Israel's Gaza invasion - Day 489

Hamas has said Israel’s blocking of heavy machinery entering Gaza to clear rubble caused by fighting is affecting efforts to extract the bodies of hostages, AFP reports.

“Preventing the entry of heavy equipment and machinery needed to remove 55 million tons of rubble … will undoubtedly affect the resistance’s ability to extract from under the rubble the dead prisoners (hostages),” Salama Marouf, spokesman for Hamas’s media office in Gaza, told journalists.

Hamas’ armed wing has released the names of three captives it said will be freed on Saturday in a fifth hostage-prisoner swap as part of an ongoing agreement with Israel for a Gaza ceasefire, AFP reports.

“Within the framework of the Al-Aqsa Flood deal for the prisoner exchange, the [Ezzedine] Al-Qassam Brigades have decided to release” the three hostages, Abu Obeida, spokesman for the armed wing, said on Telegram.

Israel is “awaiting” a list of captives to be released from Gaza in a fifth hostage-prisoner exchange with Hamas scheduled for Saturday, the office of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has told AFP.

Authorities are “awaiting” a list of hostages for release, spokesman Omer Dostri said. When asked specifically if the swap would take place on Saturday, Dostri said: “This is the plan.”

Egypt has said it has been in contact with Arab partners, including Jordan, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, to firm up the region’s rejection of any displacement of Palestinians after US President Donald Trump said they should go from Gaza, Reuters reports.

Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty had been in communication with counterparts from 11 nations, a statement said.

Those had emphasised “the constants of the Arab position on the Palestinian cause, rejecting any measures aimed at displacing the Palestinian people from their land, or encouraging their transfer to other countries outside the Palestinian territories”, it said.

Moving Palestinians would represent a “flagrant violation of international law, an infringement on Palestinian rights, a threat to security and stability in the region and an undermining of opportunities for peace and coexistence among its peoples”, Egypt’s statement said.

Gaza’s Government Media Office has issued a statement saying Israel is violating the terms of the ceasefire by not allowing the agreed minimum amount of aid to enter the enclave, Al Jazeera reports.

The deal allowed for the passage of 600 aid trucks daily, at a minimum, including 50 fuel trucks, as well as 60,000 mobile units and 200,000 tents, electric generators and their spare parts, solar panels and batteries.

“The amount of aid that entered the Gaza Strip is still far from the minimum required,” the statement said, as 8,500 trucks have entered the Strip since the agreement went into effect 20 days ago, instead of the required 12,000. Additionally, 2,916 trucks reached northern Gaza instead of 6,000.

The aid getting in was mostly food, the statement said, while aid for shelter did not reach 10 per cent of the agreed amount. Similarly, 15 fuel trucks entered Gaza instead of 50, it added.

Humanitarian aid has been entering Gaza since the ceasefire came into effect, but the 600 trucks going through the Rafah crossing on a daily basis are insufficient to respond to the needs of the population, according to the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), a global aid agency.

“Prior to October 7, [2023], 500 trucks were entering Gaza on any working day — and that was when people were working and living in their homes,” Shaina Low, communications adviser at NRC, told Al Jazeera. “Now, we’re having 600 trucks enter each day and we’re in an emergency crisis setting.”

Additionally, aid organisations “faced incredible obstruction in getting aid into Gaza” during the past 15 months. “Now, we’re finally able to scale up our response, but there are still delays in screening certain types of material,” Low said.

Materials labelled as “dual use” by Israel, which include medical supplies, are facing restrictions. Delays are also caused by the limited availability of screening equipment employed by Israeli authorities to check aid trucks, the spokesperson added.

Ursula von der Leyen, the president of European Commission, says the International Criminal Court (ICC) must be able to pursue its fight against global impunity without hindrance, Al Jazeera reports.

“The ICC guarantees accountability for international crimes and gives a voice to victims worldwide. It must be able to freely pursue the fight against global impunity. Europe will always stand for justice and the respect of international law,” she wrote on X, without openly mentioning Trump’s sanctions on the court.

Tom Fletcher, the United Nations chief of humanitarian affairs, who is visiting northern Gaza, recounts “unimaginable destruction” in the enclave.

“Survivors tell me we have to bear witness. And that we must do more: to protect them, to deliver lifesaving aid, to maintain the ceasefire, to help them rebuild,” he said.

Gaza City’s al-Shifa Hospital is in “ruins”, Hani Mahmoud of Al Jazeera reports.

