Live: Israeli forces detonate 20 homes in Jenin

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz announced that the military's "Iron Wall" operation in Jenin marks a significant shift in its security approach in the occupied West Bank, according to media reports. 

Katz stressed the Israeli government is committed to ensuring the safety of Israeli settlers in the Palestinian territory and will not tolerate any threats to their lives, Israel's Channel 12 reported.

Good morning, Middle East Eye readers,

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

• Israeli forces blocked ambulance crews in Jenin in the occupied West Bank amid Israel's "Iron Wall" operation, which has killed 10 Palestinians since Tuesday.

• Israel launched additional overnight raids on cities and towns across the occupied West Bank, including the Aida refugee camp north of Bethlehem.

• The 10 member states of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) have welcomed the Gaza ceasefire, calling for the full implementation of all phases of the deal and the unhindered delivery of humanitarian aid to Palestinians.

• The Israeli military has launched an early morning raid on the Aida refugee camp and Tulkarm city in the northern occupied West Bank, Al Jazeera Arabic reported.

• Dozens of masked Israeli settlers armed with "incendiary materials" raided the Palestinian villages of Jinsafut and al-Funduq near Jerusalem on Monday night, injuring at least 12 people, the Associated Press reported.

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

Here are some of the day's key developments:

• Civil defence teams in Gaza are still uncovering the horrific toll of Israel’s war on Gaza, recovering bodies that had been left to rot beneath the ruins. “We retrieved 120 decomposed bodies over the past two days. They’re completely decomposed with only skeletal remains,” said Haitham Hams, a civil defence worker, speaking to The Associated Press.

• The Palestinian Ministry of Health has confirmed that 10 Palestinians were killed and around 40 others wounded in yet another Israeli assault on Jenin in the occupied West Bank.

• Israeli forces have raided Beit Furik, east of Nablus in the occupied West Bank, storming at least 15 homes and arresting 13 people, Wafa news agency reported.

• The United Nations office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs (OCHA) confirmed that 897 aid trucks entered Gaza on Tuesday, marking the third day of a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

• Herzl Halevi, Israel's military chief, has resigned, citing failures in relation to Hamas' surprise attack on southern Israel on 7 October 2023. His resignation will take effect on 6 March. 

• Israeli human rights organisation Gisha has slammed Israel’s blockade of Gaza, stating that the sudden influx of humanitarian aid following Sunday’s ceasefire proves access was deliberately restricted.

• Elise Stefanik, Donald Trump’s staunchly pro-Israel nominee for US ambassador to the United Nations, has pledged to block American funding for what she says are "antisemitic" international organisations, echoing debunked Israeli accusations that UN agencies like Unrwa are linked to Palestinian resistance groups.

• Elise Stefanik, Donald Trump’s nominee for US ambassador to the United Nations, has openly endorsed Israel’s claim to the entire occupied West Bank, citing a so-called “biblical right”.

• During her Senate confirmation hearing, Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen pressed Stefanik on whether she still supported the extreme views of Israeli far-right ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, who advocate full annexation. “Yes,” she replied without hesitation, confirming her alignment with Israel’s most hardline factions.

• Israel’s 15-month-long bombing campaign has reduced 80 percent of northern Gaza to rubble, according to Naji Sarhan, the Undersecretary of the Ministry of Public Works and Housing in Gaza.

• Israeli far-right politicians praised US President Donald Trump after he reversed US sanctions on Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank implemented last year by his predecessor Joe Biden.

• Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said he “strongly condemns any attack and violence against Palestinians” and regrets the shooting of two Israeli men by a police officer during a settler attack in the West Bank on Monday, The Times of Israel reported.

• The rebuilding process in Gaza will "take an awful lot of time" despite the promised surge in humanitarian deliveries, a UN official in Gaza told the BBC.

• Turkey could restart trade with Israel "if peace is permanent", Nail Olpak, head of the Turkish Foreign Economic Relations Board (Deik), said on Tuesday.

Israeli intelligence agency Shin Bet has stated that the suspect involved in the stabbing attack in Tel Aviv was not considered a security risk despite being questioned upon his arrival in Israel.

The suspect, a 29-year-old Moroccan-American national, entered the country on a tourist visa on 18 January. Shin Bet claimed that after a security assessment, which included an interrogation and further checks, there was no evidence to justify preventing his entry.

Major credit rating agencies said on Tuesday that the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas would help alleviate the strain on Israel’s public finances and could improve its sovereign credit rating, reported Reuters.

According to Fitch Ratings, the ceasefire increases the chances of Israel surpassing expectations for its fiscal and economic performance in 2025, with potential benefits for the Middle East’s credit risk overall.

The ceasefire’s adherence could help mitigate the risks to Israel's finances, which were downgraded by major agencies, including Moody’s, S&P Global, and Fitch Ratings, for the first time last year.

Moody’s analyst Christian Fang said if the ceasefire is effectively implemented and leads to de-escalation, it would reduce risks to Israel's credit strength.

Julien Harneis, the UN’s resident and humanitarian coordinator in Yemen, said that Israel’s air strikes on Yemen’s infrastructure have severely hampered the country’s port capacity, with operations at the critical Hodeidah port now functioning at just 25 percent of its usual capacity.

