Live: Israel delays release of 602 Palestinian prisoners

Former Israeli Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has indicated he is more likely to return to government, according to Channel 12.

His remarks come after US President Donald Trump suggested that Palestinians should leave Gaza and the US should take control of the territory.

The far-right minister took to X to say "The only solution to Gaza is to encourage the migration of Gazans. When I said this time and again during the war that this was the solution to Gaza, they mocked me. Now it is clear: this is the only solution to the Gaza problem - this is the strategy for the "day after". I call on the Prime Minister to announce the adoption of the plan as soon as possible and to begin immediate practical progress."

US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff has claimed that President Donald Trump wants to offer Palestinians "hope for a better future, perhaps beyond war-ravaged Gaza."

Speaking to Fox News, Witkoff said Trump is determined to take a different approach to the region, arguing that past efforts over the last 50 years have failed. However, he did not provide specifics on what this new strategy would entail.

He suggested that Gaza would remain uninhabitable for at least 10 to 15 years, echoing Trump’s earlier remarks.

Witkoff also insisted that "everyone wants to see peace in the region," arguing that improving Palestinian lives should focus on economic opportunities and stability rather than remaining in Gaza, home to over two million people.

"A better life isn’t about pitching a tent in Gaza," he said, describing the enclave as too dangerous to live in.

US Senator Chris Murphy has criticised Donald Trump’s claim that the US could take control of Gaza, calling the former president’s remarks "completely unhinged."

Posting on X, the Connecticut Democrat dismissed Trump’s suggestion, stating, “We aren’t taking over Gaza.”

In a follow-up post, he warned that such an action would result in "the slaughter of thousands of US troops and decades of war in the Middle East," adding, “It’s like a bad, sick joke.”

Murphy accused Trump of using the controversy to divert attention from "the real story – billionaires seizing government to steal from regular people."

Good morning Middle East Eye readers, 

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

• Speaking alongside Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US President Donald Trump reaffirmed his proposal for the US to take control of Gaza, saying he intends to "take over" the enclave and "do a job with it."

• Trump announced the US had withdrawn from what he called the "anti-Semitic" UN Human Rights Council and cut all funding to the UN Relief and Works Agency (Unrwa).

• Netanyahu praised Trump as Israel’s "greatest friend" in the White House, lauding his "out-of-the-box thinking."

• Hamas condemned Trump’s remarks, warning they would fuel "chaos and tension" in the region.

• Saudi Arabia reaffirmed its support for an independent Palestinian state and rejected any efforts to forcibly displace Palestinians.

• US rights groups and lawmakers, including Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, slammed Trump’s comments, accusing him of "openly calling for ethnic cleansing."

• Meanwhile, rescue teams recovered the bodies of 19 more Palestinians from a mass grave on al-Thawra Street in northern Gaza City.

Good evening Middle East Eye readers, 

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

• More than 9,000 people have been reported missing in Gaza since the war began, according to the Wall Street Journal, citing the International Committee of the Red Cross

• Israeli forces have forced around 3,420 families to flee the Jenin refugee camp at gunpoint, according to Jenin Governorate, as reported by Al Jazeera Arabic

• Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said Israel is preventing the entry of essential humanitarian aid, including tents, gas and heavy equipment to clear rubble, despite the ceasefire

• At least 380 Palestinians have been detained in the occupied West Bank since the Gaza ceasefire agreement took effect, according to the Palestinian Prisoners' Society (PPS)

• Ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to the White House, Human Rights Watch has urged the US to cut off military support to Israel

• US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Palestinians have no alternative but to leave Gaza, adding that he would like to see neighbouring countries, Jordan and Egypt, take in the displaced Palestinians

• A senior Hamas official slammed Donald Trump’s remarks on Tuesday as a “recipe for creating chaos” in the region after the US president said Palestinians were staying in Gaza because “they have no alternative”

Egypt will not be swayed to take in Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, US officials in the region have told the White House in recent days as they brace for the Trump administration to ramp up pressure on Cairo, Middle East Eye can reveal.

Trump has also said that Jordan will take in Palestinians ahead of King Abdullah II’s visit to Washington next week.

The growing divide between diplomats and the White House has heightened tensions, pitting President Donald Trump and his closest advisers against career diplomats in the region, who are ferrying messages to Arab officials.

In the case of Egypt, US officials warned the White House that the controversial proposal could destabilise a close ally and that Egypt would not be susceptible to financial incentives, a senior US diplomat in the region told MEE.

The notion that Palestinians can be moved to Egypt, Jordan or any third country is widely regarded as ethnic cleansing of the besieged enclave and would likely violate international law.

Another mid-level US diplomat in the region working on this issue told MEE that the White House appeared “tone deaf” to the assessments of US diplomats and remained intent on pursuing the plan to send Palestinians to Egypt.

Last week, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio raised the topic in a phone call with his Egyptian counterpart, Badr Abdelatty, one of the officials told MEE.

