Israel continues destruction of West Bank’s Jenin; Gaza truce holds
At least 22 Palestinians arrested in West Bank: Prisoners’ groups
The Israeli forces have arrested at least 22 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since yesterday evening until this morning, according to the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS).
Former prisoners and a woman were among those arrested across the governorates of Hebron, Tulkarem, Ramallah and Nablus, as well as occupied East Jerusalem, the joint statement said.
Israeli military reports more operations in southern Lebanon
The Israeli military says its forces continue to “conduct sweeps” in areas across southern Lebanon despite the deadline of the ceasefire agreement with Hezbollah that requires Israel to stop its occupation.
The Israeli army said the aim is to “remove threats, while maintaining understandings between Israel and Lebanon” as the Lebanese government, Hezbollah and the UN call on it to leave south Lebanon.
Several underground Hezbollah bunkers were located and destroyed in the past week, according to the Israeli military, which added that it found a cache of weapons inside a mosque along with explosives.
This comes amid Israeli media reports that the country’s military intends to maintain its occupation of parts of Lebanese territory, and has informed the new US administration.
4,800 aid trucks have reached Gaza since ceasefire: WFP
Rania Dagash-Kamara, deputy executive director of the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP), has told Al Jazeera that the “long overdue” ceasefire in the Palestinian enclave has enabled aid workers to ramp up desperately needed aid supplies, mostly “without incident”.
Since the ceasefire started, “we have managed to push in 4,800 trucks … This is for the whole humanitarian community”, she added.
“What we need, however, is for the border crossings to remain open, reliably so, and that our staff are able to move freely and safely across the Gaza Strip to reach the 2 million in need.”
Israeli captives’ relatives call for implementation of Gaza ceasefire deal
The family members of Israeli captives held in Gaza have urged the Israeli government to act immediately to ensure the return of all captives, according to the Israeli media.
In a statement made at the so-called Hostages Square in Tel Aviv, Ella Ben Ami, whose father has been in Hamas captivity since the October 7, 2023 attack, said the families will fight until “the last captive” is released.
She said: “When I hear my prime minister, and the ministers under him, I am filled with anxiety that this will not be everyone’s deal.”
The statement came ahead of the second phase of the captive release deal. Three Israelis were freed in the first phase earlier in the month.
More Gaza funding needed to maintain aid flows: UN official
Funding shortages may affect the UN’s ability to maintain aid flows at target levels throughout the Gaza ceasefire deal, according to the organisation’s humanitarian coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory.
Muhannad Hadi told the Reuters news agency that he was “very happy” with how the first few days had gone, but flagged funding as a concern.
Daily deliveries have surged tenfold since the Sunday ceasefire deal, according to UN data, surpassing the 600 trucks a day target.
“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,” he said, after returning from Gaza earlier this week.
He described scenes of widespread joy and relief across the enclave, with many people smiling and eager to return to the remnants of their homes and find work.
“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 $4.1bn for the occupied Palestinian territory this year, with nearly 90 percent set to go to Gaza and about 10 percent to the West Bank. It is currently 3.6 percent funded.
Rafah farmlands laid to waste after partial Israeli military withdrawal
More Palestinians are sharing documentation of the huge scale of destruction in the Gaza Strip following the Israeli military’s partial withdrawal after the ceasefire agreement.
A journalist has published the video below, which has been verified by Al Jazeera’s Sanad fact-checking agency, showing the destruction of agricultural fields in the city of Rafah in southern Gaza.
Constant Israeli bombing and a ravaging ground operation in the area left the city bordering Egypt mostly in ruins.
Gaza residents have ‘no homes, no hope and nothing to start with’
We are in the Nuseirat refugee camp, a five-minute drive from Netzarim juncture where the Israeli military stationed its troops for months, preventing people from going back to their homes in the north.
The area became notorious as a death trap for many desperate Palestinians who tried to make their way home during the initial months of the war.
Just before the ceasefire, this area [in the Nuseirat refugee camp] was deserted. But as the ceasefire took effect, it started to fill up with people and vehicles. It has started to get busy with more traffic.
People are preparing themselves to go back to a new reality, a new beginning. There is a sense of relief, resilience and determination to rebuild their lives.
This is something that people have longed for over the past 15 months. But there are still mixed feelings – there’s hope but also fear.
Many people who went back to Rafah and Khan Younis in the south found no homes, no hope and nothing to start with.
People fear this will also happen in the northern part of the Strip, as virtually entire areas have been destroyed or damaged.
Elderly man shot in Jenin: Report
Israeli forces have shot and injured a 65-year-old man during their ongoing raid in Jenin in the occupied West Bank, according to the Wafa news agency.
Medics with the Palestine Red Crescent Society retrieved the man and brought him to a nearby hospital, Wafa cited the organisation as saying.
Meanwhile, Israeli forces demolished several more homes in the camp located near al-Asir Mosque, according to Wafa.
The Jenin raid, now in its fourth day, has killed 12 people and caused dozens of casualties.
Trump presidency gives Israel ‘historic opportunity’ for West Bank ‘annexation’
Israel’s intensified military incursions in the occupied West Bank, in parallel with escalating settler violence, represents its latest push to extend its grip further into Palestinian territory, says analyst Mohamad Elmasry.
“This is just more of the same,” Elmasry, a professor in the media studies programme at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, told Al Jazeera. “Israel has been saying for decades that they’re just fighting terrorism, but that’s kind of a smokescreen. What Israel wants to do and has been doing is expanding into the West Bank.
“There are more than 750,000 illegal Israeli settlers and it’s been policy of the Israeli state to expand, slowly but surely, into Palestinian territory,” Elmasry added.
The election of US President Donald Trump, who has appointed high-level diplomats that openly back Israel’s claims to the West Bank, now represents a “historic opportunity” for Israel to push their agenda further than before, he said.
“I think many Israelis, including the political elite, see the Trump administration as a historic opportunity to expand into the West Bank like they never have before and to annex as much of it as possible.”