“The impact of air strikes on Hodeidah harbour, particularly in the last few weeks, is significant,” Harneis said at a UN meeting.

He said that four out of five essential tugboats used to guide large vessels into the port had been destroyed.

In late December, Israeli planes launched a series of air raids, targeting not only the Hodeidah port but also Sanaa airport and several vital power stations.

Omar Shakir, the director of Israel and Palestine affairs at Human Rights Watch, has warned that a ceasefire will not resolve the deeper issues driving the ongoing violence.

In a stark message, Shakir echoed the findings of numerous human rights organisations, which have determined that Israel is engaged in "apartheid" against Palestinians - a reality the Palestinian people have long pointed to.

“Ceasefire alone won’t end atrocities. Blockade must end, aid allowed fully in, electricity/water restored, hostages/detainees unlawfully held released, perpetrators held to account and root causes—apartheid—addressed,” Shakir posted on social media, calling for comprehensive action to address the systemic oppression of Palestinians.

Amid thunderous cheers from thousands of people in Gaza’s main square, three Israeli hostages were handed over to the Red Cross on Sunday - a moment that defied expectations and rewrote the narrative of the war. 

Fighters from the armed wing of Hamas, the Qassam Brigades, clad in full combat gear, stood alongside the hostages, their presence a bold declaration of defiance. 

After 15 months of relentless bombardment, mass displacement and near-total devastation, the Palestinian resistance emerged undefeated, reclaiming the story of survival and resilience.

In Israel, disbelief and humiliation prevailed. 

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had repeatedly assured his people that northern Gaza had been “cleansed”, that Hamas - which is proscribed as a terrorist group in the UK and other countries - had been obliterated, and that the area was under full Israeli military control.

Read more:  Gaza ceasefire: The Palestinian spirit will never be broken

A number of neighbourhoods in Jenin have suffered power outages, Al Jazeera Arabic reports, as Israeli military raids on the occupied West Bank intensify.

The Jenin Battalion of the Al-Quds Brigades announced that its fighters had detonated an explosive device targeting an Israeli armoured personnel carrier near Jenin camp.

Jenin has long been a focal point of Palestinian resistance, repeatedly subjected to Israeli incursions that have left civilians paying a heavy price.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health has confirmed that Israeli occupation forces shot and killed another Palestinian in the town of Ta'nek, located in the Jenin district.

Civil defence teams in Gaza are still uncovering the horrific toll of Israel’s war on Gaza, recovering bodies that had been left to rot beneath the ruins.

“We retrieved 120 decomposed bodies over the past two days. They’re completely decomposed with only skeletal remains,” said Haitham Hams, a civil defence worker, speaking to The Associated Press.

The grim discoveries expose the scale of the devastation inflicted on Gaza’s civilian population by Israel.

A Palestinian teenager was among those killed during Israeli raids across the occupied West Bank, according to Defense for Children International Palestine.

The group reported that 14-year-old Ahmad Rashid Rushdi Jazar was shot from a long distance, and Israeli soldiers then fired at those attempting to help him.

“Israeli forces shot and killed Ahmad Rashid Rushdi Jazar, 14, near the Sebastia kindergarten in the northern occupied West Bank on Sunday,” the organisation stated. “Soldiers shot Ahmad from more than 2,000 feet away, then fired toward his friends who tried to help him.”

The United Nations office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs (OCHA) confirmed that 897 aid trucks entered Gaza on Tuesday, marking the third day of a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

The sudden influx of aid raises serious questions about Israel’s previous claims that it was not obstructing humanitarian relief.

OCHA cited information from Israeli authorities and ceasefire guarantors - the United States, Egypt, and Qatar - who helped facilitate the long-delayed deliveries to Palestinians enduring dire shortages of food, medicine, and basic supplies.

Qatar’s Prime Minister, Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, has criticised the drawn-out ceasefire negotiations over Gaza, lamenting about the time squandered while Palestinians continued to die.

Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, he expressed frustration that a deal finally reached this week had already been agreed in December 2023, yet months were wasted on "meaningless" details.

He called the war a "wake-up call" for the region and stressed the urgency of addressing Palestinian suffering, highlighting renewed global interest in a two-state solution - something he said had been ignored for far too long.

Four people were injured in a suspected stabbing attack in Tel Aviv on Tuesday evening local time, according to emergency services.

The attacker, identified as Kadi Abdel Aziz, an American citizen of Moroccan origin, had entered Israel as a tourist just days earlier.

Israeli authorities said an off-duty policewoman near the scene fatally shot Abdel Aziz. The motive behind the attack remains unclear.

Elise Stefanik, Donald Trump’s nominee for US ambassador to the United Nations, has openly endorsed Israel’s claim to the entire occupied West Bank, citing a so-called “biblical right”.

During her Senate confirmation hearing, Democratic Senator Chris Van Hollen pressed Stefanik on whether she still supported the extreme views of Israeli far-right ministers Bezalel Smotrich and Itamar Ben-Gvir, who advocate full annexation. “Yes,” she replied without hesitation, confirming her alignment with Israel’s most hardline factions.

Her remarks signal that a second Trump administration could fully back Israeli expansionism, undermining any prospects for Palestinian statehood.

Stefanik has also vowed to defund UN agencies Israel has accused - without credible evidence - of aiding Palestinian resistance groups.