Israeli Knesset debates 2026 draft budget before vote

Israel’s Knesset is expected to give a preliminary vote on this year’s draft state budget today or tomorrow morning following a debate in the chamber. Lawmakers must pass the budget by the end of March, or the country will head to snap elections before the scheduled October vote.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he hoped people “act sensibly” to avoid early elections.

“We are in a very sensitive situation, and I think the last thing we need right now is elections,” he told a news conference. “We’ll have elections later on this year, but I think it’s a mistake to have them now, and I hope that people understand ‍that and act ⁠sensibly.”

Netanyahu blames Biden for some Israeli soldiers’ deaths in Gaza

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has blamed the previous US administration of President Joe Biden for causing the deaths of Israeli soldiers in Gaza after Washington paused a weapons shipment during the war.

Israel paid “very heavy prices” regarding the killing of its troops, and one reason for that was “at a certain stage we didn’t have enough ammunition”, Netanyahu told a press conference on Tuesday.

“Heroes fell” because they didn’t have the firepower they needed, and “part of that absent ammunition was because of the embargo”, he said, referring to a brief suspension of “one [US] shipment of high payload munitions” in 2024.

Biden made the decision to pause the shipment after Netanyahu ignored international warnings not to invade southern Rafah.

Amos Hochstein, a former Biden aide, denounced the comments, saying Israel’s only response to the United States for its support during Israel’s war on Gaza should be “thank you”.

Let me be clear to “journalists” commenting. After more than $20 Billion military support, largest in #Israel history, 2 aircraft carriers rushed to the region, deterring a massive regional war, defeating Iran missile/drone attack x2, defending israel at most vulnerable moments,… https://t.co/XEbPgdEXKs

— amos hochstein (@amoshochstein) January 27, 2026

Albania’s PM defends Israel, blames Gaza crisis solely on Hamas

In an address to the Knesset, Albanian Prime Minister Edi Rama has shielded Israel from accountability, pinning Gaza’s humanitarian catastrophe entirely on Hamas while ignoring the killing of more than 71,000 Palestinians in Israel’s ongoing genocide.

Rama opened his speech by expressing goodwill towards Israeli leaders, including Netanyahu, and highlighting Albania’s longstanding solidarity with the Jewish people. He spoke of Albania’s historical support for Jews, saying the country and its people stood “as few others did for the Jewish people” and deserved recognition from Israel.

Drawing a parallel with Albania’s past, Rama said international criticism often misidentifies the source of Gaza’s suffering, arguing that many observers “mistook the finger for what it was pointing at” and failed to see that “the jailer of Gaza is Hamas, no one else but Hamas”.

Israel to hold funeral for last recovered Israeli captive from Gaza

The remains of Ran Gvili, the last Israeli captive recovered from Gaza, are set to be buried today in Gvili’s hometown of Meitar in southern Israel.

Israel’s police are holding a pre-funeral ceremony for Gvili, who was a police officer, at the Shura military base in central Israel, The Times of Israel reported.

The funeral will begin at 12:30pm (10:30 GMT), it said. Both Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Isaac Herzog are expected to give eulogies.

_{People wave flags as the funeral convoy of the last captive retrieved from Gaza, Ran Gvili, makes its way through Ramla, Israel, on Wednesday}

President calls captive’s return ‘momentous moment’ for Israel

Israeli President Isaac Herzog spoke at the funeral of Ran Gvili, the last Israeli captive to be returned from Gaza.

The retrieval of Gvili’s body marks “a momentous moment” for all of Israel that can allow the nation to start to heal, Herzog was quoted as saying by The Times of Israel.

Addressing Gvili’s family, Herzog said: “An entire nation looks upon you today … and knows through your path and through Ran’s path we must rise from this terrible pain.”

In Gaza, meanwhile, 10,000 Palestinian bodies are believed to lie buried beneath the rubble of vast war destruction, unable to be retrieved, leaving families without answers and proper burial rites.