“As we tour around and get a sense of what happened here at al-Shifa Hospital, it is hard to imagine that this place at a point was quite busy with lots of noise,” Mahmoud says.

“This was the sound of ambulances, medical staff, patients and visitors here in the past. This used to be the largest public health facility in Gaza, but it is now very quiet. It is like a desert here,” he adds.

“Everything here is in ruins from the courtyard to hospital buildings. There are only a few people, who are trying to do some rehabilitation work for one particular section of the hospital,” the reporter said.

He adds that this is the part that was turned into a basic morgue, saying, “It does not serve much for medical care apart from being a transfer point to al-Ahli Hospital.”

Al Jazeera reports that 49 patients in need of urgent medical care have left the Gaza Strip through the Rafah crossing.

This is the sixth group of critically ill patients who have been allowed to cross into Egypt since the ceasefire came into effect, but the number of people in need of urgent treatment that is unavailable in Gaza remains in the thousands.

Hosni Mahna, the Gaza Municipality spokesperson, has told the Anadolu news agency that the ongoing storm hitting the Gaza Strip has caused severe damage to tents housing displaced Palestinian families, exacerbating their suffering, Al Jazeera reports.

“Heavy rain and strong winds have swept through shelters and makeshift camps causing dozens of tents to fly away and flooding others,” he said, adding that “the city of Gaza urgently requires 120,000 tents or suitable housing units”.

Mahna explained that the almost non-existent resources make it incredibly difficult to respond to the needs of the displaced.

“What we are witnessing today is a true humanitarian disaster,” Mahna said. “Families who have lost their homes are living in tragic conditions with no real solutions to protect them from the harsh winter cold.”

Mahna called on international and humanitarian organisations to take “immediate action to rescue thousands of families enduring unprecedented hardship”.

Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz has ordered Israeli army chief Herzi Halevi to reprimand the head of the military intelligence directorate Shlomi Binder, after he warned that Trump’s plans to take over Gaza would result in an escalation of violence in the occupied West Bank, Al Jazeera reports.

“There will be no reality in which [Israeli army] officers will speak out against US President Trump’s important plan regarding Gaza, and against the directives of the political echelon,” Katz said in a statement cited by The Times of Israel newspaper.

“I ordered the [army] to prepare to advance the plan for the voluntary departure of Gaza residents who would be interested in leaving to various places in the world, and that is exactly what the [army] is required to do and will do,” he added.

Irish Foreign Minister Simon Harris has pledged 20 million euros ($20.8m) in support for the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) as it provides assistance to people in Gaza despite an Israeli ban, Al Jazeera reports.

“Today’s announcement underscores Ireland’s commitment to ensuring that there is a significant and meaningful surge in humanitarian aid into Gaza at this critical time. There is no replacement for the work of UNRWA and it is vital that it is supported,” he said in a statement.

Harris said he was “gravely concerned” about the Israeli ban on UNRWA which entered into force on January 30.

“I urge Israel to reconsider these measures and encourage other Governments to support UNRWA with funding at this most critical time so that it can deliver for the millions of Palestinian refugees in need,” he added.

South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa says the Palestinians “are now experiencing indescribable suffering”, after enduring “decades of illegal occupation”, Al Jazeera reports.

“South Africa has acted in accordance with its obligations under the Genocide Convention by instituting proceedings against Israel at the International Court of Justice,” he said on X, referring to the genocide case his country filed at the UN court in The Hague in December 2023.

“We are fully committed to the articles of the United Nations Charter, including the principle that all members shall settle their international disputes by peaceful means,” he added.

The International Criminal Court has hit back after US President Donald Trump slapped sanctions on the institution, vowing it would continue to provide “justice and hope” around the world, AFP reports.

“The ICC condemns the issuance by the US of an Executive Order seeking to impose sanctions on its officials and harm its independent and impartial judicial work,” the court said in a statement.

“The Court stands firmly by its personnel and pledges to continue providing justice and hope to millions of innocent victims of atrocities across the world,” added the court, based in The Hague.

“We call on our 125 States Parties, civil society and all nations of the world to stand united for justice and fundamental human rights,” the ICC statement concluded.

The EU warned sanctions on the International Criminal Court (ICC) threaten its independence and the wider judicial system, after US President Donald Trump punished the court over its probes into America and Israel, AFP reports.

“Sanctioning the ICC threatens the Court’s independence and undermines the international criminal justice system as a whole,” Antonio Costa, who heads the European Council representing the EU’s 27 member states, wrote on X.

