Main events from February 10th
- US President Donald Trump has proposed the cancellation of the Gaza ceasefire deal if Hamas doesn’t release all the remaining captives by noon on Saturday.
- The call came after Hamas announced the suspension of the next captives’ release, accusing Israel of violating the terms of the deal, including killings and obstruction of humanitarian aid.
- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened his security cabinet for discussions, and the military cancelled leave for its troops, saying it would “significantly reinforce” areas around the Gaza Strip.
- The United Nations said not enough tents are entering Gaza, where displaced families are enduring harsh weather conditions, even though 200,000 shelters were promised as part of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal.
- Israel’s weeks-long assault on the occupied West Bank – including refugee camps in Jenin, Tulkarem and Tubas – has entered its third week, with more than 40,000 Palestinians now forcibly displaced from their homes.
- Israeli police sparked outrage after they raided a popular bookstore in East Jerusalem and arrested its owners on charges of selling books that incite violence.
More than 110 NGOs condemn Trump’s plans for Gaza
The organisations have issued a joint statement opposing “any calls for the forcible displacement of Palestinians from Gaza” after Trump proposed plans for the US to buy and own the coastal enclave.
“Forcible displacement, when carried out with an intent to permanently remove a people from a land on the basis of their identity is ethnic cleansing,” the groups said.
“The United States has no right to dictate to the Palestinian people in Gaza to leave.”
The groups said they were also “deeply concerned by clear statements of intent from Israeli government officials over the past year concerning the creation of new Israeli settlements within the Gaza Strip, which further reinforce the intent of ethnic cleansing”.
Earlier, in an interview with Fox News, Trump responded to a question asking if Palestinians would be allowed to return to Gaza under his plan to redevelop the enclave, saying, “No, they wouldn’t”.
1/ 🚨 @anewpolicyorg is leading 110+ NGOs in rebuking President Trump’s recent statements endorsing the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in Gaza.
We refuse to let this dangerous rhetoric go unchallenged. 🧵
— A New Policy (@anewpolicyorg) February 10, 2025
Mediators fear breakdown of Gaza deal: Report
Two Egyptian security sources told the Reuters news agency that the mediators of the Gaza ceasefire deal fear a breakdown of the agreement following Hamas’s latest announcement.
The agency reported that Hamas negotiators have said that US guarantees for the ceasefire were no longer in place, given a plan by Trump to displace Palestinians from the Gaza Strip.
It also said mediators had postponed talks until a clear indication of Washington’s intent to continue the phased deal was received.
What does Trump’s call for the cancellation of Gaza deal mean?
Khaled Elgindy, visiting scholar at the Georgetown University Center for Contemporary Arab Studies, has told Al Jazeera that Trump is not interested in the details of the Gaza ceasefire deal
“I think that Trump was always about the headline of the ceasefire more than the ceasefire itself,” Elgindy says.
“He wanted to get credit for it. He likes to promote the fact that he was instrumental in securing that ceasefire, rather than [former] President Biden. But I don’t think he really cares much for whether it’s actually implemented or continues.”
“I mean, after all, he’s proposing the expulsion of an entire civilian population,” Elgindy added, noting that Trump’s position potentially supports Netanyahu’s plans.
“Netanyahu himself, I think, would not be upset by a return to full-blown war in Gaza, but this time, it would not be about the hostages, but it would be about, I think, completing or implementing the vision for depopulating Gaza, which now has the backing of the most powerful country in the world, the United States.”
