rebuild wells and maintain the water network.

Our live blog will shortly be closing until tomorrow morning.

Here are the day's key developments:

• The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a controversial American non-profit tasked with providing aid for Palestinian civilians in Gaza, told AFP it stood ready to resume shipments under a US-brokered ceasefire.

• US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said that he did not envision a permanent division of Gaza, despite Israeli troops remaining in an area that has been prioritised for reconstruction.

• Wafa news agency is reporting that armed Israeli settlers assaulted and injured two elderly men in the town of Surif, northwest of Hebron, in the southern occupied West Bank.

• US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US officials are getting input on a possible UN resolution or international agreement to authorise a multinational force in Gaza and will discuss the issue in Qatar on Sunday.

• A UN agency has warned that Gaza is buried under more than 61m tonnes of debris, with three-quarters of buildings in the besieged enclave destroyed after two years of war.

Khalil Al-Hayya, head of Hamas in the Gaza Strip, said new areas will be entered on Sunday to search for some of the Israeli captives’ bodies, Al Jazeera Arabic reported.

He also said that Hamas agreed with all [Palestinian] factions that the mission of the UN is to rebuild Gaza.

The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), a controversial American non-profit tasked with providing aid for Palestinian civilians in Gaza, told AFP on Saturday it stood ready to resume shipments under a US-brokered ceasefire.

Hundreds of Palestinians are killed by Israeli fire while seeking aid at GHF distribution sites, according to the UN human rights office and, in August, United Nations special rapporteurs called for it to be disbanded.

GHF spokesperson Chapin Fay said the foundation had paused operations during the first phase of Gaza's ceasefire and was now awaiting orders to get back to work.

“While the situation remains fluid on the ground, GHF has been instructed to remain ready to re-engage and specifically not to take any actions that would preclude us from resuming operations immediately,” Fay said.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Saturday that he did not envision a permanent division of Gaza, despite Israeli troops remaining in an area that has been prioritised for reconstruction.

Under a US-brokered ceasefire, Israeli forces have withdrawn to a "Yellow Line", leaving them in control of around half of Gaza, and the United States has spoken of reconstruction aid in the area under Israeli control.

Rubio said that an international force, which US and regional mediators are trying to build, would move to enforce security across the Palestinian territory.

“I think ultimately the point of the stabilisation force is to move that line until it covers hopefully all of Gaza , meaning all of Gaza will be demilitarised,” Rubio told reporters on his plane between Israel and Qatar.

“Ultimately, the more of Gaza is demilitarised, the more of Gaza terrorism is removed from, the more of it is going to look like that green zone, and that line will move as a result of it,” he said.

"That's the long-term plan. The Israelis have made it abundantly clear they have no interest in occupying Gaza."

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said demilitarising Gaza through the destruction of what he called “terror tunnels” and the disarmament of Hamas is the “most important strategic objective for achieving victory in Gaza”.

“The most urgent moral mission is, of course, the return of all the hostages and the fallen to their homes, and we will do everything to fulfil this sacred and critical mission,” Katz said on X, claiming that  60 percent of the tunnels still remains in Gaza.

“I have instructed the [army] to prioritise the destruction of the tunnels as the central task in the yellow zone currently under our control, alongside protecting the soldiers and communities,” he said.

Wafa news agency is reporting that armed Israeli settlers assaulted and injured two elderly men in the town of Surif, northwest of Hebron, in the southern occupied West Bank.

The settlers were under the protection of Israeli soldiers when assaulted residents in the al-Quraynat area of Surif, injuring Abdullah Ghneimat, 82, and his brother Ibrahim, 72, the agency said.

The settlers also set fire to a vehicle and smashed the windows of two homes in the neighbourhood, according to Hazem Ghneimat, the mayor of Surif.

The Israeli military said on Saturday that its forces had targeted an alleged member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad group with “a precise strike” carried out in the Nuseirat area of central Gaza.

The strike on a car in the refugee camp injured at least four people, Al Jazeera Arabic reported, citing al-Awda Hospital.

US President Donald Trump met Saturday with the emir and prime minister of Qatar - a key ally in preserving the fragile Gaza peace deal - during a refueling stop on his way to Asia, officials said.

The Qatari leaders boarded Air Force One when it landed at Al Udeid Air Base, which hosts the regional headquarters for the US military and thousands of American troops.

Trump said the duo had played a crucial role in the Middle East peace process, adding that Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani had been his "friend to the world."

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said US officials are getting input on a possible UN resolution or international agreement to authorise a multinational force in Gaza and will discuss the issue in Qatar on Sunday.

"Many of the countries that have expressed an interest in participating at some level, whether it be monetary or personnel or both, are going to need that (a UN resolution or international agreement) because their domestic laws require it," Rubio told reporters travelling on his plane between Israel and Qatar en route to Asia.

"So we have a whole team working on that outline of it," he said.

Over 20 masked Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians and human rights activists in the Bedouin community of Mukhmas, southeast of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, the Wafa news agency reported.

According to a statement from Hassan Malihat, the general supervisor of the Al-Baidar human rights organisation, a group of settlers targeted the community and assaulted residents, pouring flammable materials on olive trees, which led to a fire in the nearby growth.

The Israeli army said it killed one person in the area of Jebchit in southern Lebanon on Saturday.

In a statement, the army identified the person as Zayn al-Abidin Hussein Fatouni, claiming that he was an Hezbollah commander in the battalion’s antitank unit, without providing evidence.

The US State Department on Friday appointed career foreign service officer and current ambassador to Yemen, Steven Fagin, as the civilian lead for a new centre tasked with implementing a peace deal in Gaza and facilitating humanitarian aid deliveries to the besieged enclave.

The announcement came after Secretary of State Marco Rubio visited the Civil-Military Coordination Center in southern Israel and pledged that more US diplomats would be joining the roughly 200 US military personnel posted there.

"Ambassador Steven Fagin will serve as the civilian lead of the Civil-Military Coordination Center, which is supporting the implementation of the President’s 20 Point Peace Plan for Gaza," the department said in a statement.

Israeli forces have surrounded a house in Jenin, in the occupied West Bank, according to the Wafa news agency, citing local sources.

Troops stormed the city and took up positions in al-Marah neighbourhood before surrounding a house in the Old City. The soldiers opened fire on surveillance cameras around the building, the sources said. 

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio promised the return of all deceased captives held in Gaza during a meeting with two dead Israeli-American captives during a visit to Israel. 

“We will not forget the lives of the hostages who died in the captivity of Hamas,” Rubio said on X.

“Today, I met with the families of American citizens Itay Chen and Omer Neutra. We will not rest until their – and all – remains are returned.”