The European Commission separately expressed “regret” regarding Trump’s sanctions, stressing the ICC’s “key importance in upholding international criminal justice and the fight against impunity”.

The executive order risks “affecting ongoing investigations and proceedings, including as regards Ukraine, impacting years of efforts to ensure accountability around the world”, said a commission spokesman.

“The EU will be monitoring the implications of the executive order and will assess possible further steps,” added the spokesman for the bloc’s executive.

An Israeli military siege on Thabet Governmental Hospital has continued in the occupied West Bank city of Tulkarem as the Israeli military has taken hold of the nearby al-Adawiya commercial complex, turning it into a barracks and surveillance post, according to the Wafa news agency.

Raids were carried out on homes in the city’s east, with the Israeli military conducting searches and field interrogations, destroying surveillance cameras, evicting residents from their homes and occupying the buildings for use as military outposts as the siege on the Tulkarem refugee camp continues.

Tulkarem Governor Abdallah Kamil said 85 per cent of the camp’s residents have been forcibly displaced during Israel’s ongoing military operation.

Israel’s defence minister ordered the army to prepare for “voluntary” departures from Gaza, as US President Donald Trump ruled out sending American troops to the territory, AFP reports.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said he instructed the military to formulate a plan for Palestinians to leave Gaza, which has been ravaged by more than a year of conflict.

“I have instructed the IDF (military) to prepare a plan to enable voluntary departure for Gaza residents,” Katz said, adding they could go “to any country willing to accept them”.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio will visit Israel and Arab states in mid-February, a State Department official said, making his first trip to the Middle East after a widely condemned proposal by President Donald Trump to displace Palestinians in Gaza, Reuters reports.

Rubio will travel to the Munich Security Conference and to Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Saudi Arabia from February 13-18, the senior State Department official said.

The US official said Rubio would discuss Gaza and the aftermath of the Oct 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas on Israel during the trip, and would pursue Trump’s approach of trying to disrupt the status quo in the region.

US President Donald Trump authorised economic and travel sanctions targeting people who work on International Criminal Court investigations of US citizens or US allies such as Israel, repeating action he took during his first term, Reuters reports.

It was unclear how quickly the US would announce names of people sanctioned. The ICC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The sanctions include freezing any US assets of those designated and barring them and their families from visiting the United States.

The court has taken measures to shield staff from possible US sanctions, paying salaries three months in advance, as it braced for financial restrictions that could cripple the war crimes tribunal, sources told Reuters last month.

Strong winds, rain and winter conditions are worsening the suffering of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza, where many families are living in worn-out tents after their homes were destroyed by Israel’s bombardment.

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have returned to northern Gaza since a ceasefire took effect last month, pausing Israel’s 15-month assault. However, most have found their homes destroyed or severely damaged.

Al Jazeera‘s Hani Mahmoud reports from Gaza City, while Ibrahim al-Khalili speaks to forcibly displaced Palestinians living in makeshift tents in Gaza City’s Shujayea neighbourhood.

The Israeli military has arrested several young men from the outskirts of Tulkarem, in a continuation of its 11-day operation against the occupied West Bank city, the Wafa news agency reports.

Multiple military operations have been carried out across Tulkarem over recent hours, targeting the Tulkarem refugee camp and a hospital, while Israeli forces are also occupying buildings throughout the city.

Wafa reports that the Israeli military assaulted a young man and arrested four others from the Thinnabeh neighbourhood, east of Tulkarem, after raiding several homes.

Wafa also reports that the Israeli military has stormed the town of Attil, north of Tulkarem, where they raided and searched several homes, while a separate unit raided the nearby village of Kafr al-Labad.

UN Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Tom Fletcher has told Al Jazeera that he has “never seen anything like” the scale of destruction that has taken place in Gaza.

Fletcher described conditions faced by Palestinians in Gaza as “pretty grim” and worse than anything he had seen in Darfur, Syria or on the front lines of the Ukraine-Russia war.

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Fletcher said. “This is the toughest day of my working life. It is utterly, utterly pitiful what we’re seeing here.”

Fletcher added that the two-week ceasefire has nursed a “growing defiance” among the Palestinians he has spoken to.

“After two weeks of the ceasefire, people have managed to get a bit more sleep. They’ve managed to get a bit more food inside them, there is a sense of growing defiance, which I’m hearing everyone, everyone has come up to me and insisted on telling their story,” he said.