Live: Israel delays release of 602 Palestinian prisoners

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said he opposed plans to expel Palestinians from Gaza.

“What President Trump put on the table gets a total rejection from me,” he told a campaign event in Ludwigsburg, western Germany.

“We cannot resettle the population of Gaza to Egypt and Jordan. That is not ok.”

The EU expressed its "regret" regarding the US executive order allowing the imposition of sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC).

"The International Criminal Court is of key importance in upholding international criminal justice and the fight against impunity. The EU is supporting the International Criminal Court and the principles set out in the Rome Statute," a spokesperson told Middle East Eye.

"The executive order could represent a serious challenge to the work of the ICC with the risks of affecting ongoing investigations and proceedings, including as regards Ukraine, impacting years of efforts to ensure accountability around the world. The EU will be monitoring the implications of the executive order and will assess possible further steps."

The UN said it deeply regretted US President Donald Trump's decision to sanction the International Criminal Court (ICC) and urged him to reverse the move.

"We deeply regret the individual sanctions announced yesterday against court personnel, and call for this measure to be reversed," UN human rights office spokeswoman Ravina Shamdasani said.

The US deputy special envoy for the Middle East on Friday said that Hezbollah's presence in Lebanon's new government was a red line, welcoming the end of the Iran-backed group's "reign of terror".

"We have set clear red lines in the United States that they (Hezbollah) won't be able to terrorise the Lebanese people, and that includes by being a part of the government," Morgan Ortagus said after meeting Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in Beirut.

"Hezbollah was defeated by Israel and we are grateful to our ally Israel for defeating Hezbollah.

"The end of Hezbollah's reign of terror in Lebanon and around the world has started and it's over.

"The men and women of character of this government will ensure that we start to end corruption, that we end influence from Hezbollah, and that we embark on the reforms for a greater country."

AFP

Israeli military intelligence directorate Shlomi Binder is to face reprimand over his criticism of Donald Trump's proposed plan for the Gaza Strip.

The Times of Israel said Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz has ordered army chief Herzi Halevi to reprimand Binder after he said Trump’s plans to take over Gaza would increase violence in the occupied West Bank.

“There will be no reality in which [Israeli army] officers will speak out against US President Trump’s important plan regarding Gaza, and against the directives of the political echelon,” Katz said in a statement.

“I ordered the [army] to prepare to advance the plan for the voluntary departure of Gaza residents who would be interested in leaving to various places in the world, and that is exactly what the [army] is required to do and will do."

Ireland has pledged $20m to the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) after an Israeli ban came into effect.

“Today’s announcement underscores Ireland’s commitment to ensuring that there is a significant and meaningful surge in humanitarian aid into Gaza at this critical time. There is no replacement for the work of UNRWA and it is vital that it is supported,” said Irish Foreign Minister Simon Harris in a statement.

“I urge Israel to reconsider these measures and encourage other Governments to support UNRWA with funding at this most critical time so that it can deliver for the millions of Palestinian refugees in need."

Good evening Middle East Eye readers, 

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

• US President Donald Trump authorised economic and travel sanctions targeting people who work on International Criminal Court investigations of US citizens or US allies, such as Israel,  the White House has confirmed.

• Sources close to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it is uncertain whether an Israeli delegation will travel to Qatar this weekend, Haaretz reported.

• Israel's defence minister Israel Katz ordered the military to prepare for "voluntary" departures from Gaza, following Trump's proposal to "clear out" the territory.

• Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem warned that US President Donald Trump's plan to "clear out" Gaza and displace its people was a "declaration of intent to occupy" the Palestinian territory.

• Gaza's Civil Defence has condemned "Israeli intransigence and procrastination" over bringing essential equipment into the strip.

• Human Rights Watch warned that should US President Donald Trump's plan to "clear out" Gaza become state policy, "it would potentially amount to state cleansing".

• The death toll of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces in Gaza since 7 October 2023 reached 47,583, the enclave's health ministry said on Thursday.

• Israel has informed the United Nations Human Rights Council that it will follow the US in withdrawing its participation, Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said.

• Donald Trump said that Israel would turn the Gaza Strip over to the United States after the fighting ends and that no US soldiers would be needed there.

The United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs, Tom Fletcher, shared his observations during his visit to Gaza, saying, "the scale of destruction and suffering is beyond my worst fears."

