Live: Israel delays release of 602 Palestinian prisoners

Hamas is due to hand over the bodies of four captives to the ICRC in less than an hour.

The transfer of the bodies is the first such handover of remains by Hamas since the beginning of the war.

The group said the return of the bodies of Shiri Bibas, her two young boys -Kfir and Ariel- and a fourth captive, Oded Lifshitz, will take place in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis.

A spokesman for Hamas said all four were killed in Israeli air attacks.

Under the ceasefire's first phase, 19 Israeli captives have been released by Hamas so far in exchange for more than 1,100 Palestinian prisoners in a series of Red Cross-mediated swaps.

Good morning Middle East Eye readers,

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

• Israel’s parliament passed a law that bans entry to foreigners if authorities determine that they have denied the 7 October attacks or expressed support for the international prosecution of Israeli soldiers.

• Some 62 per cent of American voters oppose Trump’s plan to forcefully displace Palestinians in Gaza, while 22 per cent support it, according to a new poll by Quinnipiac University in Connecticut.

• Government officials have advised Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim to soften his criticism of Israel’s war on Gaza to avoid economic retaliation from the US, Bloomberg reported.

• The Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society said Israel informed them about the whereabouts of 64 Palestinians who disappeared from Gaza but the fate of hundreds of others taken from Gaza remains unknown.

• WHO and Unicef will administer vaccines to more than 591,000 children younger than 10 in Gaza after WHO's discovery that 88 per cent of samples taken from Gaza were contaminated with the poliovirus.

• The National Campaign to Retrieve Martyrs’ Bodies told Al Jazeera Arabic that authorities in the country are withholding the bodies of at least 665 people.

• Israeli forces shot and wounded a 15-year-old boy during a raid on the town of Beita near Nablus and injured two other young men in a raid on Beit Furik in the occupied West Bank, the Wafa news agency reported.

Good evening Middle East Eye readers, 

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

• Rafah Mayor Ahmed al-Sufi condemned Israel’s destruction of the southern Gaza city, stating that occupation forces had levelled six entire neighbourhoods and were blocking residents from returning home.

• According to Sufi, 70 percent of Rafah has been destroyed, with 90 percent of its buildings rendered uninhabitable.

• Hamas says three Palestinians were killed in Tubas after they refused to surrender to Israeli forces, who besieged a house in the Far’a refugee camp in the occupied northwestern West Bank.

• Local prosecutors in Florida said on Tuesday their hate crimes unit was probing a shooting by a male suspect who, according to police, fired on two men he thought were Palestinians but turned out to be Israeli visitors, Reuters reported.

• Israeli soldiers have arrested six Palestinians, including a 14-year-old boy, in raids across the Bethlehem governorate in the occupied West Bank, the Wafa news agency reported.

• Israel has only allowed six small machines to remove rubble from the Gaza Strip while preventing the entry of hundreds more that are desperately needed, Anadolu Agency reported.

• United Arab Emirates President Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan told visiting US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday that Abu Dhabi opposes the forced displacement of Palestinians, official media reported.

• 80 percent of Gaza's water and sanitation infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed amid Israel's war on Gaza, according to Oxfam.

• Lebanon's President Joseph Aoun on Wednesday told visiting US National Security Adviser Mike Waltz that Israel must withdraw entirely from the country and complete the implementation of the US-brokered ceasefire agreement with Israel.

• Abu Obeida, spokesperson for the Qassam Brigades, announced that the bodies of the Bibas family and Israeli captive Oded Lifshitz would be handed over on Thursday as part of the ceasefire exchange deal.

• Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez have firmly opposed US President Donald Trump's plan to "take over" Gaza and forcibly expel Palestinians from the war-ravaged enclave.

The United Arab Emirates president and ruler told visiting US Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Wednesday that it opposes the forced displacement of Palestinians, UAE's state media reported.

Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan "reaffirmed the UAE's firm stance, rejecting any attempts to displace the Palestinian people from their land", the Emirati state's news agency WAM said.

The exchange came during Rubio’s four-day tour of the Middle East this week.

Tami Bruce, a spokesperson for the US State Department, said Rubio’s tour would focus on regional cooperation, freeing American captives and getting to the next phase of the Gaza ceasefire agreement.

President Nahyan told Rubio during a meeting in Abu Dhabi that it was important to link the reconstruction of Gaza “to a path that leads to a comprehensive and lasting peace based on the two-state solution" to ensure stability in the region.

Read more: UAE rejects Trump's plan to displace Palestinians from Gaza

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun has called for an end to Israel’s occupation of five border posts in southern Lebanon during a phone conversation with US national security adviser Mike Waltz.

According to a statement from the Lebanese presidency, Aoun stressed the “urgent need” for Israel to withdraw from the remaining occupied areas, enforce UN Security Council Resolution 1701, and finalise a ceasefire agreement to stabilise the region.

He also urged Waltz to prioritise securing the release of Lebanese citizens unlawfully detained by Israel.

While the Israeli army withdrew from several occupied towns and villages in southern Lebanon on Tuesday, it continues to hold positions deep inside Lebanese territory.

Hundreds of pro-Palestine people attended a demonstration organised by the Palestinian Assembly for Liberation-Awda (Pal-Awda) on Tuesday in New York City's borough of Brooklyn to protest against a real estate event advertising land for sale in occupied Palestine, with protests turning violent. 

The protests by Pal-Awda and many pro-Palestinian supporters against the land "expo" turned into chaos between the pro-Palestinian side and far-right Zionist groups that organised a counter-protest.

Betar USA, the US franchise of the right-wing youth Zionist movement, organised a counterdemonstration across the street from the pro-Palestinian protesters. 

Pal-Awda said that hundreds of protesters "responded to Pal-Awda's call to protest an illegal real estate event selling stolen land in occupied Palestine".

