Live: Israel delays release of 602 Palestinian prisoners

Syria's new president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, said in an interview with a UK podcast that US President Donald Trump's plan to forcibly displace Palestinians from Gaza and take over the Strip "is a serious crime that will ultimately fail".

Trump has said the US will take over the Gaza Strip and develop it economically after Palestinians are resettled elsewhere. He said Palestinians would not have the right to return to Gaza under his proposal.

Israeli forces killed one young man and severely injured another person in western Rafah city, Gaza, near the Saudi neighbourhood, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

The agency identified the young man as Muhammad Nafeth Hosni Abu Taha.

This killing follows the deaths of three Palestinians shot by Israeli forces in Gaza City on Sunday, despite a ceasefire agreement.

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on Tuesday called for the reconstruction of Gaza "without displacing Palestinians", after US President Donald Trump said he could "conceivably" halt aid to Egypt and Jordan if they refuse to take in Palestinians.

During a phone call with Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, Sisi "stressed the necessity of starting the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip... without displacing Palestinians and in a way that ensures the preservation of their rights... to live on their land", according to a statement from his office.

Families of the Israeli captives and their supporters have blocked a highway from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, demanding Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu implement phase two of the Gaza ceasefire deal. 

Video footage of the rally shared by Israel's Army Radio showed dozens of protesters holding up signs warning the government that abandoning the captives "is a war crime".

לקראת כינוס הקבינט: מפגינים ומשפחות חטופים חוסמים את כביש 1 לכיוון ירושלים בקריאה למימוש שלב ב' בעסקה@yaelsharet_ pic.twitter.com/UpEkcuzwGk

— גלצ (@GLZRadio) February 11, 2025

UN chief Antonio Guterres called on Hamas on Tuesday to proceed with the planned release of Israeli captives after Hamas accused Israel of violating the ceasefire deal and postponed further captive-prisoner exchanges.

"We must avoid at all costs resumption of hostilities in Gaza that would lead to immense tragedy," Guterres said on X, appealing to Hamas to proceed with the planned liberation of captives.

"Both sides must fully abide by their commitments in the ceasefire agreement and resume serious negotiations."

We must avoid at all costs resumption of hostilities in Gaza that would lead to immense tragedy.

I appeal to Hamas to proceed with the planned liberation of hostages.

Both sides must fully abide by their commitments in the ceasefire agreement & resume serious negotiations.

— António Guterres (@antonioguterres) February 11, 2025

US President Donald Trump has threatened to cancel the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas if the Palestinian group does not release the Israelis it holds captive by 12pm on Saturday. 

This comes after Hamas said it would delay the release of the next tranche of captives "until further notice", accusing Israel of failing to comply with the terms of the truce deal.

Trump told reporters on Monday that "all hell is going to break out" if the hostages are not returned on Saturday.

When questioned on what this would mean, Trump responded: "You’ll find out, and they’ll find out - Hamas will find out what I mean."

Read more: 'Let hell break out': Trump threatens to axe Gaza truce if Israelis not released

Shlomo Mansour, an elderly Israeli man taken captive during the Hamas-led attacks on 7 October 2023, has been declared dead, a statement from his kibbutz said on Tuesday. 

The Israeli military said in a statement on Tuesday that the “decision to confirm his death was based on intelligence gathered in recent months”.

One of the founders of Kibbutz Kissufim, Mansour, 86, was taken from a henhouse during the attack on southern Israel.

Israeli forces arrested five young men during a series of raids in the occupied West Bank, according to the Wafa news agency.

The soldiers stormed into homes and detained two of the young men from Jalazone camp, north of Ramallah, two from al-Bireh and one man from the village of Tammun, near Tubas, the news agency said.

The Israeli forces also demolished a home in the town of Deir Ibzi near Ramallah.

Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters on Tuesday that US President Donald Trump must remember that the only way to bring home Israeli captives is to respect the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. 

"Trump must remember that there is an agreement that must be respected by both parties, and this is the only way to bring back the prisoners. The language of threats has no value and only complicates matters," he said.

Trump has warned Palestinians that "hell will break loose" if Israeli captives are not released on Saturday. Hamas has postponed the release of captives, accusing Israel of violating the ceasefire's terms.

Israeli far-right politicians welcomed US President Donald Trump's call for the cancellation of the Gaza ceasefire agreement if Hamas doesn't free all remaining captives by Saturday.

“All of them, now!” said Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich in a post on X, seemingly referring to the release of Israeli captives.