Netanyahu says Israel to ‘disarm Hamas’

Prime Minister Netanyahu has spoken at the funeral of Israeli captive Ran Gvili, the last to be recovered from Gaza.

“We are determined to complete our missions: to disarm Hamas and demilitarise Gaza, and we will succeed,” said the Israeli PM. “Let our enemies know that anyone who raises a hand against Israel will pay an exorbitant price.”

Israel takes full credit for locating policeman’s body in Gaza

Israel says it solely identified the remains of captive Ran Gvili this week. Both Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, however, said they provided Israel – through mediators – with information to locate the body.

Al-Quds Brigades, Islamic Jihad’s military wing, said it shared coordinates with Israel through Arab mediators. Hamas said it also provided information.

Two unnamed US officials credited Egypt, Qatar and Turkiye with helping to get Hamas to release Gvili’s body, The Associated Press reported.

Residents living near the cemetery where Gvili’s body was discovered said Palestinian remains exhumed during the search were left exposed without reburial.

“Our dead are in the open,” said Mohamed Matter, whose relatives are buried in the cemetery. He and others said they attempted to reach the area but were turned away by Israeli forces.

Two people were killed in an Israeli drone strike while attempting to reach the cemetery, and were taken to al-Shifa Hospital, where they were pronounced dead, according to hospital officials.

Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem said on Tuesday that Israeli forces exhumed “hundreds of graves” calling it a pattern of showing disrespect to the dead.

‘Every day we are collecting bones’

Amjad Shawa, director of the Palestinian NGOs Network in Gaza, says many families are still suffering because they haven’t recovered the remains of their loved ones, even as Israel retrieved the body of its last captive from the territory.

He noted there are an estimated 10,000 bodies still buried under the rubble in Gaza, where rescuers lack adequate equipment and access to dig them out.

“Almost every day we are collecting bones from different areas … and we cannot identify them while their mothers are waiting,” Shawa told Al Jazeera from Gaza City.

“It’s a very critical moment that we are passing through,” he added. “Times are painful … until we manage to get these bodies back and bury them.”

_{Gaza City residents navigate life amid wreckage}

‘Entire generation at risk’ from destruction of Gaza’s school system

UNICEF says Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza has wiped out years of educational progress in the Palestinian enclave, where nearly all schools have been damaged or destroyed by the two-year assault.

“Almost two and a half years of attacks on Gaza’s schooling have left an entire generation at risk,” UNICEF spokesperson James Elder said.

About 60 percent of school-aged children have no access to in-person learning, UNICEF said, while more than 90 percent of educational facilities have been damaged or destroyed.

Elder said UNICEF is expanding its “Back to Learning” programme to reach 336,000 children in 2026 through temporary learning centres. The classrooms will also link children to health, nutrition and sanitation services.


_{Palestinian children at an outdoor classroom opened by UNRWA in central Deir el-Balah}

UNICEF calls for urgent opening of Rafah crossing, with families ‘desperate’

James Elder, the UNICEF spokesperson, stressed the urgent need to reopen the Rafah border crossing in the south of the Gaza Strip, calling it a “lifeline” for medical evacuations, family reunification, and essential services.

Palestinian families are “desperate” for the crossing to reopen, Elder said, adding that its prolonged closure by Israel is adding to the humanitarian disaster in Gaza. The Rafah crossing, Gaza’s key border crossing with Egypt, has been mostly closed since May 2024, when the Palestinian side came under the control of invading Israeli forces.

The crossing was supposed to have reopened during the first stage of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which began in October. But the Israeli government tied its opening to the recovery of the body of Ran Gvili, the last remaining Israeli captive in Gaza, whose remains were recovered in an Israeli operation on Monday.

Israel continues to keep the Rafah crossing closed.

Humanitarian situation in Gaza ‘dire’ as children suffer most: UN

The humanitarian situation in Gaza remains “dire” with children among those worst affected by shortages of shelter, food, water and medicine, the United Nations warns.

Briefing reporters in New York City on Tuesday, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric said hundreds of thousands of families across the Strip continue to face urgent needs, despite a modest expansion in aid deliveries. Children remained particularly affected.

