Live: Israeli forces detonate 20 homes in Jenin
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The Palestinian Authority (PA) on Sunday said it condemns US President Donald Trump's remarks that Palestinians in Gaza should be resettled in neighbouring Arab countries.
In a statement posted to X, the PA said it "strongly rejected and condemned any plans or projects aimed at displacing the Palestinian people from the Gaza Strip, which constitutes a blatant violation of the red lines Palestinian leadership have consistently warned against."
"The Palestinian people will never abandon their land or their Holy Sites, and will not allow the repetition of the Nakba of 1948 and Naksa 1967," the statement read.
"The Palestinian Presidency instead calls on President Donald Trump to continue his efforts to sustain and consolidate the ceasefire, ensure the full withdrawal of Israeli occupation forces, restore the Palestinian Authority's responsibilities in the Gaza Strip, and advance peace towards and the independence of the Palestinian state."
Palestinian Presidency condemns and rejects the displacement of the Palestinian people from the Gaza Strip and calls on President Trump to continue his efforts to sustain ceasefire: pic.twitter.com/YDy9syoSww
— State of Palestine (@Palestine_UN) January 26, 2025
US President Donald Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, will travel to Israel on Wednesday to oversee the Gaza ceasefire, Israel's Channel 13 reported on Sunday, citing two Israeli officials.
Reporting by Reuters
Jordan's rejection of any displacement of Palestinians is "firm and unwavering", Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi said on Sunday, in what appeared to be a veiled response to US President Donald Trump's suggestion that Egypt and Jordan should take in Palestinians from Gaza to "clean out" the enclave.
Reporting by Reuters
French President Emmanuel Macron on Sunday called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to "withdraw his forces still present in Lebanon", his office said in a read-out of a phone call between the two leaders.
"The president of the republic stressed to the prime minister the importance of ensuring that nothing compromises the efforts of the new Lebanese authorities to restore the authority of the state throughout the territory of their country," the Elysee Palace said.
Reporting by AFP
Former far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir expressed his support for US President Donald Trump’s suggestion to have Egypt and Jordan take in Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.
“One of our demands from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is to promote voluntary emigration. When the president of the world’s greatest superpower, Trump, personally brings up this idea, it is worth the Israeli government implementing it – promoting emigration now,” he said on X.
Israeli forces shot and killed a two-year-old Palestinian girl in Jenin as they stepped up operations in the occupied West Bank.
The Palestinian health ministry said that Laila al-Khatib died of "critical wounds" after being shot in the head by Israeli soldiers.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society says that Israeli snipers opened fire on Palestinians near the Wadi Gaza Bridge, killing one and injuring four others.
🚑The teams of the Palestine Red Crescent Society have so far evacuated one fatality and four injured individuals near the Wadi Gaza Bridge, following an attack by occupation army snipers.
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) January 26, 2025
📷Filmed by: Volunteer Mohammed Suleiman.
🚨نقلت طواقم جمعية الهلال الاحمر الفلسطيني حتى… pic.twitter.com/SwM6N79TYV
Conditions are "not yet in place" for the safe return of Lebanese citizens to southern Lebanon, according to a joint statement from the top UN official in Lebanon and the chief of the UN peacekeeping mission in the country.
They said the timelines set under the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah have not been met, calling on both Israel and Lebanon to recommit to their obligations.
The death toll from Israeli fire on southern Lebanese villages has risen to 11, as hundreds of residents continued their attempts to return to their homes on the day the deadline for Israeli forces to withdraw from the area expired.
"The aggressions of the Israeli enemy against citizens trying to return to their villages that are still under occupation have left 11 people dead, including a soldier of the Lebanese army and two women, as well as 83 wounded so far," the health ministry said, raising the earlier toll of three dead civilians.
US President Donald Trump has proposed a plan to "just clean out" Gaza and said he wants Egypt and Jordan to take in Palestinians from the territory, where Israel's onslaught has displaced over 90 percent of the population.
Trump called Gaza a "demolition site" and said he had spoken to Jordan's King Abdullah II about moving Palestinians out of the territory.
"I'd like Egypt to take people. And I'd like Jordan to take people," Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One, adding that he planned to talk to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on Sunday.
"You're talking about probably a million and a half people, and we just clean out that whole thing," Trump said of Gaza, whose population is about 2.4 million, adding that "something has to happen".
