Compilation of news reports – IAK staff
At least 132 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces since the ceasefire in Gaza, including 26 who succumbed to earlier wounds. More than 900 people were injured, according to Palestinian security sources.
A Palestinian woman in Gaza died of her wounds Tuesday morning, having received serious injuries during the Israeli genocide.
On Monday evening in the West Bank, the Palestinian Health Ministry announced that a15-year-old boy had died from wounds he sustained on February 1st, when occupation forces bombed the town of Qabatiya, south of Jenin.
Lebanon’s Civil Defense has recovered 23 bodies from southern towns following the withdrawal of Israeli forces.
Israel allows two bulldozers into Gaza but continues to block vital reconstruction efforts
Israel has permitted two bulldozers, bearing Qatari and Egyptian flags, to enter Gaza on Tuesday, Al Jazeera reports.
This marks the first instance of heavy machinery reaching the devastated enclave since the mid-January ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
However, Israel has faced mounting criticism for obstructing essential reconstruction efforts by preventing the entry of vehicles needed to clear debris and restricting access to 60,000 mobile homes and 200,000 tents.
Oxfam: Less than 7% of pre-conflict water levels available to Rafah and North Gaza
The resumption of aid into Gaza, including fuel to operate undamaged water and sanitation facilities along with water trucking, has improved the amount of water available to people in some parts of Gaza. But the picture remains extremely bleak and dangerously critical, especially in the North Gaza and Rafah governorates, warned Oxfam today.
Fifteen months of Israel’s military assault has destroyed 1,025 miles of water and sanitation networks. In North Gaza and Rafah governorates, which have suffered the most destruction, less than seven percent of pre-conflict water levels is available to people, heightening the spread of waterborne diseases.
Clémence Lagouardat, Oxfam’s Humanitarian Coordinator in Gaza said: “Now that the bombs have stopped, we have only just begun to grasp the sheer scale of destruction to Gaza’s water and sanitation infrastructure. Most vital water and sanitation networks have been entirely lost or paralyzed, creating catastrophic hygiene and health conditions (continue reading here).
Explosion of infectious diseases in Gaza
Oxfam says there has been an explosion of waterborne and infectious diseases in Gaza amid the lack of safe water and untreated sewage overflowing in the enclave’s streets.
It cited a study by the World Health Organization, which found that 88 percent of environmental samples surveyed across Gaza were found contaminated with polio, “signaling an imminent risk of outbreak”. It said infectious diseases, including acute watery diarrhoea and respiratory infections – now the leading causes of death, are also surging, with 46,000 cases, mostly children, being reported each week.
Chickenpox and skin diseases such as scabies and impetigo are also spreading rapidly, particularly among displaced populations in northern Gaza, facing severe water shortages.
“Rebuilding water and sanitation is vital for Gaza to have a path to normalcy after 15 months of horror. The ceasefire must hold and fuel and aid must flow so that Palestinians can rebuild their lives,” said Clemence Lagouardat, Oxfam’s humanitarian coordinator in Gaza.
Hamas to release 6 living Israeli hostages on Saturday under Gaza deal
Palestinian resistance group Hamas said Tuesday that it will release six living Israeli captives and the bodies of four hostages this week under a Gaza ceasefire and prisoner swap deal with Israel.
The Hamas leader said his group will also hand over the bodies of four Israeli captives on Thursday, including members of the Bibas family.
“The (Israeli) enemy will release Palestinian prisoners in return under the agreement,” he added.
Hayya said Hamas will continue to hand over more bodies of Israeli captives next week as agreed under the first phase of the Gaza agreement.
Next week’s releases will bring the number of Israeli hostages released by Hamas under the first phase of the Gaza deal to 33 captives, including 25 living hostages and eight bodies.
So far, a total of 1,135 Palestinian prisoners have been freed from Israeli prisons. Israel is scheduled to release 502 more prisoners this week.
