Live: Israel delays release of 602 Palestinian prisoners

The pro-Palestinian protester who opened a combination Sudanese-Palestinian flag with “Sudan” and “Gaza” written on it during the Super Bowl halftime show was a cast member in Kendrick Lamar’s performance, the NFL has confirmed.

The protester was detained on the field and could face charges, The Times of Israel reported.

The NFL confirms the person was part of the 400-member field cast.

“The individual will (be) banned for life from all NFL stadiums and events,” NFL spokesperson Brian McCarthy said in an emailed statement, according to The Times of Israel.

Israeli opposition leader Benny Gantz has criticised the government's decision to delay talks on forming an inquiry into the Hamas-led attacks of 7 October 2023.

Gantz, who leads the State Camp Party, said “the interrogated will not choose the investigators. A state commission of inquiry, independent according to law, will be established,” in a post on X.

In December, Israel’s High Court of Justice ordered the government to hold a hearing on the attacks within 60 days but Netanyahu’s cabinet decided to hold more talks on the subject in three months, according to The Times of Israel.

Israeli forces killed 20-year-old Iyas Adli Fakhri al-Akhras in Nour Shams camp east of Tulkarm in the occupied West Bank on Sunday evening, the Wafa news agency reported.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health confirmed his death in a brief statement. His killing brought the death toll in the camp to four, after Sundus Jamal Muhammad Shalabi, 23, and her unborn child, as well as Rahaf Fouad Abdullah al-Ashqar, 21, were killed earlier in the day. Seven others were injured.

Israeli soldiers have shot and killed another Palestinian in the Shujaiya neighbourhood of Gaza City, Al Jazeera Arabic reported.

The killing came after Israeli forces killed four people, including an elderly woman in southern Gaza on Sunday.

Families returned to the north of Gaza have been “shocked” at the scale of destruction in the area even after seeing the videos and photos before their arrival, Tess Ingram, a spokesperson for Unicef, said in a video posted on X.

"They hoped that their homes, their neighbourhoods, their communities maybe have been spared, and as they come back here and realise that’s not the case, the hope that they’ve been holding onto for 15 months crashes into a deep heaviness," Ingram said.

“This is particularly traumatic for children, who have endured so much already.”

Families returning to northern #Gaza are shocked by the scale of destruction.

UNICEF’s Tess Ingram shares the reality on the ground and the immense challenges people are facing. pic.twitter.com/IRYrN9AsNM

— UNICEF MENA - يونيسف الشرق الأوسط وشمال إفريقيا (@UNICEFmena) February 9, 2025

A performer waved the flags of Palestine and Sudan during the Super Bowl LIX halftime show in New Orleans, in an apparent protest to raise awareness about ongoing crises in both regions.

The man was chased off stage as he ran around the performance area before being tackled and removed by security.

A performer waved the flags of Palestine and Sudan during the Super Bowl LIX halftime show in New Orleans, in an apparent protest to raise awareness about ongoing crises in both regions.

The man was chased off stage as he ran around the performance area before being tackled and… pic.twitter.com/HTOooreJ7Y

— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) February 10, 2025

Good morning Middle East Eye readers, 

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

• The Palestinian Journalists Syndicate (PJS) said at least seven journalists in the Gaza Strip were killed last month alone in Israel’s “serious and continued escalations” against media workers, Al Jazeera reported.

• Israel stepped up its raids on cities and towns across the occupied West Bank, according to Al Jazeera Arabic and the Wafa news agency.

• The UN Human Rights Office warned that the killings and the demolition of homes “indicate ongoing violations of international law”.

• Hamas political bureau condemned US President Donald Trump's latest remarks on "buying and owning" Gaza, saying Palestinians will foil all displacement plans the group.

• The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has condemned the Israeli parliament’s Ministerial Committee for Legislation approval of a draft bill to name the occupied West Bank as “Judea and Samaria”.

Good evening Middle East Eye readers, 

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

• The Israeli military has completed its withdrawal from the Netzarim Corridor in northern Gaza on Sunday as part of an ongoing ceasefire deal.

• In an interview with Fox News, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu praised US President Donald Trump’s proposal to forcibly displace and “relocate” Gaza's population to Jordan and Egypt.

• Israeli forces shot dead three Palestinians on Sunday, Gaza's civil defence agency reported, while the Israeli military said it had fired "warning shots" at Palestinians approaching its positions and hit them.

• More than 20,000 Palestinians have been forcibly displaced from the Jenin refugee camp in the northern occupied West Bank due to Israel’s latest military offensive, an official has confirmed.

• Israeli President Isaac Herzog has claimed that Donald Trump will meet Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and possibly Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, according to Reuters.

• Israel’s Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, Eli Cohen, has reiterated his government's push for Saudi Arabia to absorb Palestinians and create a state within its borders, dismissing any possibility of Palestinian sovereignty on their own land.

• Mike Huckabee, a key ally of Donald Trump, and the US nominee to be ambassador to Israel has called for Hamas’s eradication, claiming the Trump administration is ready to reshape the Middle East in ways he described as “biblical.”

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has endorsed US President Donald Trump’s proposal to take control of Gaza and forcibly displace its population, calling it “revolutionary.”

• Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has rejected US President Donald Trump’s proposal to take control of Gaza, calling it a meaningless plan pushed by the Zionist lobby.

• US President Donald Trump told reporters that allowing Palestinians to return to Gaza would be a “big mistake,” insisting that the US would “own” the territory.

Egypt’s foreign minister has dismissed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s remarks in US media as “misleading accusations” after he alleged that Cairo was blocking Palestinians from leaving Gaza.

In an interview with Fox News, Netanyahu claimed that only wealthy individuals were able to leave the besieged enclave by bribing officials, while ordinary Palestinians were prevented from escaping. He argued that they should be given the option to relocate.

Egyptian authorities did not specify whether their response was directly linked to Netanyahu’s Fox News interview, but the comments have further strained relations between the two countries.

US President Donald Trump told reporters that allowing Palestinians to return to Gaza would be a “big mistake,” insisting that the US would “own” the territory.

“We don’t want Hamas going back,” Trump said. “Think of it as a big real estate site. The US is going to own it and will very slowly—no rush—develop it.”

Outlining his vision for Gaza, Trump claimed the US would bring “stability” to the war-ravaged region. “It’s totally demolished right now, but it will be reclaimed, levelled out, fixed up. There won’t be anyone there, Hamas won’t be there.”

Regarding the Palestinians forced out of Gaza, he said, “We’ll be building, with the help of wealthy Middle Eastern countries, some beautiful places for them to live. They’ll be living in harmony and peace, probably for the first time in hundreds of years.”

US President Donald Trump declared on Sunday that he remains committed to seizing control of Gaza, suggesting that parts of the territory could be handed over to other Middle Eastern states to aid in reconstruction efforts, Reuters reported.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has condemned US President Donald Trump’s proposal to expel Palestinians from Gaza, calling it a “scandal” that flagrantly breaches international law.

“It’s an appalling idea, especially given the horrific devastation we are witnessing,” Scholz said during a televised debate with his conservative rival, Friedrich Merz.

Scholz pointed out that Trump’s plan, which suggests relocating Gaza’s population to Egypt and Jordan, has been firmly rejected by Middle Eastern countries. “Forcibly resettling Palestinians is unacceptable and a violation of international law,” he stated.

Merz echoed Scholz’s concerns but urged caution in responding to Trump’s rhetoric. “I share this view, but the US administration has put forward many troubling proposals. We need to see which are serious and how they might actually be implemented—there is likely a lot of political posturing involved.”

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has rejected US President Donald Trump’s proposal to take control of Gaza, calling it a meaningless plan pushed by the Zionist lobby.

“From our perspective, there is nothing worth discussing about the proposals brought up by the new US administration regarding Gaza under the pressure of the Zionist lobby,” Erdogan said at a press conference.

“This plan is completely futile… No one has the power to remove the people of Gaza from their homeland. The people of Gaza will continue to stay in Gaza, live in Gaza and protect Gaza.”

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan also dismissed the idea of expelling Palestinians from Gaza, calling it "historically ignorant" in an interview. "The displacement of Palestinians is unacceptable," he told Turkey's news agency Anadolu.

 A member of the powerful Saudi Shura Council, Yousef bin Trad Al-Saadoun, ridiculed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s suggestion of establishing a Palestinian state in Saudi Arabia, instead proposing that US President Donald Trump should instead locate Israelis to Alaska and later to Greenland “after annexing it.”

Writing in the Saudi newspaper Okaz on Friday, Al-Saadoun criticised Trump’s approach to Middle East policy, arguing that reckless decisions stem from ignoring expert advice and dismissing dialogue.

He warned that "Zionists and their allies" would fail to manipulate Saudi leadership through media pressure and political manoeuvres.

Taking a swipe at the Trump administration, Al-Saadoun said "the official foreign policy of the United States will seek the illegal occupation of sovereign land and the ethnic cleansing of its inhabitants, which are the Israeli approach and are considered crimes against humanity. Anyone who follows the path of the emergence and continuation of Israel clearly realizes that this plan was certainly formulated and approved by the Zionist entity, and was handed over to their ally to read from the White House podium."

"The Zionists and their supporters must realize well that they will not be able to lure the Saudi leadership and government into the traps of media maneuvers and false political pressures." he wrote. 

Read more: 'Take the Israelis to Alaska’, Saudi official mocks Netanyahu and Trump

US President Donald Trump has reshared an opinion piece from the right-wing Israel National News that endorses his plan to forcibly remove Gaza’s population while advocating for Israel’s annexation of the occupied West Bank.

The article, written by Joe Frager—with close ties to Trump’s inner circle—claims that Trump is offering Palestinians “the greatest opportunity on earth.”

“Once Gaza is no longer a launching pad for Hamas missiles and terrorist attacks, President Trump can move his sights over to Judea and Samaria,” Frager wrote, using Israel’s terminology for the occupied West Bank.

He predicted that Trump would oversee Israel’s annexation of the territory, claiming this would “bring the reality of peace closer.”

Frager went further, warning Palestinian communities in the West Bank that, just as Hamas has been targeted in Gaza, “their fellow Hamas operatives and comrades will be jailed and/or deported with their entire family and relocated if they commit acts of terrorism.”