Read more: Trump says ‘clean out that whole thing’ as part of his plan for Gaza
Tens of thousands of Palestinians are blocked on the road by Israeli forces, waiting to return to their homes in northern Gaza.
Ismail al-Thawabta, director general of Gaza's government media office, said there were "between 615,000 and 650,000" people waiting to go past the Israeli military positions in the Netzarim Corridor, which runs through the centre of the Gaza Strip.
In central Gaza, columns of people were waiting along the main roads leading north, some in vehicles and others on foot. Photos showed cars and trucks loaded with mattresses and tents that were used to shelter families for over a year in the central and southern areas of Gaza.
Many people spent the night sleeping on Salah al-Din Road, the main thoroughfare running from north to south, as well as on the coastal road heading north.
The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) said it had been ordered by Israel to vacate its premises and cease all operations in occupied East Jerusalem by Thursday.
Unrwa said the order to cease operations violated Israel's international obligations as a UN member state.
"United Nations premises are inviolable and enjoy privileges and immunities under the United Nations Charter," the agency said, adding that Israel is obliged to respect UN "privileges and immunities".
Unrwa's communications director, Juliette Touma, said it remains unclear whether the agency would have to also stop providing services in East Jerusalem immediately after 30 January.
"If it does, then more than 1,100 students will be deprived of education and another 70,000 patients of primary healthcare,” she said.
The Lebanese army said that Israeli fire killed a Lebanese soldier on a road linking Marwahin, Dhayra and Tyre in southern Lebanon, while another soldier was injured in the southern town of Mays al-Jabal.
Good morning, Middle East Eye readers,
Here are the latest updates:
- Israeli forces are blocking tens of thousands of Palestinians from returning to northern Gaza, accusing Hamas of violating the terms of the ceasefire deal.
- Today marks the end of the 60-day ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel, but Israeli forces have yet to withdraw from Lebanese territory as agreed.
- Israeli forces opened fire on Lebanese people returning to their towns in southern Lebanon, killing at least three people and injuring over 40, according to the Lebanese health ministry.
- US President Donald Trump has asked Egypt and Jordan to take in Gaza residents, raising fears of potential ethnic cleansing.
Our liveblog will shortly be closing until tomorrow morning.
Here are the day's key developments:
- Hamas has released four female Israeli soldiers who had been held captive since 7 October 2023. The soldiers stood on a podium in front of a crowd before being handed over to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). Israel, in return, freed 200 Palestinian prisoners as part of its ceasefire agreement with Hamas. Bus convoys carrying the released prisoners arrived in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.
- Some Palestinian prisoners were released into Gaza where they were received at the European Hospital, but up to 70 of the 200 released overall were expelled by Israel into Egypt as part of their release agreement.
- Israel accused Hamas of violating the ceasefire agreement by freeing Israeli female soldiers before releasing all the female civilians. But Hamas said that Israeli civilian captive Arbel Yehud, who was expected to be released Saturday, is alive and will be freed in a week.
- Israeli forces shot at crowds of Palestinians that gathered near the Netzarim Corridor - a crossing point created by the Israeli army that separates north and south Gaza - in hopes of eventually returning to the north. Israel said it was retaliation for Hamas not releasing Yehud.
- US President Donald Trump took credit for securing the release of the four Israeli soldiers freed by Hamas in Gaza in the second prisoner swap, and that he will continue to pursue "peace throughout the region," a statement released by the White House showed on Saturday. Trump's Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, is widely credited for pressuring the Israelis to accept the ceasefire deal.
- At the same time, Trump instructed the US military to release a hold imposed by the Biden administration on the supply of 2,000-pound bombs to Israel, a White House source told the Reuters news agency on Saturday.
- The Arab American Anti Discrimination Committee (ADC) said in a statement Saturday that is has received several reports of pro-Israeli groups targeting international students in a bid to have them deported from the US. This follows an Executive Order signed by President Donald Trump on Monday that makes reference to the extreme vetting and banning of foreign nationals if they appear to harbour negative feelings toward American interests or "culture".
- The Electronic Intifada announced on Saturday that its executive director Ali Abunimah has been arrested in Switzerland while in the country for a speaking tour. "He is currently being detained and has had access to legal counsel," the site reported.
