Live: Israeli forces detonate 20 homes in Jenin

Doctors Against Genocide said Israel denied exit to 11 American doctors and nurses from Gaza and called on the US government, the international community and humanitarian organisations to secure their safe evacuation in a statement.

The doctors' mission was authorised by Israeli authorities on 9 January 2024, with plans for their safe departure on 22 January 2025, the group said. However, Israeli authorities have since denied their requests to move south, preventing them from leaving northern Gaza.

"The Israeli blockade preventing their movement from northern to southern Gaza has placed their lives at imminent risk amid heavy bombardment, despite an ongoing ceasefire," the group said.

"This is not only a humanitarian crisis but an urgent matter of life and death."

A senior Hamas official told AFP that his group will on Friday provide the names of four female captives to be freed on Saturday as part of a second release under the ceasefire with Israel.

"Today, Hamas will provide the names of four hostages as part of the second prisoner exchange," said Bassem Naim, a member of Hamas' political bureau, adding that the captives will be swapped for a group of Palestinian prisoners on Saturday.

Israeli forces shot and injured a 65-year-old Palestinian man during their ongoing military raid in the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) reported that its emergency teams transported the elderly man to a nearby hospital after he sustained a gunshot wound.

On the fourth consecutive day of the Israeli military assault on Jenin, the army also demolished several more homes in the camp, located near al-Asir Mosque.

The Arab League has warned that Israeli attacks in the occupied West Bank “threaten to destroy all efforts aimed at peace, a ceasefire and ending the war”.

In a statement, the Arab League’s legislative body condemned “in the strongest terms” the escalating violence by the Israeli military and settlers in Palestinian territories.

The league described the recent assault on Jenin and its refugee camp, which killed at least 12 Palestinians, as “brutal”.

The United Nations voiced serious concerns Friday over the Israeli military's use of force in its raid this week in the occupied West Bank, including methods "developed for warfighting".

"We are deeply concerned by the use of unlawful lethal force in Jenin, in the occupied West Bank," UN human rights office spokesman Thameen Al-Kheetan told a media briefing in Geneva.

The recent Israeli operations have raised serious concerns about the unnecessary or disproportionate use of force, including methods and means developed for warfare, he said, adding their use violates international human rights law.

Al-Kheetan also highlighted concerns over repeated statements from Israeli officials about plans to further expand settlements, calling such actions a clear breach of international law.

"We recall again that the transfer by Israel of its own civilian population into territories it occupies amounts to a war crime," he said.

Funding shortages may affect the UN's ability to maintain aid flows at target levels throughout the Gaza ceasefire deal, a UN official told Reuters.

"Funding is an issue. We need immediate funding to make sure that we continue providing the aid for the 42 days, but also after the 42 days, because we're hopeful that we'll go from phase one to phase two," Muhannad Hadi, Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territories said.

"I've received clear messages from the people: they don't want to continue depending on humanitarian aid. They want to rebuild their lives...We can't afford to let them down."

The UN is seeking $4.1 billion for the occupied Palestinian territories this year, with nearly 90% set to go to Gaza. It is currently 3.6% funded.

Hamas announced on Monday that it would release the next group of Israeli captives in Gaza on Saturday after an official from the Palestinian group said they would be released a day later than expected, Reuters reported.

Hamas is set to release 33 captives over the coming weeks as part of a complex ceasefire deal reached with Israel this month that could end Israel's 15-month war on Gaza.

The group said in a statement that the captives would be released on Saturday in exchange for Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

Israeli forces raided Qabatiya, north of Jenin in the occupied West Bank, in the early hours of Friday morning, according to the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

Local sources reported that Israeli military vehicles entered the town and surrounded a house, ordering the family to evacuate. Al Jazeera reported that a military helicopter flew over the home, broadcasting orders through loudspeakers for a young man inside to surrender.

As tensions escalated, Israeli forces fired rocket-propelled shells at the residence, and fighting erupted between Israeli forces and local residents.

Armed US private security contractors will monitor displaced Palestinians returning from southern Gaza to their homes in the destroyed north, US media reported on Thursday, citing government officials.

The New York Times and Axios reported that the planned deployment is part of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas, expected to begin in the coming days.

The security companies are reportedly tasked with conducting vehicle checks at the Netzarim Corridor, which divides the Gaza Strip into two halves south of Gaza City.

Israeli forces have killed 34 Palestinians, including six children, in the occupied West Bank since the beginning of January, according to a report by the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha).

The death toll includes 12 Palestinians killed since Israeli forces launched an operation in Jenin city and its refugee camp on 21 January.

Ocha has warned that access to healthcare has significantly worsened due to a fiscal crisis and movement restrictions imposed by Israel following the operation.

In the West Bank, “68 percent of health service points can now only operate two to three days a week, while hospitals are functioning at just 70 percent of their capacity,” the report noted.

The Jenin government hospital has been surrounded by Israeli forces, with roads leading to it severely damaged, according to the health ministry. Patients, medical staff and their companions remain trapped inside the hospital, unable to leave

The agency said around 600 people are sheltering on the hospital premises, primarily in its yard.

Israeli forces have arrested at least 15 Palestinians in a widespread campaign across the occupied West Bank in recent hours, according to the Palestinian Information Center, as cited by Al Jazeera.

