Live: Israel delays release of 602 Palestinian prisoners

Egypt has strongly criticised comments by Israel's prime minister, in which he suggested that a Palestinian state could be established on Saudi territory. 

On Thursday, Benjamin Netanyahu said during an interview with Israel's Channel 14: "The Saudis can create a Palestinian state in Saudi Arabia; they have a lot of land over there."

The remarks came after Riyadh reiterated that it would only normalise relations with Israel if there was a clear pathway towards Palestinian statehood. 

Without naming Netanyahu, Cairo's foreign ministry said on Saturday that it condemned the remarks "in the strongest terms". 

"Egypt condemns the irresponsible Israeli statements that incite against the kingdom and call for the establishment of a Palestinian state on Saudi lands," the ministry said. 

Read more: 'Red line': Egypt condemns Netanyahu's call for Palestinian state in Saudi Arabia

Unexploded bombs and shells buried beneath the ruins of Gaza could kill or injure thousands of people in the future, an aid organisation has warned.

The volume of ordnance dropped on Gaza for 15 months was "mind-boggling", said Simon Elmont, a demining expert with Humanity and Inclusion, formerly known as Handicap International.

"The amount of ordnance that has been fired is an enormous quantity," Elmont told AFP, adding that between 9 and 13 percent of munitions fail to explode on initial impact.

"It is going to be tens of thousands of unexploded ordnance, that's for sure," he added.

Elmont said the contamination level in Gaza was massive, and much of the unexploded ordnance "lies mainly within the rubble and underneath the surface of Gaza".

Hamas has no desire to resume war with Israel, a senior official from the Palestinian group told AFP on Saturday, nearly three weeks into a fragile ceasefire in Gaza.

"Returning to war is certainly not our wish nor our decision," said Basem Naim in an interview.

Israel's "procrastination and lack of commitment in implementing the first phase... certainly exposes this agreement to danger and thus it may stop or collapse."

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which is facilitating ongoing captive-prisoner exchanges between Israel and Hamas under the Gaza ceasefire deal, urged on Saturday that future swaps be held in "private".

"The ICRC is increasingly concerned about the conditions surrounding release operations. We strongly urge all parties, including the mediators, to take responsibility to ensure that future releases are dignified and private," the ICRC said in a statement after it completed the fifth exchange earlier on Saturday.

Hamas has condemned US sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC), saying the move reflects the Trump administration's approach to "promote the law of the jungle".

In a statement to Middle East Eye, Basem Naim, a member of Hamas' political bureau, said the ruling "rewards war criminals such as Netanyahu and members of his government and undermines any chance of justice for victims".

"Countries around the world, especially those who signed the Rome Statute establishing the court, are required to take a serious stand to protect international law and its systems and confront such measures with serious practical steps," Naim said.

Two buses carrying Palestinians released under a Hamas-Israel ceasefire deal have arrived in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, Al Jazeera reported.

The freed prisoners underwent medical check-ups in front of the hospital as crowds gathered to celebrate their return, the report said

The Israeli Prison Service confirmed it had released 183 Palestinian prisoners from several prisons across the country on Saturday during the fifth exchange under the Gaza ceasefire deal between Hamas and Israel.

Egypt on Saturday condemned the "irresponsible" statements made by Israeli officials suggesting the establishment of a Palestinian state on Saudi territory, according to a statement from Egypt's foreign ministry.

The ministry described the proposal as a "direct infringement of Saudi sovereignty", adding that the kingdom's security is a "red line for Egypt".

Hussein al-Sheikh, secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), also reacted to the Israeli statement, saying it is “a violation of international law and international conventions”.

“We affirm that the State of Palestine will only be on the land of Palestine, and we appreciate the positions of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, its leadership and people, which always call for the implementation of international legitimacy and international law,” Sheikh said.

Seven Palestinian prisoners who were among those freed by Israel on Saturday as part of the Gaza ceasefire deal were admitted to hospitals upon arriving in Ramallah, the Palestinian Prisoners Society told AFP.

"All the prisoners who were released today are in need of medical care, treatment, and examinations as a result of the brutality they were subjected to during the past months. There are seven who were transferred to the hospital," said Abdullah al-Zaghari, head of the NGO.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society also confirmed that seven prisoners had been admitted to hospitals.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society is transporting four recently released Palestinian prisoners from a bus that arrived in Ramallah to a hospital, Al Jazeera Arabic reported.

The organisation said the prisoners are in serious condition.

According to sources cited by Al Jazeera Arabic, one of those transferred to the hospital is Jamal al-Tawil, a 61-year-old Hamas politician and former mayor of el-Bireh, who has spent nearly 20 years in and out of Israeli prisons without trial.

A bus carrying Palestinian prisoners freed by Israel in exchange for Gaza captives arrived on Saturday in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, an AFP journalist said.

As part of the fifth captive-prisoner swap under a fragile Gaza ceasefire, the released prisoners stepped off the bus one by one, greeted by a cheering crowd who had gathered since the morning in Ramallah.

Iranian Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei met with acting Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya and two other leaders of the Palestinian group for the first time since the Gaza ceasefire, Iranian state media reported on Saturday.

It gave no details about the meeting in Tehran and only posted photos of Khamenei meeting Hayya, Muhammad Darwish, head of Hamas' leadership council, and top Hamas official Nizar Awadallah.

A bus carrying freed Palestinian detainees departed Israel’s Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank on Saturday as part of an exchange for Israeli captives released by Hamas in Gaza, an AFP journalist reported.

Earlier, three Israeli captives were handed over in the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah in the fifth such swap under a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas that took effect on January 19.

The Palestinian health ministry reported 26 fatalities, including four newly killed and 22 bodies recovered, as well as five wounded people arriving at hospitals in the past 48 hours, according to Al Jazeera.

In a new statement, the ministry said an additional 572 deaths were added to the official toll of people killed in Israeli attacks after a judicial committee verified missing persons’ reports.

This brings the confirmed death toll from Israeli attacks since October 7 to at least 48,181, with 111,638 wounded.

Many victims remain trapped under the rubble.

Gaza's government media office has put the death toll at 61,709 people, saying thousands of missing individuals are now presumed dead.

Israeli captives Eli Sharabi, Ohad Ben Ami and Or Levy - freed by Hamas in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah - have been transferred to Israeli military and intelligence officers, the army said in a statement.