UN health partners have scaled up basic services, including a catch-up vaccination campaign launched last week. More than 6,000 children under the age of three have now received routine immunisations.

Daily bread rations are now reaching at least 43 percent of Gaza’s population. Monthly wheat flour distributions reached 1.2 million people this month.

However, more than one million people still require urgent shelter support during the winter cold and rain, Dujarric said, underscoring the need for longer-term solutions such as home-repair tool kits, communal heating spaces and equipment to remove the vast piles of debris.

Israel plans massive displacement camp for southern Gaza: Report

Israel has cleared land in southern Gaza for the construction of a huge camp ‍for Palestinians potentially equipped with surveillance and ‍facial recognition technology at its entrance, a retired Israeli general who advises the military says.

Retired reservist Brigadier-General Amir Avivi told Reuters news agency the camp would be built in an area of Rafah cleared of tunnels built by Hamas, with entry and exit tracked by Israeli personnel.

Avivi said the camp would be used to house Palestinians who wish to leave Gaza and cross into Egypt, as well ​as those who wish to stay. Israel wants to ensure more Palestinians leave Gaza than are allowed in, sources told Reuters this month.

“You need to build infrastructure in Rafah that can host them, and then they can choose if they want to go or not,” Avivi said. He said the structure would likely be “a big, organised camp” capable of hosting hundreds of thousands of people.

Israeli officials have spoken in the past about encouraging Gazans to emigrate, though they deny intending to transfer the population out by force – a highly sensitive issue for Palestinians.

In July, Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz told Israeli media he ordered troops to prepare a camp in Rafah to house Gaza’s population. Officials have not spoken publicly about such plans since then.


Israeli plans for Rafah ‘camp’ slammed as continuation of genocide

While diplomatic circles welcome the recovery of the last captive’s remains in Gaza and the imminent partial reopening of the enclave’s Rafah border crossing with Egypt, a quieter, darker reality is taking shape on the ground.

According to comments by retired Israeli General Amir Avivi, who still advises the military, Israel has cleared land in Rafah, an area in southern Gaza that it had already flattened in more than two years of its genocidal war, to construct an enormous facility to entrench its military control and presence in Gaza for the long term.

Rafah crossing to open in ‘coming days’: Reports

The crucial Rafah border between Gaza and Egypt is expected to open in the “coming days”, Israeli media reports say.

Once operational, Palestinians will be able to enter and exit the besieged Gaza Strip, and those entering will be subject to much stricter security checks, Israel Army Radio said.

All travellers will first need Egyptian approval, and those entering Gaza will undergo intensive Israeli security screenings.

Israel’s Walla news site quoted an Israeli army official as saying the Rafah crossing, which has been mostly closed since May 2024, will open in both directions on Sunday.

No official confirmation has been announced by Israel’s government despite demands from the international community to finally open the critical crossing for people and much-needed humanitarian relief.

Hamas disarmament ‘to be solved by Israeli troops the hard way’: Israel

After receiving all of its captives taken to Gaza, Israel now says the ceasefire terms won’t move forward unless Hamas fully disarms.

Hamas has publicly refused to lay down its weapons. Two Hamas officials told Reuters news agency this ‌week that neither the United States nor the mediators presented the Palestinian group with any detailed or concrete disarmament proposal.

Avi Dichter, a minister in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet and former head of Israel’s domestic intelligence service, said disputes over disarmament could lead Israel back into war in Gaza.

“We have to get prepared for the war in Gaza,” Dichter told Reuters, adding that the disarmament issue “will have to be solved by Israeli troops, the hard way”.

According to a document shared by the White House last week, the Trump administration wants to see heavy weapons decommissioned immediately, with “personal arms registered and decommissioned by sector” as the police under an interim technocratic administration in Gaza “become capable of guaranteeing personal security”.

Israeli artillery shelling, air attacks continue across Gaza

Israeli artillery and aircraft continue to pound areas across the Gaza Strip, ignoring a US-brokered ceasefire that took effect more than three months ago.