“Trump is right! We must go back and destroy now,” former National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir said.

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty told US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday that Arab states rejected US President Donald Trump's widely condemned plan to forcibly displace Palestinians and take control of Gaza.

Egypt's foreign ministry said Abdelatty, in a meeting in Washington, stressed the importance of achieving "a just and lasting peace that ensures Palestinians’ rights, including the establishment of an independent state on their entire national territory”.

A statement by the US State Department after the meeting did not explicitly mention Trump's plan but added that Rubio "reiterated the importance of close cooperation to advance post-conflict planning for the governance and security of Gaza" and said "Hamas can never govern Gaza again".

Good morning Middle East Eye readers, 

Here are some of the latest updates from the Israel's war on Gaza:

• US President Donald Trump said if Jordan and Egypt don’t comply with his plan to forcibly displace Palestinians from Gaza, he "would conceivably withhold aid”.

• The Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said its fighters were confronting Israeli forces in the nearby Tulkarem and Nur Shams refugee camps as an Israeli raid on the city of Jenin in the occupied West Bank continues.

• Hundreds of Israelis, including relatives of the captives, in Tel Aviv, protested Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, accusing him of sabotaging the ceasefire agreement for his political gain.

• UN expressed concern at the ‘distressing conditions’ of Israeli captives and Palestinian detainees released as part of the first phase of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza.

• Unrwa said the forced displacement of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank has impacted some 76,600 Palestinian refugees, warning that it is “escalating at an alarming pace”.

• Two Egyptian security sources said the mediators of the Gaza ceasefire deal fear a breakdown of the agreement after Hamas said it will delay captive release due to Israeli ‘violations’, the Reuters news agency reported.

• More than 110 NGOs condemned Trump’s proposed plans for the US to buy and own Gaza in a joint statement.

• Senior Hamas official Bassem Naim accused Israel of delaying the second phase of the ceasefire deal negotiations, which was meant to start last week.

• The United Nations said not enough tents are entering Gaza even though 200,000 shelters were promised as part of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal.

Good evening Middle East Eye readers, 

Our blog will soon be closing for the day. Here are some of today's main developments:

• Hamas said it would delay the release of the next tranch of Israeli captives "until further notice", accusing Israel of failing to comply with the terms of the ceasefire deal

• US President Donald Trump said Palestinians would have no right of return to Gaza under his plan for the United States to take over the territory

• Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has issued a decree revoking the payment system of “financial allowances for the families of Palestinian prisoners, martyrs and injured”

• Dozens of Palestinian families fled on Monday from the Nur Shams refugee camp on the outskirts of Tulkarm in the north of the occupied West Bank as Israel pushed on with a sweeping military operation

• Israeli forces detained the owners of the Scientific Library, Mahmoud and Ahmed Mona, and seized books during a raid on Salah al-Din Street in Jerusalem, according to the Wafa news agency

• The Kremlin says it is waiting for more details on the US president’s plan to buy the Gaza Strip, an idea that has sparked condemnation from many countries, Reuters news agency reported

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that if all the Israeli captives held in Gaza are not returned by Saturday at noon he would propose canceling the Israel-Hamas ceasefire and letting "all hell break loose."

Speaking to reporters in the Oval Office, Trump also said he might withhold aid to Jordan and Egypt if they don't take Palestinian refugees displaced from Gaza.

Exactly three weeks into a fragile and long-awaited ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, the deal may be teetering on the edge of collapse.

Abu Obeida, the spokesperson for the Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s armed wing, announced on Monday that the sixth Israeli captive release scheduled for Saturday has been cancelled “until further notice”. Hamas added that the decision was taken five days before the scheduled exchange, "allowing mediators ample time to pressure the [Israeli] occupation towards fulfilling its obligations", according to a statement from the group.

Obeida said Israel has failed to abide by the terms of the deal and has delayed the return of forcibly displaced Palestinians back to their homes in northern Gaza, targeted them with “shelling and gunfire”, and obstructed aid supplies from entering Gaza as agreed.

Israel committed to bringing in 60,000 mobile homes for those in tents, which are unfit for winter weather in Gaza. None have been delivered so far. There are also shortfalls in food and fuel deliveries. 

The Israeli captives will not be released “until the occupation commits to and compensates for the entitlements of the past weeks retroactively”, the statement said. 

Obeida said "the door remains open" for the prisoner exchange, and Hamas will remain committed to the deal as long as Israel holds up its end.

Read more: Is the ceasefire in Gaza on the verge of breakdown?