Live: Israel delays release of 602 Palestinian prisoners

Thousands of Hezbollah supporters have arrived in Beirut for the funeral of Hassan Nasrallah, the group’s longtime leader, who was assassinated last September in an Israeli attack on southern Beirut.

Nasrallah, a founding member of Hezbollah, led the movement for over three decades before being killed alongside other senior officials during Israel’s ongoing war against the group.

Mourners will gather on Sunday at Beirut’s main sports stadium for a funeral ceremony before his burial.

US President Donald Trump said he is going to “sit back” and watch Arab countries craft a counter-proposal to his plan for the US to "take over" the Gaza Strip and forcibly displace two million Palestinians.

Trump’s rhetoric suggests he relishes watching the US’s Arab allies rush to counter his plan.

He said for the first time on Friday that he would not force anyone to accept Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, but still thought it was a good idea. 

“I’m not forcing it. I’m just going to sit back and recommend it, and then the US would own the site,” he told Fox News Radio, adding, "Another way to do it is with people there, but I don't think it would work. I like my plan." 

Trump’s plan for a US takeover of the Gaza Strip was widely rejected by Arab states, human rights experts, and even Trump's closest political allies.

Read more: Trump likes his Gaza plan, but will 'sit back' as Arab states draft proposal

Arab leaders gathered in Riyadh on Friday for an informal meeting to discuss ongoing efforts to support the Palestinian cause and the worsening situation in Gaza, Saudi state news agency SPA reported.

Palestinian families are suing the Canadian government after a temporary scheme that grants visas to Palestinians from Gaza with family ties to the country has been beset by delays.

The scheme has come under fire for its complexity and ineffectiveness in issuing visas.

Marku and Lee, an immigration and refugee law firm in Toronto, filed a case on 6 February on behalf of 53 Palestinian families who are currently in the Gaza Strip to ask the Federal Court of Canada to process the applications without delay.

The firm says half their clients are children, the youngest of whom is seven months old. They expressed concern that the Canadian government had let the applications “sit in limbo” while conditions in Gaza had progressively worsened and the enclave had become uninhabitable since the scheme was launched more than a year ago.

They said their clients’ Canadian family members had petitioned on behalf of their relatives within a month of the application, and their applications had not yet proceeded to the next stage. The Canadian families petitioning on behalf of their relatives remain concerned for their family members’ lives.

Read more: Palestinian families from Gaza take Canadian government to court

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met with his South African counterpart, Ronald Lamola, in Johannesburg during the G20 Foreign Ministers’ Summit, according to Turkish diplomatic sources.

Their discussions focused on the catastrophic situation in Gaza and South Africa’s case at the International Court of Justice, which accuses Israel of genocide.

The Israeli military acknowledged on Friday it knew the Bibas family was dead in captivity in Gaza despite previously insisting they might be alive.

Hamas said in November 2023 that Shiri Bibas, 32, and her two children, Ariel, aged four, and nine-month-old Kfir, were killed in an Israeli air strike. 

However, the Israeli military continued to demand their release alive.  

Military spokesperson Daniel Hagari on Friday confirmed the death of the two babies “no later than November 2023” following the return of their bodies by Hamas as part of the ceasefire agreement. 

During a news conference, Hagari said the Israeli military had intelligence that they were already dead but could not announce it to the public. 

Read more: Israel says it knew Bibas family was dead despite claiming they might be alive

Hamas’s military wing, the Qassam Brigades, said on Friday that they have handed over the remains of Shiri Bibas to the Red Cross.

The Israeli military, in a post on X, stated that it is looking into the reports. “[Israeli army] representatives are in contact with the family,” the statement read.

US President Donald Trump on Friday insisted his proposal to seize the Gaza Strip “really works,” though he said he would not enforce it.

“I’ll tell you the way to do it-it’s my plan. I think that’s the plan that really works. But I’m not forcing it. I’m just going to sit back and recommend it,” Trump said in an interview with Fox News Radio’s Brian Kilmeade.

Expressing surprise at Jordan and Egypt’s rejection of his scheme, Trump remarked, “We pay Jordan and Egypt billions of dollars a year, and I was a little surprised they’d say that.”

