Israel to receive at least four bodies of captives on Thursday: Reports

Israel’s army is preparing to receive the bodies of at least four captives as part of the ceasefire agreement with Hamas, Israeli media reports say.

According to the plan, the Palestinian armed group will give the names of the dead captives on Thursday morning. Ambulances will wait at an agreed meeting point from where the bodies will be transferred for identification.

Meanwhile, three living hostages will be released on Saturday in line with the deal’s first phase.

Palestinian women, children prisoners to be released for four bodies

There were eight bodies of Israeli captives killed on or after October 7. Israel does not have an accurate tally of who among the captives remains alive, and it is expected a list will be provided on Thursday, along with the four bodies.

This is important for the families because they would have certainty whether their loved ones are alive or not.

In exchange for those four bodies, half of the women and children that Israel took from Gaza and forcibly disappeared will be released – that results from talks happening now in Cairo to kind of iron out all the hiccups and hurdles that have appeared in the ceasefire’s implementation.

Phase one of the ceasefire resulted in Israel not allowing in all the elements of recovery that were required of it – the tents, the caravans, the heavy equipment, the medical equipment – most of that hasn’t been allowed in.

In a way, Israel is trying to renegotiate how and when it will bring those into Gaza, and is pushing right now, with some success, according to Israeli media reports, for the release of six captives on Saturday instead of three as expected.

Gaza residents suffer in flooded tents as Israel blocks shelters

After 15 months of war and with 70 percent of buildings destroyed, Gaza civilians have nowhere to go – and the situation is worsening.

As part of the ceasefire deal, Israel agreed to allow 60,000 mobile homes and 200,000 tents inside the Gaza Strip. So far, only 20,000 tents arrived and none of the temporary homes have been allowed into Gaza.

“Tents are flooded with rain and sewerage water. We are soaked in waste water. Our children are getting sick. Those readymade homes would solve some of our many problems,” said Umm Mohammed Selemy, a resident of the Shujayea neighbourhood in northern Gaza, where people are forced to live in the open because Israel’s army destroyed their homes.

Another resident, Abed Alkareem Saida, said temporary housing would make a big difference.

“Tents are not meant for permanent living. They do not protect us from winter cold or rains. Mobile homes would at least have a toilet, and we can keep our children warm inside. They also keep us safe from stray dogs,” he said.

Israeli official admits holding up shelters for Gaza

Hamas has accused Israel of blocking the delivery of housing materials for the tens of thousands of Gazan people forced to shelter from the winter weather among the ruins left by 15 months of Israeli bombardment.

Israel has denied the accusation, but a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s security cabinet confirmed a quantity of mobile homes are held up at the border.

He said Israel would use “any leverage” it has over Hamas to secure the return of the 33 captives in the first phase of the deal. “Israel has a goal of bringing forward the release of the first phase hostages, certainly the living ones,” Ze’ev Elkin told public broadcaster Kan.

So far, 19 Israeli captives have been returned as well as five Thais, who were handed over in an unscheduled release. Hamas has said 25 of the 33 captives set for release in the first phase are alive.

_{Trucks carrying mobile homes line up on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing with Gaza}

Gaza resident says war exposed Israel as ‘the occupier’ to the world

Palestinian Khadija Hammou, 56, says the 500 days since Israel’s war on Gaza began have felt like “500 years”. “There is no tent to shelter us, no water to drink or bathe in, no means of survival in Gaza,” she said. “Everywhere we go … there is only suffering.”

For Hammou, the war has “revealed to the world that Israel is committing massacres and that our people are the occupied and the oppressed”.

Many people and organizations already knew long before Oct 7, problem is, those with the power to change the situation still support Israel's genocidal colonialism and actively make any solution impossible.

How To Erase a People

They did it to Native Americans, to Palestinians like my family in 1948, and now Trump wants to do it again in Gaza. It's called 'forcible transfer,' and it kills something much greater than any individual life.

Raw Drone Footage Shows Destruction of Northern Gaza Strip

Drone footage reveals the staggering devastation in northern Gaza after 500 days of conflict. Captured over Jabaliya, the aerial images show entire neighborhoods reduced to rubble, with makeshift tents scattered among the ruins. Survivors walk through the destruction, searching for remnants of their lives.