An Al Jazeera team on the ground reported Israeli shelling and heavy tank fire have hit areas east of the southern city of Khan Younis since dawn.

Meanwhile, Israeli fighter jets carried out three air raids on evacuated homes east of the central city of Deir el-Balah, in territory under Israeli military control.

In the north of the Strip, local sources said at least two explosions took place as the army carried out demolitions in occupied Jabalia, while Israeli troops shelled neighbourhoods east of Gaza City.

Nearly 500 Palestinians in Gaza – including children, women, and the elderly – have been killed since the Hamas-Israel truce deal came into force on October 10, 2025.

_{A woman reacts at the site of an Israeli attack on tents in Gaza City earlier this month}

Map shows what would happen to Gaza under the US ‘master plan’

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2026/1/27/map-shows-what-would-happen-to-gaza-under-the-us-master-plan

At the World Economic Forum last week in Davos, Switzerland, Jared Kushner, a real estate developer and son-in-law of United States President Donald Trump, unveiled a “master plan” for post-war Gaza during a presentation.

The plan, which was contrived without any consultation with Palestinians in Gaza, promises to rebuild Gaza from scratch and includes residential towers, data centres, seaside resorts, parks, sports facilities and an airport.



The project forms part of Trump’s push to advance the Gaza ceasefire, which Israel has violated on a daily basis, killing nearly 500 people since it came into effect.

“I’m a real estate person at heart, and it’s all about location,” Trump said about the development plan. “And I said, look at this location on the sea, look at this beautiful piece of property, what it could be for so many people.

“We’re committed to ensuring that Gaza is demilitarised, properly governed and beautifully rebuilt,” Trump added.

Kushner did not specify who would fund the redevelopment. “As you guys know, peace is a different deal than a business deal, because you’re changing a mindset,” he said, calling the Gaza peace efforts “very entrepreneurial”.

He added that the reconstruction plan would only commence following full disarmament by Hamas and the withdrawal of the Israeli military after that.

So never?

The ‘Vegas-ification’ of Gaza

From an urban design perspective, this shift represents a radical change in the city’s identity. Ali A Alraouf, a professor of architecture and urbanism, describes this approach as the “Vegas-ification” of Gaza.

“The plan chases a visual image similar to Dubai or Las Vegas,” Alraouf notes, pointing to the rendering of glass towers and marinas. “Technically, this creates gated communities designed for a specific economic class, rather than an organic city fabric that serves the local population.”

Construction is expected to take two to three years, but no details were provided regarding housing for hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians during this period.

Beyond the lofty promises, there were few details regarding the political future of Palestinians, with no mention of core issues such as property and land rights or a path to Palestinian statehood.

“Palestinians obviously have no voice whatsoever in this plan, there is no mention whatsoever of Israel, whether Israel will end its control and occupation of the Gaza Strip,” Tamer Qarmout, an associate professor in public policy at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, told Al Jazeera following the announcement.

Trump’s redevelopment plan shows how closely it is aligned with the needs of Israel’s occupation, according to analyst Sultan Barakat. “The whole idea of displacing the Palestinians, pushing them out from Gaza, has not ended,” Barakat told Al Jazeera.

History replaced by ‘data centres’

The “New Gaza” map presented by Kushner proposes the elimination of numerous existing neighbourhoods, historic sites and landmarks that are part of Gaza’s identity and history.

The plan assumes a flat, ready-to-build surface. However, engineering experts point out that building high-rises on such terrain is technically fraught.

“This is real estate fantasy rather than urban planning,” Alraouf argues. He suggests that from an engineering standpoint, the huge amount of debris might be repurposed not for reconstruction, but for terraforming, potentially using the rubble to reclaim land from the sea to create the artificial landscapes shown in the renderings.

To better understand what this new plan would look like on the ground, we superimposed the newly proposed map onto a map of Gaza before Israel’s bombardment.