West Bank: Israel forcibly displaced more than 90% of Jenin refugee camp residents
The Israeli occupation forces have forcibly displaced more than 90 per cent of the residents of Jenin refugee camp in the northern occupied West Bank, or more than 20,000 citizens, a Palestinian official has said.
Ragheb Abu Diak, coordinator of the national and Islamic forces in Jenin, told the Voice of Palestine radio that the Palestinian local authorities have been working to support committees formed to collect local donations and support the displaced families.
According to the local official, the Israeli occupation has either completely or partially destroyed 470 homes in the refugee camp.
Israeli occupation forces began their operation in the refugee camp in the northern occupied West Bank city of Jenin on 21 January, deploying hundreds of troops and bulldozers that demolished houses and dug up roads, driving almost all of the camp’s residents out.
According to reports, far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Sunday that “the goal for 2025 is to demolish more than the Palestinians build in the West Bank.” This comes as the Israeli government is reportedly building almost 1,000 additional housing units in the Efrat settlement close to Jerusalem.
The additional units built for settlers in Efrat would increase the settlement’s size by 40% and block development in the Palestinian city of Bethlehem. The roughly 100 existing settlements in the West Bank host around 500,000 Israeli settlers and are considered illegal under international law.
Sunday’s comments from Smotrich reflect his longstanding hopes for Israeli absorption of the West Bank and the nixing of a two-state solution. He published a lengthy plan in 2017 in this regard entitled “One Hope.”
“We need to and can go back to the post-1948 days, regarding both Israeli Arabs and the Arabs of Judea and Samaria,” he outlined in the plan, the first phase of which is called “Victory Through Settlement” (continue reading here).
Israel confiscates additional $90M in Palestinian tax revenues
Israel has decided to confiscate an additional $90 million from the Palestinian Authority’s tax revenues and transfer the money to the families of Israelis allegedly killed in attacks by Palestinians, according to a report Monday by TV7 Israel News.
The report said the Israeli Finance Ministry took the decision to prevent the Palestinian Authority from “continuing to reward terrorists and murderers” and to redirect the funds to “terror victims” and their families.
The Palestinian government uses tax revenues to pay the salaries of public employees, which account for 65% of total state revenues.
Since 2019, however, Israel has decided to cut 600 million shekels ($168 million) annually, citing monthly allowances provided by the Palestinian Authority to prisoners and ex-prisoners.
The figure has subsequently increased to an average of $195 million annually.
Since November 2021, the Palestinian Authority has been unable to pay the salaries of public employees in full.
NOTE: The Palestinian Authority is widely seen as a collaborator with, or subcontractor for the Israeli occupation, and recently rescinded its long-standing program of payment to the families of its fallen and imprisoned resistance fighters, and cracked down on armed groups in the West Bank, in order to curry favor with Israel and the US.
The Israeli Finance Ministry’s accusation lacks credibility and its withholding of funds amounts to economic collective punishment.
Israeli police raids several UNRWA schools in occupied East Jerusalem
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Tuesday “strongly” condemned Israeli police’s raid on schools run by the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) in occupied East Jerusalem.
According to witnesses, police stormed the UNRWA-run Jerusalem Elementary School in Silwan town and interrogated its management members on Tuesday.
The raids also targeted another school in the Wadi al-Joz neighborhood and a vocational training center in the Qalandia refugee camp in occupied East Jerusalem.
UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said in a statement that tear gas and sound bombs were fired during the raids as at least 350 students and 30 staff were present at the facilities.
He stressed that “the inviolability of United Nations premises must be respected at all times.”
“The internal law of Israel does not alter international legal obligations, nor can it provide any justification for their breach,” spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said.
“Our colleagues in Jerusalem will meet with Israeli authorities tomorrow to obviously protest vigorously what has happened,” he said, adding that “what is clear is that under international law, Israel, as the occupying power, has the responsibility to take over education and health services if it’s not allowing UNRWA to do so.”