Both US officials say they expect the rift between US embassies in the region and the White House to widen following Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s meeting with Trump on Tuesday.

Read more: White House ignores State Department pleas as it calls for Palestinians to go to Egypt

A senior Hamas official slammed Donald Trump’s remarks on Tuesday as a “recipe for creating chaos” in the region after the US president said Palestinians were staying in Gaza because “they have no alternative”.

“We consider it a recipe for creating chaos and tension in the region. Our people in the Gaza Strip will not allow these plans to pass,” said senior Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zuhri in a statement.

“What is required is an end to the occupation and aggression against our people, not their expulsion from their land.”

Trump first suggested the forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza on 25 January by urging Egypt and Jordan to take in more people.

He has since reiterated the plan at least four times, including on Tuesday.

Jordan, Egypt and other Arab nations, along with Palestinian leaders, have publicly rejected the proposal, which critics say would amount to ethnic cleansing.

US President Donald Trump said on Tuesday that Palestinians have no alternative but to leave Gaza, adding that he would like to see neighbouring countries, Jordan and Egypt, take in the displaced Palestinians.

US Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff said he will meet with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani in Florida on Thursday.

The meeting coincides with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to the US this week and the scheduled resumption of indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas on the second stage of a Gaza ceasefire deal and captive release.

US officials defended President Donald Trump's suggestion that more Palestinians in war-shattered Gaza relocate to neighbouring countries but insisted he was trying to look at the problem realistically, not imposing a solution.

The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, stressed that the US wants to work with its Arab partners and Israel to come up with creative solutions to the challenge.

Five Arab foreign ministers and a senior Palestinian official sent a joint letter to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Monday, opposing plans to displace Palestinians from Gaza.

Israeli forces stormed the town of al-Khader, south of the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem on Tuesday evening, Wafa news agency is reporting.

Local sources said that Israeli forces barged their way into the town, deploying in the vicinity of a local mosque where they fired volleys of tear gas canisters, causing a tree to catch fire.

In the course of the raid, the soldiers reportedly briefly held and physically assaulted a 13-year-old minor.

As the sun sets on southern Lebanon’s Nabatieh, Jamal Sabbagh and his brother try to salvage any belongings they can find from their bombed-out home.

Having rushed back to his hometown the moment the ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel was announced in November, Sabbagh still recalls the shock he felt the moment he saw his house.

“When I got there, the door was opened, and the sight in person was very different from what the pictures show,” he told Middle East Eye.

“I stood in silence, looking, thinking, ‘wow, my home...’ It was very emotional.”

With the truce between the two warring sides seeming to hold, despite Israel being accused of hundreds of violations, Sabbagh is one of many Lebanese who now look forward to rebuilding their homes.

READ MORE: South Lebanon slowly rebuilds as Israel repeatedly violates the ceasefire

Ahead of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to the White House, Human Rights Watch has urged the US to cut off military support to Israel.

"If President Trump wants to break with the Biden administration's complicity in the Israeli government's atrocities in Gaza, he should immediately suspend arms transfers to Israel," said Bruno Stagno, HRW’s chief advocacy officer.

"Trump said the hostilities in Gaza were ‘not our war’ but 'their war,' but unless the US ends its military support, Gaza will also be Trump’s war."

US President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu are meeting on Tuesday.

The US will remain complicit in Israel’s atrocities in Gaza so long as it continues to provide Israel with arms. Read more: https://t.co/QLXnU0i25W pic.twitter.com/O22LN6P2x6

— Human Rights Watch (@hrw) February 4, 2025

The Lebanese army has announced that its soldiers and armoured vehicles have entered the southern town on Taybeh, in the Marjayoun district.

The military said it will continue its deployment in areas south of the Litani River as part of the ceasefire agreement Lebanon and Israel.

As Israel continues to violate the ceasefire with Hezbollah and retains some presence in southern Lebanon, the Lebanese army advised citizens to refrain from returning to their towns until it can ensure their safety.

انتشرت وحدات عسكرية في بلدة الطيبة – مرجعيون في القطاع الشرقي ومناطق حدودية أخرى في منطقة جنوب الليطاني بعد انسحاب العدو الإسرائيلي، بالتنسيق مع اللجنة الخماسية للإشراف على اتفاق وقف إطلاق النار (Mechanism).
تجدد قيادة الجيش تأكيدها أهمية التزام المواطنين بالتوجيهات الصادرة في… pic.twitter.com/TotCjEmw8L

— الجيش اللبناني (@LebarmyOfficial) February 4, 2025

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will arrive at the White House at 4pm local time (9pm GMT) for his meeting with US President Donald Trump.

According to the White House schedule, the two leaders will hold a 15-minute meeting before being joined by their teams.

They will then hold a joint press conference at 5:10pm local time.

Netanyahu has an international arrest warrant issued against him by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The US is not a state party to the ICC, and US officials have repeatedly attacked the court for its decision against the Israeli leader.