The map below shows which of Gaza’s neighbourhoods and famous landmarks would be transformed into “coastal tourism” areas, “industrial complexes”, “parks”, and “residential areas”.

Areas allocated for ‘coastal tourism’

• Shati refugee camp
• Most of Remal – This neighbourhood housed many high-rise buildings, including al-Shifa Hospital, the largest medical facility in the Gaza Strip. It also contained the Islamic University of Gaza, Al-Azhar University-Gaza, Al-Aqsa University, and various United Nations buildings.
• All of Deir el-Balah refugee camp
• Large parts of al-Mawasi
  
  

Areas allocated for ‘industrial complex, data centres and advanced manufacturing’

• All of Beit Hanoon
• Nearly all of Beit Lahiya – The once-thriving agricultural area, known especially for its plump strawberries that locals called “red gold”, has been systematically razed by Israeli bulldozers and heavy machinery, reducing fields to dirt.
• All of Gaza’s Old City – Home to several historic sites that date back more than 1,000 years, this area includes the Great Omari Mosque and two of Gaza’s churches: Saint Philip the Evangelist Chapel and Saint Porphyrius Church.
• Half of Shujayea and Zeitoun neighbourhoods – These are among the largest neighbourhoods in Gaza City, translating to “courage” and “olive,” respectively, from Arabic.

Areas allocated for ‘parks, agriculture and sports facilities’

• Most of Jabalia refugee camp – One of the largest refugee camps in the Strip that has been repeatedly attacked by Israel.
• Most of Daraj
• All of Maghazi refugee camp
• Barquq Castle

While the inclusion of green areas is usually viewed as a positive development, for Palestinians, particularly in the occupied West Bank, what are referred to as green areas or parks by Israel are often designated as military zones. For Palestinians, these spaces are heavily restricted, and Israel routinely governs access, allowing its forces to move in and out at will while significantly limiting Palestinian freedom.

Areas allocated for ‘residential areas’

• Large parts of Sheikh Radwan
• Most parts of Sabra and Tal al-Hawa
• Most of Nuseirat refugee camp
• Parts of al-Mawasi

Trump ‘Peace’ SCAM BLOWS UP in RECORD TIME

Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace” was sold as a bold new approach to global diplomacy. In reality, it represents one of the most dangerous assaults on the post-World War II international order in decades. This video breaks down how a narrowly defined UN ceasefire resolution for Gaza was transformed into something entirely different: a private, treaty-based global authority centered not on states, law, or democracy—but on Donald Trump personally. With no term limits, no removal mechanism, and total control over membership, finances, and succession, the Board of Peace is structured to outlive elections, bypass governments, and concentrate unprecedented power in the hands of one man and his chosen heirs. Anthony Davis reacts.

Bibi BLOCKS Gaza Reconstruction As Peace Deal Collapses

Imperial boomerang in action:

Tested in Gaza genocide.

UK police to use AI facial recognition tech linked to Israel’s war on Gaza

The UK is expanding its use of AI-powered facial recognition tech—controversially linked to Israel's operations in Gaza. This rollout, involving Israeli-developed software, raises critical questions about civil liberties and ethical standards.

With plans to increase…

— AI News (@DailyAITechNews) January 28, 2026

The United Kingdom’s controversial rollout of facial recognition technology will rely on software that appears to have already been deployed in Gaza, where it is used by the Israeli army to track, trace, and abduct thousands of Palestinian civilians passing through checkpoints.

Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced on Monday that British police would massively increase the use of facial recognition technology used for surveillance purposes.

Enquiries by Al Jazeera to the Home Office’s procurement agency, Blue Light Commercial, confirmed that the Israeli-based firm Corsight AI had been subcontracted by UK company Digital Barriers to provide the artificial intelligence-powered facial recognition software.

Under the Home Office’s proposals, the UK’s current fleet of 10 live facial recognition vans will be expanded to more than 50, which will be deployed nationwide to identify individuals on police watchlists, raising fears over civil liberties among campaigners and concerns about its accuracy among Israeli intelligence operatives who have used it in Gaza.

