Live: Israel delays release of 602 Palestinian prisoners

A Palestinian woman in her 50s was hospitalised after being shot in the chest by Israeli soldiers in the Jenin refugee camp, the Wafa news agency reported.

Israel's one-month assault on Jenin killed 26 Palestinians, injured dozens and displaced thousands of civilians.

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.

Sheikh Mohammed "affirmed the UAE's firm position rejecting any attempts aimed at displacing the Palestinian people from their land," the Gulf state's WAM news agency said.

An Israeli drone strike near Aita al-Shaab in southern Lebanon killed one person, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported.

Israeli army radio claimed the attack targeted a Hezbollah member.

This comes just a day after the deadline for Israel to withdraw from Lebanon under a ceasefire agreement.

Britain is considering suspending its funding to Unrwa, the UN relief agency for Palestinian refugees, according to numerous reports in Israeli media.

The alleged move comes after British Prime Minister Keir Starmer spoke over the phone with the recently freed British-Israeli captive Emily Damari in late January.

Damari, 28, spent over 15 months in captivity in Gaza. She reportedly told Starmer that Hamas held her at an Unrwa facility. 

A spokesperson for Unrwa said after Damari's allegations that claims "that hostages have been held in Unrwa premises, even if they were vacated, are absolutely serious.

"We’ve repeatedly called for independent investigations into these claims, including the misuse and disregard of Unrwa premises by Palestinian armed groups. That also includes Hamas."

Read more: Israeli media: UK 'reviewing Unrwa funding' after claim captives were held in facilities

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.

Ismail Thawabteh, director of the Gaza government's Media Office, told Anadolu that “the Gaza Strip needs 500 heavy equipment units, including bulldozers, excavators, cranes and others”.

He stressed that Gaza is experiencing “a suffocating humanitarian crisis due to the lack of equipment and heavy machinery needed for rubble removal, opening the roads, and recovering thousands of corpses”.

He noted that Israel’s decision to allow only six machines reflects its “state of ignorance regarding the humanitarian crisis in Gaza”.

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.

Read more: North Gaza: Shelterless Palestinians brave harsh winter in the open

The Palestinian foreign ministry and Hamas condemned Fiji’s decision to open its embassy to Israel in Jerusalem, urging the government to reverse its decision, Al Jazeera reported.

The ministry said in a statement that the Fijian decision is “an act of aggression against the Palestinian people and their inalienable rights” and impedes “prospects for peace based on the principle of the two-state solution”.

Hamas said in a separate statement that the decision is “a blatant assault on the rights of our Palestinian people to their land and a clear violation of international law and UN resolutions, which recognise Jerusalem as occupied Palestinian territory”.

Ofer Cassif, the only Jewish MP for the left-wing Hadash party in Israel, has warned against Israeli attacks in the occupied West Bank in a post on X.

"Under the smokescreen of the genocidal ethnic cleansing in Gaza, violent and mass ethnic cleansing is also taking place in the West Bank, actual destruction of many communities and several refugee camps," Cassif said.

“The world must wake up and stop the unfolding disaster NOW!” he added.

Cassif has repeatedly referred to Israel's war on Gaza as a "genocide" since the beginning of Israel's war on Gaza.

Under the smokescreen of the genocidal ethnic cleansing in Gaza, violent and mass ethnic cleansing is also taking place in the West Bank, actual destruction of many communities and several refugee camps.

The world must wake up and stop the unfolding disaster NOW! pic.twitter.com/hz4QIR7CPG

— Ofer Cassif עופר כסיף عوفر كسيف (@ofercass) February 18, 2025

The Israeli army shot and killed 16-year-old Mahmoud Abu Zakkar in eastern Rafah in southern Gaza, despite a ceasefire agreement, according to the Quds News Network.

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.

The soldiers detained 14 Palestinians in the town of Tuqu, southeast of Bethlehem a security source told the news agency.

Several Palestinians, including people displaced from the neighbouring Nur Shams refugee camp, were also arrested in Tulkarm, according to the agency.

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.

The Miami-Dade state attorney's office said its hate crimes unit "reviews every criminal offense that has the potential of being motivated by hate".

The website of Miami-Dade County Corrections says the suspect, 27-year-old Mordechai Brafman, was charged earlier with two counts of attempted murder and booked on Sunday for the shooting on Saturday.

Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava thanked prosecutors on X for "pursuing hate crimes charges".