Before Zionism invaded Palestine

Palestine 1896

https://x.com/ireallyhateyou/status/1891237871715070274

bruh

Yeah I put that in the US Politics thread.


Israelis shooting each other thinking they're shooting Palestinians is nothing new :/

Hostages shot by IDF put out 'SOS' sign written with leftover food
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67745092 Dec 2023

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/death-of-israeli-man-who-fired-on-palestinian-attackers-fuels-criticism-of-excessive-force Dec 2023
The shooting of Castleman, who in security camera footage is seen kneeling, raising his hands and flinging open his shirt to indicate he isn’t a threat, underscores what critics say is an epidemic of excessive force by Israeli soldiers, police and armed citizens against suspected Palestinian attackers.

https://www.timesofisrael.com/israeli-man-shot-dead-by-police-after-reportedly-being-mistaken-for-terrorist/ Oct 2023
An Israeli man misidentified as a Gazan terrorist was shot dead by police along Route 4 near the southern coastal city of Ashkelon

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-34602287 Oct 2015
An Israeli soldier has killed a Jewish Israeli civilian in Jerusalem after each confronted the other thinking they were an Arab attacker, reports say.

Next to the Hannibal directive used on Oct 7
https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-07-07/ty-article-magazine/.premium/idf-ordered-hannibal-directive-on-october-7-to-prevent-hamas-taking-soldiers-captive/00000190-89a2-d776-a3b1-fdbe45520000

Now also in the US.

And of course, blame it on the Arabs.

Main events from February 17th

Netanyahu orders immediate enforcement of UNRWA ban

The Israeli prime minister has issued a directive ordering the law banning the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) be “enforced immediately”.

In a post on X, Netanyahu’s office said, “There are no restrictions on the implementation of the Prime Minister’s directive.”

The Israeli parliament, known as the Knesset, passed two bills targeting the agency in October last year, which were meant to come into effect at the end of last month. The laws were widely condemned, with the UN and aid groups warning of disastrous consequences, especially for recovery efforts in the Gaza Strip.

UNRWA chief pledges to fulfil mandate despite risks, hostile environment

Philippe Lazzarini says UNRWA is continuing to operate in Gaza after Israeli authorities expelled its international staff from Israel and the occupied West Bank following the enactment of laws banning the agency.

Lazzarini, speaking in Cairo on Monday, said that UNRWA “now faces significant operational challenges” but that the “courage and commitment of our Palestinian staff have allowed UNRWA schools and health clinics to remain open” in the occupied West Bank.

A core team of international staff remains in Gaza, but Israel no longer facilitates their entry and exit via the Karim Abu Salem crossing, he said.

“It is unclear to what extent our ability to operate will be further constrained by the prohibition on contact between UNRWA representatives and Israeli officials,” Lazzarini said.

“What is clear is that the agency will stay and deliver its mandate until it is prevented from doing so,” he added. “We will do this despite the considerable risks to our staff in an increasingly hostile operational environment.”

Israeli forces storm UNRWA schools, training centre in West Bank

After Netanyahu’s call to implement a Knesset ban on the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, Israeli forces have attacked several educational centres affiliated with it in the occupied West Bank.

In the Qalandiya refugee camp, Israeli forces and Jerusalem municipality personnel forcefully entered the Qalandiya Training Centre and ordered its immediate evacuation while 350 students and 30 staff were present. Tear gas and sound bombs were used against the civilians.

In occupied East Jerusalem, Israeli soldiers and authorities stormed the UNRWA Jerusalem Elementary Boys School in the Wadi al-Joz neighbourhood this morning, expelled students from their desks, and forced the staff to close the school.

Another force from the Israeli intelligence service stormed an UNRWA school in the East Jerusalem town of Silwan and interrogated the principal before withdrawing from the scene. Another school was targeted in East Jerusalem’s Sur Baher neighbourhood, according to the Wafa news agency.

UNRWA confirmed that the schoolday continued as usual in Sur Baher and Silwan schools, while Wadi al-Joz school was evacuated to ensure students’ safety.

Israel builds concrete wall along the Blue Line with Lebanon

_{The concrete wall, built by Israeli forces and completed in January, is seen near the southern Lebanese village of Dhayra}

_{An Israeli military excavator drives past destroyed houses in the Lebanese village of Dhayra near the border with northern Israel, on Monday}

What are the five hilltops in Lebanon that Israel plans to remain on?