He also suggested that Palestinians would willingly leave Gaza if offered an alternative, saying, “If given the choice between staying or living in a nice community, they would go.”

Calling Gaza a “great location,” Trump questioned why Israel had ever relinquished it, saying, “I don’t know why Israel ever gave that up. Why did they give it up?”

Trump has repeatedly advocated for a US-led takeover of Gaza, proposing to displace its population and transform the besieged territory into “the Riviera of the Middle East.”

His proposal has been widely condemned across the Arab world and internationally as a blatant push for ethnic cleansing.

Gamal Bayoumi, Egypt’s former deputy foreign affairs minister to the EU, described the Saudi-hosted meeting as a preliminary step ahead of a formal summit in Cairo next month.

Arab leaders, he said, are taking a cautious diplomatic approach to Gaza. “Our priority is to support our Palestinian brothers, not to escalate tensions, while working through the UN,” Bayoumi told Al Jazeera.

Trump’s agenda to seize control of Gaza and expel Palestinians has sparked rare unity among Arab states.

“Today’s meeting in Riyadh is about delivering a firm rejection of Trump’s absurd proposal,” Bayoumi said, urging the US president to abandon the plan and take Egypt’s position seriously to pave the way for genuine negotiations.

Hamas said on Friday that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s visit to Tulkarm would not "intimidate our people and their resistance", adding that it "will increase their determination and resolve to continue the path of jihad until liberation and victory," they said in a statement.

Israeli forces shot and killed 13-year-old Ayman Nassar al-Haimoni in the Hebron area of the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent.

Earlier on Friday, another child, 13-year-old Rias Amouri from Jenin, was also killed by Israeli forces, the Palestinian health ministry reported.

An investigation by Euro-Med Monitor has revealed further details of the killing of an elderly Palestinian couple who were forced to wear explosives and act as human shields by Israeli forces during a military incursion on Gaza City’s Zeytoun neighbourhood in May 2023. 

Israeli news site HaMakom previously reported that Israeli forces strapped explosives around the neck of an elderly Palestinian man and used him as a human shield before killing him and his wife.

According to the report, the man, who used a walking stick, was forced to scout buildings in the neighbourhood to ensure they were safe for around eight hours.

An Israeli soldier told HaMakom that after the explosives were placed around the Palestinian man's neck, he was told "that if he does something wrong or not the way we want, the person behind him will pull the rope and his head will detach from the body".

While the original report did not name the victims, their ages and the date, location, and circumstances of their killing align with the Euro-Med Monitor investigation.

Read more: Investigation reveals details of killing of elderly Palestinian couple used as human shields

Northern Ireland First Minister Michelle O’Neill has announced she will not attend St Patrick’s Day events at the White House, citing US President Donald Trump’s stance on Gaza as the reason for her boycott.

Political figures from Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland traditionally visit the US for the annual 17 March celebrations. However, O’Neill stated, “We are all heartbroken watching the suffering of the Palestinian people, and the US president’s remarks endorsing their mass expulsion from Gaza cannot be ignored.”

She made the statement at a press conference in Dublin alongside Sinn Fein leader Mary Lou McDonald.

McDonald also condemned Washington’s position, declaring, “When the US administration is wrong - disastrously so in the case of Palestine - we have a duty to act.”

Meanwhile, Irish Prime Minister Micheál Martin will attend the White House event, saying he plans to discuss “a broad range of issues” with Trump.

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates condemned the incursion into Tulkarm refugee camp by the army and the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Israel Katz, calling it a dangerous escalation of Israel’s ongoing assault on Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

Israeli occupation forces have detained nearly 90 Palestinians across the occupied West Bank over the past week, while seizing more than 15 weapons, according to the military.

Following a "situational assessment", the army has imposed further restrictions on Palestinian movement by sealing off key entry points and deploying three additional battalions to the occupied territory.

Israel has been waging a weeks-long military onslaught in the northern West Bank, particularly targeting Jenin and its refugee camp, as well as Tulkarm and Nur Shams.

The campaign has killed dozens of Palestinians and displaced thousands as the occupation intensifies its repression.