At least 10 Palestinians were detained in occupied East Jerusalem, while arrests were also carried out in both Tulkarm and Jenin, the report said.

In Nablus, Israeli forces arrested three Palestinians from the same family, Al Jazeera Arabic reported.

US President Donald Trump said that the Gaza ceasefire deal he helped finalise “should hold” and warned there “will be a lot of problems” if it does not.

Earlier this week, he said he was “not confident” the deal would last until the end of its three phases. When asked to elaborate on those comments, Trump told reporters: “It’s a very tricky place.”

Trump also praised his Middle East envoy, Steve Witkoff, for securing the ceasefire agreement.

“That deal would have never been made without Steve,” Trump said, claiming that “both sides” liked him.

Good morning, Middle East Eye readers,

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

• Palestinian fighters targeted Israeli forces with an explosive device on Nazareth Street in Jenin, while hostilities erupted between Palestinian fighters and Palestinian Authority security forces in Yabad, west of Jenin, Al Jazeera Arabic reported.

• US President Donald Trump’s envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, is set to visit Israel next week after making an initial stop in Saudi Arabia, Israel’s Channel 12 reported.

• The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) has denied reports in Israeli media suggesting it will take over some operations of the UN's agency for Palestinian refugees, Unrwa, which Israel plans to ban.

• Russia on Thursday reprimanded the head of the UN children's agency, Unicef, for failing to provide a "weighty argument for her refusal" to brief the Security Council on the situation of children in Gaza, Reuters reported.

•  The UN’s aid chief, Tom Fletcher, told the Security Council that nearly 1 million children in Gaza require mental health assistance due to anxiety, depression and even suicidal thoughts following almost 15 months of Israeli air strikes.

Our live coverage from Gaza will shortly be closing until tomorrow morning.

Here are some of the day's key developments:

• The health ministry in Gaza said on Thursday the death toll from Israel's war on Gaza had reached 47,283 with numbers rising despite a ceasefire as new bodies are found under the rubble.

• At least two Palestinians have been killed by Israeli tank fire in the Tal as-Sultan neighbourhood, west of Rafah, in southern Gaza despite the ceasefire, Al Jazeera reported, citing the enclave’s Civil Defence.

• Israel carried out 520 attacks on hospitals in Gaza during the 15-month war, according to a statement from Al-Awda Hospital in the Jabalia refugee camp in northern Gaza.

• Gaza’s municipality has begun clearing the city’s main roads to prepare for the return of thousands of displaced Palestinians after the devastation from Israeli bombardment left critical infrastructure in ruins.

• The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) has revealed that while many displaced Palestinians have returned to their homes following the ceasefire, most of their houses are in ruins and unfit for living.

• Gaza police spokesman Mohammed al-Zarqa announced that law enforcement officers have redeployed across the enclave, with all police stations now back in operation, Al Jazeera Arabic reported.

• On Thursday, the United Nations office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs confirmed that 653 aid trucks made their way into Gaza, marking the fifth day of a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

• Hundreds of people began leaving their homes in Jenin in the occupied West Bank on Thursday as Israeli forces continued to assault the refugee camp.

• Israel’s military and Shin Bet security agency are preparing a new wave of operations in the Jenin refugee camp, escalating their assault on the occupied West Bank.

• Qatar's foreign ministry has condemned Israel's ongoing military operations in Jenin, describing them as a "blatant violation of international humanitarian law and human rights".

• Moshe Ya’alon, the former Israeli military chief, has claimed Israel’s government is acting against the country’s interest by trying to prolong the war on Gaza.

• The new leader of Syria has denounced Israeli advances on his country's territory. "Israeli advances in Syrian territory are absolutely unacceptable," Al-Jazeera quoted Ahmad al-Sharaa.

• The US administration under Donald Trump reportedly expects the Israeli army's complete withdrawal from southern Lebanon by Sunday, in line with the terms of the ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah, according to Army Radio.

• Hezbollah has condemned any attempt by Israel to keep its troops in Lebanon beyond Sunday, calling it a "blatant" breach of the ceasefire agreement. The group insists that Israel’s withdrawal must be completed on schedule, saying that the failure to do so would escalate tensions.

• Saudi Arabia’s foreign minister has made a rare visit to Lebanon, his first in a decade, following the country’s long-overdue election of a president and appointment of a prime minister.

• The Israeli Broadcasting Corporation has reported that the Israeli army is preparing to prolong its military presence in southern Lebanon, with both Unifil and the United States having been notified of the plans.

• The International Criminal Court's governing body said on Thursday it regretted any attempts to undermine the ICC's independence after US moves to sanction it in protest at its arrest warrants for Israel's prime minister and former defence chief over Israel's war on Gaza.

• Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has defended Elon Musk's use of a fascist salute at a pro-Trump rally, calling him a "great friend" of Israel.

Israeli forces have carried out another violent raid, storming the northern entrance of Azzun, a town in the occupied West Bank.

While no arrests were made, multiple homes were ransacked in this latest show of force.

Meanwhile, Israel’s brutal assault on Jenin persists, with the Palestinian Red Crescent reporting that five more Palestinians were injured in the refugee camp.

In addition, Israeli forces have continued to set homes on fire in Jenin, despite local officials revealing forced evacuation orders.