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SvennoJ on 11 February 2025
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Main events on February 11th

  • US President Donald Trump reiterated his plans to take control of Gaza and permanently resettle its residents elsewhere, while hosting Jordan’s King Abdullah at the White House.
  • King Abdullah, however, opposed any displacement of Palestinians and said Arab nations would come to the US with a response to Washington’s Gaza takeover plan.
  • Egypt said the “comprehensive plan” will seek to rebuild Gaza without displacing Palestinians. It said it hopes to work with the Trump administration on a plan that will maintain regional peace and stability.
  • Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu threatened to resume “intense fighting” in Gaza if Hamas failed to free the captives held there by Saturday at noon.
  • The Israeli military said it was deploying troops in the country’s south, including calling up additional reservists, to prepare for any “possible scenario”.
  • Palestinians in Gaza said they are living in fear of the war resuming, while Hamas again condemned Trump’s displacement proposal, describing it as “a call for ethnic cleansing”.



Could Trump’s statements over Gaza backfire on Israel?

Dan Cohen, a filmmaker and founder of Uncaptured News, describes Trump’s approach to the Israel-Palestine conflict as like that of a “bull in a china shop”.

“He’s now alienating Israel’s top allies in the region, including Jordan,” Cohen told Al Jazeera from Washington, DC. “He’s now signalling that he will allow Israel to annex the West Bank, which would further destabilise Jordan. Trump is threatening to cut off aid and humiliating the king of Jordan in front of the world,” the journalist said.

“And now, President [el-]Sisi of Egypt has at least postponed, if not cancelled, his trip to Washington as Trump is making demands that are simply impossible for either of those countries to fulfil. Not because of the Palestinians in Gaza, but simply because of the domestic considerations and popular sentiment.”



Israel looks abroad for construction workers as Palestinians banned

Israel will provide several thousand additional work permits for foreign construction labourers, a decision that signals that Israel intends to keep barring Palestinians in the occupied West Bank from working in Israel.

Before Hamas’s October 2023 attack, some 150,000 Palestinians from the occupied West Bank and roughly 18,000 from Gaza were allowed to work in Israel – mainly in construction, manufacturing and agriculture.

However, during the war, Israeli authorities barred entry to all Palestinians from Gaza and most from the West Bank, saying it was necessary for security. The move left tens of thousands of Palestinians jobless and caused a widely reported shortage of workers on the Israeli side.

The quota for private importation of foreign workers into the construction industry would be raised from 25,000 to 30,000, and other barriers to bringing in foreign workers would be eased, a government statement said.

Lawyers for detained Gaza doctor accuse Israel of torture, severe abuses

Lawyers for Dr Hussam Abu Safia say that he has experienced physical abuse and other forms of torture since he was arbitrarily detained by Israeli forces outside the Kamal Adwan Hospital, in northern Gaza, in December.

The Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, which is representing Abu Safia, said the doctor was only able to meet with his lawyer for the first time on Tuesday afternoon, 47 days after his “abduction from Gaza”.

Al Mezan said in a statement that Abu Safia was first taken to the Sde Teiman military detention camp where he was subjected to “torture and inhuman and degrading treatment”, including “beatings with batons and electric shock sticks, as well as repeated blows to the chest”.

He was then transferred to Israel’s Ofer Prison, in the occupied West Bank, where he “was held in solitary confinement for 25 days—a period so prolonged as to constitute a form of torture in itself”.

Al Mezan said that Abu Safia’s health has deteriorated, stating he has lost “12 kg [26 pounds]… in less than two months”, and called for “his immediate and unconditional release”.