Egypt says Trump backs its Gaza plan, convinced by Jordan’s king
Egypt and Jordan believe they have successfully dissuaded US President Donald Trump from backing a forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza and that the US has gotten behind an Egyptian post-war plan for the enclave, a senior Egyptian official told Middle East Eye.
“This will be an Egyptian plan adopted and supported by the Arabs,” the official said. “That is what Trump has agreed to.”
The Egyptian official, speaking to MEE on the condition of anonymity on Tuesday, said King Abdullah II of Jordan’s visit to Washington was critical to convincing Trump to ditch his plan to empty Gaza of Palestinians. Cairo and other Arab states viewed the outcome of Abdullah’s meeting as a win.
“The closed meeting was very good,” the Egyptian official told MEE.
King Abdullah did not confront Trump publicly on his proposal to “take over” the Gaza Strip, but the Egyptian official said the king privately warned Trump his plan would provoke “Islamic extremism” and lead to the collapse of pro-US governments across the region.
2 Israeli soldiers flee Amsterdam over arrest warrant concerns
Two Israeli soldiers who fought in Gaza fled Amsterdam and returned to Israel after a pro-Palestinian organization tracked them down on social media, Israeli public broadcaster KAN reported on Tuesday.
The soldiers were evacuated from Amsterdam after organizations working to issue arrest warrants against Israeli soldiers circulated their photos, KAN said.
The Israeli Genocide Tracker, a pro-Palestinian organization, published on Monday photos of the soldiers on X, saying: “After participating in the Gaza genocide, this Israeli tank commander from the 52nd Battalion, who was involved in kidnapping hundreds of civilians (especially in Jabalia) and who enjoyed taking selfies with them, landed in Amsterdam today for a vacation.”
The Israeli military decided that the soldiers should cut their vacation short and return to Israel, and were told to delete all footage related to the war in Gaza from their social media.
Campaigners urge F-35 fighter jet producing nations to stop supplying Israel
More than 200 organizations worldwide have called on nations involved in producing F-35 fighter jets to “immediately halt all arms transfers to Israel” amid fears they have failed to prevent the planes from being used to violate international law.
The letter, signed by 232 civil society organizations, was sent on Monday to government ministers in Australia, Canada, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, the US and the UK as the war in Gaza reached 500 days.
The sponsors hail from the jet-building nations as well as Belgium, Jordan, Lebanon, Switzerland, Ireland, India and elsewhere. High-profile charities and NGOs, such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and Oxfam, are among the sponsors.
The letter, coordinated by the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT), reads in part:
The past 15 months have illustrated with devastating clarity that Israel is not committed to complying with international law.
Partners to the F-35 program have individually and collectively failed to prevent these jets from being used to commit serious violations of international law by Israel.
States have either been unwilling to observe their international legal obligations and/or claimed that the structure of the F-35 program means that it is not possible to apply arms controls to any end-user, making the entire program incompatible with international law.
23 members of US Congress visit Israel, meet with Netanyahu
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday met with a U.S. congressional delegation led by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.).
The prime minister told the members of Congress that the alliance between the United States and Israel has never been stronger, a reality he said would assist in achieving all of the objectives of the war against Hamas.
Over the past two days, Netanyahu has met with 23 members of the Congress, thanking them for their steadfast bipartisan support for Israel.
Earlier on Tuesday, Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Sa’ar hosted a U.S. House delegation headed by Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) and organized by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
“I thanked them for passing House legislation against the ICC, which is waging legal warfare against Israel,” Sa’ar said, referring to the International Criminal Court case against Israeli officials over the war in Gaza.
NOTE: Pro-Israel orgs regularly sponsor trips to Israel for influencers and the influence-able – trips that invariably provide a whitewashed view of Israel and no exposure to the Palestinian narrative, and by withholding the truth, “buy” new Israel partisans.
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