The deadline for Israeli withdrawal from southern Lebanon has now passed.

We have more information on the five locations where the Israeli army has said its troops will remain.

Lebanese soldiers, UN forces deploy in south Lebanon villages after Israeli troops pull out

The Lebanese National News Agency (NNA) is reporting that Israeli forces have withdrawn at dawn today from several towns and villages they had occupied in the south of the country and are maintaining a presence at five points along the Israel-Lebanon border.

The Israeli troops pulled out from Yaroun, Maroun al-Ras, Blida, Meiss el-Jabal, Hula, Markaba, Odaisseh, Kfar Kila, and Wazzani.

Lebanese soldiers and UNIFIL forces have deployed to the “liberated towns”, while engineers and municipal workers are now removing earthen barriers and clearing unexploded ordnance and shells, NNA reported.It said Lebanese officials are calling on residents not to enter their villages until the army can survey the areas the Israeli military has left.

It said Lebanese officials are calling on residents not to enter their villages until the army can survey the areas the Israeli military has left.

Egypt working on a ‘comprehensive, multi-stage’ plan to rebuild Gaza

Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty has again rejected any displacement of Palestinians from their lands, saying his country is working on a plan that ensures the people of Gaza remain on their land as the war-battered enclave is rebuilt.

In a speech at the fourth meeting of the global alliance to implement the two-state solution, Abdelatty said that the “serious humanitarian crisis in Gaza requires an early recovery process” and that the reconstruction must take place “within a clear and specific timeline”.

He said, “Egypt is working on developing a comprehensive, multi-stage vision for early recovery and reconstruction in Gaza”, and called for global backing for UNRWA, which has been banned by Israel. The minister described the agency as “indispensable and irreplaceable”.

The comments come as Egypt scrambles to put together an alternative proposal to Trump’s plan for the US to take over and own Gaza after forcibly displacing Palestinians there. The plan, which calls for Egypt and Jordan to take in the displaced people, has been condemned by Palestinians, who say they will not leave their homeland, as well as by other countries around the world.

_{Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty chaired the meeting with representatives of more than 30 countries from the international coalition to implement the two-state solution in Cairo on Monday}

What’s in Egypt’s plan for Gaza’s reconstruction?

Two Egyptian officials who spoke to the Associated Press news agency on condition of anonymity say the proposal is still being negotiated.

At present, it envisions a three-phase reconstruction process that will take up to five years, without displacing Palestinians from Gaza.

It designates three “safe zones” within Gaza to relocate Palestinians during an initial six-month “early recovery period”. These zones will be equipped with mobile houses and shelters, with humanitarian aid streaming in.

The officials said that about two dozen Egyptian and international firms would take part in removing the rubble and rebuilding Gaza’s infrastructure, and that the reconstruction would provide tens of thousands of jobs to the enclave’s population.

They said the proposal also calls for the establishment of a Palestinian administration that is not aligned with either Hamas or the Palestinian Authority to run the Strip and oversee the reconstruction efforts. They added that officials from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE and Jordan will discuss Cairo’s proposal at a gathering in Riyadh this week, before introducing it to the Arab summit later this month.

Israel’s Ben-Gvir accuses Egypt of involvement in October 7 attacks

Far-right Israeli politician Itamar Ben-Gvir says Israel deserves “explanations” from Egypt’s government about how Hamas has received weapons.

“They [Egypt] have a role in what happened on October 7,” said Ben-Gvir in comments carried by Israeli state radio. “There was probably some partnership, or at the very least, a willful blindness.”

There was no immediate comment from Egypt.

Ben-Gvir, a former interior minister who resigned from Netanyahu’s cabinet over the Israel-Hamas truce deal, has vigorously backed Trump’s call for Palestinians in Gaza to be pushed into Egypt and Jordan – a plan both countries have rejected.

Egypt has backed Israel’s blockade of Gaza since Hamas took over in the territory in 2007, tightly controlling the entry of materials and the passage of civilians back and forth. It also destroyed the network of tunnels under the border that Hamas and other Palestinians used to smuggle goods into Gaza.