"But since the Gaza ceasefire took hold, humanitarians are mobilizing massive lifesaving aid - food, water, tents, medicine - for the survivors. We must be supported to continue," he said in a post on X.

I’ve traveled through Gaza today - the scale of destruction and suffering is beyond my worst fears.

But since #GazaCeasefire took hold, humanitarians are mobilizing massive lifesaving aid - food, water, tents, medicine - for the survivors. We must be supported to continue. pic.twitter.com/TFrZz1W1ix

— Tom Fletcher (@UNReliefChief) February 6, 2025

Nearly 48 hours after US President Donald Trump announced the US would take over Gaza to build waterfront resorts, the details are not only murky but seemingly non-existent.

Despite his own officials walking back major aspects of the proposal, including the permanent expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza, Trump doubled down in a post on his TruthSocial platform on Thursday, only this time saying that “no soldiers by the US would be needed!!”

“The Gaza Strip would be turned over to the United States by Israel at the conclusion of fighting,” Trump wrote, suggesting that the next phase of the fragile ceasefire, due to start on 1 March, was in peril. 

“The Palestinians… would have already been resettled in far safer and more beautiful communities, with new and modern homes, in the region. They would actually have a chance to be happy, safe and free. The US, working with great development teams from all over the World, would slowly and carefully begin the construction of what would become one of the greatest and most spectacular developments of its kind on Earth,” Trump said. 

Read more: US sends mixed signals on Trump's 'delusional' Gaza takeover

Israeli forces launched two air strikes on al-Tuffah region in southern Lebanon and conducted additional air raids in the Bekaa Valley in eastern Lebanon, near the Syrian border, according to Al Jazeera Arabic.

No casualties have been reported in the attacks.

US President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Thursday imposing sanctions on the International Criminal Court, Reuters reported, citing a White House official.

The measures, including economic and travel restrictions, will target people who work on International Criminal Court investigations of US citizens or US allies such as Israel, repeating the action Trump took during his first term. 

The sanctions include freezing any US assets of those designated and barring them and their families from visiting the United States.

The US secretary of state is planning to visit the Middle East in mid-February, Axios has reported, citing two Israeli officials and two other unidentified sources.

Rubio is planning to travel to the region after the Munich Security Conference, which is set to begin on 14 February, and visit Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and possibly other countries, the report said.

Social media has been in an uproar this week ever since US President Donald Trump held a press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, where he announced his Gaza "takeover" plan. 

Trump announced on Tuesday the US could "take over" the Gaza Strip and transform it into a premier tourist destination, or the "Riviera of the Middle East" - but without Palestinians.

On social media, many debated the plan, with large swathes of people denouncing it as "ethnic cleansing". Others immediately pointed out the US's long history of "settler colonialism" and "imperialism".

In the US, many liberal commentators, especially supporters of the Democratic Party, said Trump was acting precisely as they had warned ahead of presidential elections in November 2024. They blamed his Gaza takeover plan on Muslims for voting for him instead of Kamala Harris.

Voters in Michigan's Dearborn, the largest majority Arab-American city in the United States, overwhelmingly supported Trump in a clear protest against the Biden administration's handling of Israel's war on Gaza. 

In reality, Trump won every swing state in the US election, and had he lost Michigan, Harris still would not have come close to competing in the electoral college. 

Arab Americans reacted to the blame in a humorous way, referring to Schrödinger's cat, which is a thought experiment in quantum mechanics where a cat in a box is both alive and dead at the same time until someone observes it. 

Read more: ‘Take that, Dearborn’: Muslim Americans scapegoated for Trump’s Gaza 'takeover’ plan

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Gaza currently is "not habitable" due to dangers such as unexploded weapons, and that people would have to live elsewhere while the area is rebuilt.

Rubio also said countries in the region should step forward and offer to help rebuild Gaza but did not say whether Palestinians would be able to return to the area under a proposal by US President Donald Trump.

"I think that's just a realistic reality, that in order to fix a place like that, people are going to have to live somewhere else in the interim," Rubio said.

In a joint statement on 1 February, Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, the Palestinian Authority, and the Arab League rejected any plans to forcibly move Palestinians out of Gaza and the occupied West Bank.