Israel ramps up threats against Hamas in bid to change ceasefire deal

The Israeli prime minister has praised the US president’s proposal to empty Gaza of its population as “brave and innovative”.

“We must support it. We support it fully,” he said, according to the Times of Israel.

“The time has come to give them the freedom to leave. The time has come to give them the freedom to choose.”

Rights advocates say efforts to force Palestinians out of Gaza may constitute a crime against humanity.

• Netanyahu warns Hamas of consequences it ‘cannot imagine’ if captives not freed

  Israel’s prime minister made the remarks during a speech at the Israeli parliament.

  “I tell Hamas: If you do not release our hostages, there will be consequences that you cannot imagine,” Netanyahu said.

  Click here to share on social media

• PA calls for Israeli withdrawal from Gaza

  The Foreign Ministry of the Palestinian Authority (PA) says the State of Palestine should have “full sovereignty” over Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

  “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs calls for the withdrawal of the occupation from the Gaza Strip, the assumption of responsibilities by the State of Palestine and its internationally recognised government, and an end to the Nakba [catastrophe] of our people,” it said in a statement.

  Netanyahu has publicly rejected proposals to have the PA return as the governing force in Gaza.

  Hamas, which won the Palestinian legislative elections in 2006, took over Gaza in 2007 after months of political turmoil and a face-off with Fatah, the dominant group in the PA.

  ‘Remarkable scenes’ as Knesset security clash with bereaved Israelis

  There were pretty remarkable scenes inside the Israeli Knesset as families members of captives and bereaved family members – around 1,500 people – were going to the gallery because Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was finally going to answer questions on why there has not been a state inquiry into October 7, and the security failures that happened that day in 2023.

  The families of the captives, the opposition, and a large majority of the Israeli public have been calling for this for more than a year, and in fact the Israeli military has released their findings of a probe about the security failures.

  The Israeli army’s chief of staff even acknowledged his responsibility for his role in the security lapses.

  But Netanyahu says a state inquiry should only happen when the war is done, and says it would interfere with the war effort and the running of the country during war.

  However, the opposition is saying the scenes that happened today at the Israeli parliament are shameful and despicable, and the family members of the captives are calling on the Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana to resign.

  Netanyahu apologises to former captive Sharabi

  The prime minister had a phone call with Eli Sharabi on Sunday night, the Israeli media quoted his office as saying.

  According to the office’s statement, Netanyahu said he was sorry for failing to free him from captivity in Gaza sooner.

  Sharabi was released last month after 15 months of captivity in the Palestinian enclave.

  “I am sorry that it took us so long,” Netanyahu said in the phone conversation, according to the transcript quoted by the Israeli media.

  “We fought hard to get you out, and your brother and the entire family fought hard, too,” he added.

  Knesset debate on October 7 committee postponed after fight between bereaved families and security

  A Knesset debate on forming an investigation committee into October 7 has been postponed after a fight broke out between security forces and bereaved families and relatives of captives in Gaza.

  The clashes broke out when dozens of the families were stopped by Knesset security when they attempted to enter the gallery to watch the debate.

  Ben-Gvir calls for bombing aid storages in Gaza

  Israel’s former National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has called for the “mass starvation” of Hamas and its supporters in Gaza, saying that the war should resume with “tremendous force”.

  “To make this happen, Gaza must endure hell. And hell also means bombing all the aid depots that Hamas holds,” he told reporters, according to the Times of Israel.

  Woman pleads for recovery of loved ones buried under Gaza’s rubble

  Mai Marwan Abu-Alnasr is one of the few survivors of an Israeli air attack that targeted her family’s five-storey building, killing 220 people.

  Neighbors and rescuers managed to recover the bodies of 130, but the rest are still under the rubble.

  UN peacekeepers say they are supporting Lebanese army deployment in south

  UNIFIL has given an update on its work in south Lebanon after the ceasefire agreement that ended the war between Israel and Hezbollah.

  “For more than a year of conflict, peacekeepers stayed in all our positions to objectively monitor and report what was happening on the ground,” the United Nations peacekeeping force said in a statement.

  “We are now supporting the Lebanese Armed Forces as they re-deploy to the south after the withdrawal of Israeli forces from most places in south Lebanon, a needed step toward long-term stability.”

  The ceasefire deal stipulated that Hezbollah forces must withdraw to the north of the Litani River, around 30km (18 miles) from the Israeli border, as the Lebanese army deploys in the area.

  PIJ says fighter killed in Lebanon

  Al-Quds Brigades, the armed wing of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, says one of its fighters has been killed in Lebanon.

  The Palestinian group, which is allied with Lebanon’s Hezbollah, did not provide details on when and how the slain fighter – identified as Abdulaziz Ahmad Sahli – was killed. But it said he was confronting Israeli “aggression”.

  A fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah came into effect in November of last year, but Israeli forces have held on to positions in southern Lebanon in violation of the agreement.

  The Israeli military has also been carrying out occasional strikes across the country as its surveillance drones continue to violate the Lebanese airspace and fly over the capital, Beirut, almost daily.