Violence based in hate has no place in Miami-Dade. I thank @MiamiBeachPD for a swift arrest and @KathyFndzRundle for pursuing hate crime charges. Miami-Dade is proud to be a place rich in diversity—we must continue to confront hate in all forms & build a more tolerant community. https://t.co/Jiq4nrEPPZ

— Daniella Levine Cava (@MayorDaniella) February 19, 2025

Good morning Middle East Eye readers,

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

• The director of Unrwa affairs for the occupied West Bank said the UN agency "stands firm in the face of intimidation" against its services in East Jerusalem and committed to stay and deliver and to continue critical services for Palestine refugees.

•  Israeli forces have destroyed 50 homes and 300 shops in the Tulkarm refugee camp in the occupied West Bank and forcibly displaced 11,000 of the camp’s 15,000 population in just 23 days, an official from the camp, told Wafa news agency.

• An investigation by The Associated Press found that the Israeli military’s use of AI tools from Microsoft and OpenAI “skyrocketed”, but that the way these systems select targets can go wrong because of faulty data or flawed algorithms.

• A Hamas spokesman, Hazem Qassem said the group is ready to free all Israeli captives "in one go" within the criterion of reaching "an agreement that leads to a permanent ceasefire and a complete withdrawal from the Strip" in the second phase of the ceasefire.

• Hamas rejected Israel’s call for its disarmament and removal from the Gaza Strip, calling the demand an "unacceptable" and "ridiculous psychological war" in a statement.

•  A group of nine human rights experts have denounced Hamas for a “degrading public display” of Israeli captives and condemned Israel’s "inhumane" mistreatment and abuses of Palestinian detainees.

Good evening Middle East Eye readers, 

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

• Israeli tanks have killed two Palestinians in Rafah, southern Gaza, in yet another violation of the ceasefire with Hamas.

• An Israeli minister has admitted that Israel’s campaign to remove Palestinians from Gaza will rely on force rather than so-called "voluntary migration."

• Rebuilding Gaza and the West Bank after Israel’s devastating military assaults will require more than $50bn, according to a joint assessment by the United Nations, European Union, and World Bank.

• There have been 266 violations of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire agreement registered since it came into effect on 19 January, Palestinian security sources have told Al Jazeera.

• Oxfam says there has been an explosion of waterborne and infectious diseases in Gaza amid the lack of safe water and untreated sewage overflowing in the enclave’s streets.

• Lebanon’s Civil Defence has announced the recovery of 23 bodies from southern towns following the withdrawal of Israeli forces.

• The deadline for Israeli forces to withdraw from areas across southern Lebanon has now passed, as postulated by the Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire agreement reached in November. 

• Lebanon has issued a firm demand for Israel to fully withdraw its military forces from southern Lebanon, as stipulated in a ceasefire agreement involving Hezbollah. This call comes amid mounting accusations that Israel continues to violate the terms of the truce.

• Israel has reached an agreement with Hamas over the release on Saturday of the six remaining captives who are alive, Axios reported on Tuesday, citing an unnamed senior Israeli official.

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has set rigid conditions for the next phase of ceasefire negotiations, demanding Hamas’s disarmament, its removal from Gaza, and blocking the Palestinian Authority from any post-war role, according to the Times of Israel.

• China has condemned attempts to use Gaza and the occupied West Bank as “bargaining chips in political trade-offs”, Foreign Minister Wang Yi told the United Nations Security Council.

• UN secretary general Antonio Guterres has condemned Israel’s raids on schools operated by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) in occupied East Jerusalem, calling them a violation of international law.

An Israeli minister has said that removing Palestinians from Gaza would rely on force rather than so-called "voluntary migration".

Likud Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi called the scheme a “deportation plan” in an online post on Tuesday, attacking attorney general Gali Baharav-Miara for allegedly demanding a legal review of the plan.

This contradicts previous claims by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Jewish Power leader and former government minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who have tried to present what critics condemn as "ethnic cleansing" as "voluntary migration."

During a heated cabinet meeting on Monday, attorney general Baharav-Miara insisted that ministers consult her on the legality of US President Donald Trump’s controversial proposal to forcefully relocate Palestinians in Gaza to third countries. Trump made the proposal on 5 February while Netanyahu was visiting Washington. 

Her demand, however, was met with sharp criticism from senior Israeli officials.

Read more: Israeli minister calls for forced 'deportation plan' for Palestinians in Gaza

Israeli tanks have killed two Palestinians in Rafah, southern Gaza, in yet another violation of the ceasefire with Hamas.

Medical officials confirmed that two bodies were taken to a nearby hospital following the attack.

The Israeli military attempted to justify the killings by claiming its forces fired warning shots at an unidentified person who approached them. When the individual did not retreat, they killed them.

The attack underscores Israel’s continued disregard for ceasefire agreements, as its forces persist in targeting Palestinians in Gaza.