Announcing their selection as one of three suppliers of the software in April, following a six-month trial by police in Essex, Digital Barriers confirmed that it and its subcontractor, Corsight, had been selected to be part of what it said was a 20 million pounds ($27.6m) roll-out.

However, despite the UK government’s belated – if tempered – criticism of Israel’s actions in Gaza, where it has widely been accused of committing genocide, it has pressed forward in partnering with a firm that has operated as part of Israel’s surveillance architecture in Gaza.

_{Displaced Palestinians, travelling in vehicles, wait in line to pass through a security checkpoint of the kind where concerns about Corsight’s face recognition software have been raised}

Essex police previously declined to comply with a Freedom of Information request granted to the advocacy group Action on Armed Violence (AOAV) in April 2025, asking if their officers had met directly with representatives of Corsight. Essex police claimed that determining that information would exceed cost and time limits, a statement from AOAV read.

Israeli connections

In March 2024, more than a year before Corsight and Digital Barriers were selected by the UK government, the New York Times reported that Corsight technology was being deployed in Gaza by the Israeli cyber-intelligence division Unit 8200. However, misgivings over its accuracy, including the wrongful arrest and detention of hundreds of Palestinians, led to a number of Israeli security officials expressing their doubts about the system to reporters.

Israel has been repeatedly criticised for its use of artificial intelligence in Gaza, including the use of AI to identify bombing targets.

Corsight’s website shows its board of directors includes a former Israeli intelligence officer, Igal Raichelgauz. Other members include a former Israeli security, or Shin Bet, officer, Yaron Ashkenazi, and retired Major-General Giora Eiland, who is said to have given his name to the so-called “General’s Plan“, to isolate and starve northern Gaza in October 2024.

The conditions imposed upon northern Gaza as a result of that plan are thought to have killed more than a thousand people, through either direct bombardment, sickness or starvation, and reduced the area’s healthcare system to rubble.


_{Corsight’s website listing its board of directors, among them Israeli intelligence officer Igal Raichelgauz, along with former Shin Bet officer Yaron Ashkenazi, as well as former Major-General Giora Eiland, thought to be responsible for the so-called ‘General’s Plan,’ or siege of Northern Gaza}

Shortly after the imposition of the siege, the UK took issue with Israeli actions, condemning them at the United Nations. Also writing at the time, the UK’s former Foreign Secretary David Lammy criticised Israel’s tactics of siege and starvation, describing the conditions that Israel had imposed upon northern Gaza as “dire” and urging for aid to be allowed in.

Responding to the news of Corsight’s involvement in the UK police scheme, Amnesty International’s UK Crisis Response Manager, Kristyan Benedict, said, “The UK government has clear legal obligations to help prevent and punish genocide and is still scandalously failing to meet its responsibilities.”

“The government must ban investments in companies and financial institutions contributing to maintaining Israel’s genocide, unlawful occupation, and system of apartheid, including companies involved in weapons production, surveillance, and policing equipment or technology,” Benedict added.

Meanwhile, Human Rights Watch criticised the UK’s wider push to incorporate facial recognition technology into policing, calling it “sacrificing human rights on a countrywide scale”.

“It’s mass violation of privacy and non-discrimination rights, and also puts at risk the rights to freedom of expression, association, and assembly,” said Anna Bacciarelli, Senior AI Researcher at Human Rights Watch. “Meanwhile private tech companies will benefit from the UK’s increased mass surveillance.”

“Surveillance and profiling tech used in law enforcement is often developed and tested on the battlefield, and it’s vital that UK government agencies conduct human rights due diligence in their procurement processes to ensure that the companies and products have not caused or contributed to human rights abuses,” Bacciarelli added. “Taxpayer money should not be spent contracting companies that are facilitating human rights abuses anywhere.”

Questioned by Al Jazeera, a Home Office Spokesperson declined to comment on what they described as “operational matters”. Numerous attempts to contact Corsight and Digital Barriers have also gone unanswered.