A statement by Pal-Awda said the pro-Palestinian attendees were “spat on, kicked, harassed, maced, physically struck and punched by Zionists. One counter-protestor held a lighter to a Qur’an, another made sexual gestures with the Qur’an, and others mocked the [Muslim] call for prayer”.

Read more: NYC real estate expo promoting sale of 'stolen land' in Palestine descends into violence

The Israeli army has announced plans for a military drill in the northern Gaza Strip.

“As part of the exercise, there will be significant movement of military vehicles and security forces in the area,” the army stated.

The drill is set to take place on the same day that the bodies of four Israeli captives will be returned.

The Palestinian Authority’s (PA) security forces have been hit by the Trump administration’s foreign funding freeze, but the funds suspended are just a slice of the cash they receive from the US, making it difficult to determine the status of the PA’s coffers.

The Washington Post reported on Wednesday that the US stopped all security assistance to the PA. The Trump administration instituted a 90-day pause on foreign assistance. US Secretary of State Marco Rubio exempted only two entities from the cut: Israel and Egypt.

The security assistance that has been suspended to the PA is from the State Department and Department of Defence funds appropriated through the State Department’s Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs (INL), a source briefed by PA officials told MEE.

That funding shows up in unlikely places. For example, Palestinian security forces have been blocked from travelling to Jordan for SWAT training and advanced police courses, a US official told MEE.

“Most of the PA’s aid doesn’t come from the State Department. It comes from the CIA. Last I heard, they haven’t changed their policy on the PA,” a member of Fatah told MEE.

Read more: Palestinian Authority's covert funding makes assessing US aid cuts tricky

Hamas says three Palestinians were killed in Tubas after they refused to surrender to Israeli forces, who besieged a house in the Far’a refugee camp in the occupied northwestern West Bank.

The movement said the "assassinations" would only strengthen the Palestinian people's commitment to armed resistance in the West Bank, vowing to continue the struggle "until liberation".

Hamas also condemned the Palestinian Authority for arresting resistance fighters, accusing it of collaborating with Israel in targeting Palestinian fighters.

"The assassination in Al-Far’a camp coincided with a campaign of arrests carried out by the PA security forces against resistance fighters, confirming the seriousness of the crime of security cooperation between the occupation and the PA, which dared to shed Palestinian blood," the group said.

It called on West Bank Palestinians to stand united against efforts to undermine their cause and to protect those resisting Israeli occupation.

Palestinian media outlet Wafa reported that Israeli forces launched an attack on a group of civilians in the Abu Halawa area, east of Rafah, in southern Gaza.

The assault resulted in multiple deaths and injuries.

While Linda Jarour was sleeping in her neighbour's tent near the ruins of her home in northern Gaza’s Jabalia, a roofing sheet fell onto the tent. The heavy rain and strong winds had caused it to batter her shelter.

“I thought it was an Israeli air strike,” the 45-year-old told Middle East Eye. “It fell close to me and my husband.”

Since returning to northern Gaza after the Israel-Hamas ceasefire, Palestinians have been grappling with the lack of shelters that could protect them from the cold and rainy winter.

Most have returned to destroyed homes, forced to sleep in makeshift shelters, which have been hit by heavy rain and strong winds over the past week.

In October 2023, Jarour and her husband al-Khateb, 55, fled their home after intense Israeli bombardment rocked their neighbourhood.

Read more: 'I lie awake': Palestinians in north Gaza brave harsh winter in the open

Hamas spokesman Abdul Latif al-Qanou dismissed Israel’s conditions for disarming the resistance and ousting its leaders, stating they are “rejected in advance” before the next phase of negotiations.

He reiterated Hamas’s commitment to implementing the first phase of the agreement “with all its provisions” despite what he called Israel’s obstruction. Qanou added that the governance of Gaza is solely a Palestinian matter, rejecting any interference from Israel or external forces.

The International Committee of the Red Cross has urged respect and dignity ahead of the expected handover of captives' bodies from Gaza.

“We must be clear: any degrading treatment during release operations is unacceptable,” the organisation said in a statement, warning against any mistreatment during the process.

Within 24 hours of US President Donald Trump meeting Jordan’s King Abdullah II, the White House released a recorded video of Trump praising the king after a humiliating exchange in front of the media. 

During their meeting, Trump pushed the king to accept his plan to displace Palestinians from Gaza into Jordan, leaving Abdullah struggling to find an appropriate response.

In the lead-up to the meeting, Trump threatened to cut aid to Jordan and Egypt should they reject his plan. Egypt has since repeated its refusal and stressed the importance of ending the war and rebuilding Gaza without displacement, while President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi reportedly postponed a visit to the White House to avoid discussing Trump’s proposal.

King Abdullah, on the other hand, seemed to signal his openness to the idea by asserting that he would do what’s best for his country - an apparent deviation from the long-standing official Jordanian position of rejecting the displacement of Palestinians from their homeland. 

The king himself, along with his foreign minister and the White House press secretary, all later reiterated Jordan’s official position of rejecting any displacement plans.

Read more: Why Jordan and Egypt should work actively to thwart Trump's Gaza plan

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez have firmly opposed US President Donald Trump's plan to "take over" Gaza and forcibly expel Palestinians from the war-ravaged enclave.

The Arab League is set to convene in Cairo on 4 March to discuss the proposal. Speaking in Madrid ahead of the summit, Sisi urged the “international community’s support and adoption of a plan to rebuild the Gaza Strip without displacing the Palestinian people.”

He said that Palestinians “cling to their homeland, which they do not agree to relinquish”.

Sanchez, a vocal advocate for Palestinian rights within the European Union, echoed this stance, saying, “Gaza belongs to the Palestinians and is part of the future Palestinian state.