A convoy, with some of the vehicles carrying Palestinian patients and injured people, waits to head towards Rafah crossing before they leave Gaza for treatment abroad, amid a ceasefire between Hamas and Israel, in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, on February 1, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

A group of 50 sick and injured Palestinian children began crossing to Egypt for treatment through Gaza’s Rafah crossing on Saturday (February 1, 2025), in the first opening of the border since Israel captured it nearly nine months ago.

The reopening of the Rafah crossing represents a significant breakthrough that bolsters the ceasefire deal Israel and Hamas agreed to earlier this month. Israel agreed to reopen the crossing after Hamas released the last living female hostages in Gaza.

Egyptian television showed an Palestinian Red Cross ambulance pulling up to the crossing gate, and several children were brought out on stretchers and transferred to ambulances on the Egyptian side.

Hamas frees three hostages

Hamas militants released three male hostages being held in the Gaza Strip and Israel began releasing 183 Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails, part of a ceasefire deal that has halted 15 months of intense fighting.

Militants handed Yarden Bibas and French-Israeli Ofer Kalderon to Red Cross officials in the southern city of Khan Younis, while American-Israeli hostage Keith Siegel, looking pale and thin, was released to the Red Cross later Saturday morning in Gaza City to the north.

All three were abducted during the Hamas-led attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, that sparked the war. Their release brings to 18 the number of hostages released since the ceasefire began on Jan. 19.

Both of Saturday’s events were quick and orderly, in contrast to chaotic scenes that unfolded on Thursday when armed militants appeared to struggle to hold back a crowd during a hostage release. In both of Saturday’s releases, masked and armed militants stood in lines as the hostages walked onto a stage and waved before being led off and handed over to the Red Cross.

A freed Palestinian prisoner (centre), is greeted by a crowd as he arrives in the Gaza Strip after being released from an Israeli prison following a ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel, Saturday, January 25, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AP

There is an “expectation” that the reconstruction of the Gaza Strip will begin soon, Palestine’s acting Ambassador to India said on Saturday (January 25, 2025), calling on India to be an “essential and important” part of the process. His statement came even as Israel and Hamas conducted their second exchange of hostages and prisoners since the ceasefire was announced a week ago.

If the ceasefire, which began on January 19 as part of a three-phase process, continues to hold, U.N. agencies are expected to begin discussions on clearing an estimated 50 million tonnes of rubble, and rebuilding thousands of homes in Gaza, where more than 46,000 have been killed in bombing by Israeli forces in retaliation for the October 7 terror attacks.

“We hope for the successful implementation of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza,” Palestinian Charge D’Affaires Abed Elrazeg Abu Jazer told The Hindu, adding that the Palestinian government hopes for a “new phase that alleviates the pain of the people of Gaza and meets all their basic needs as well as the basic need of the Palestinian people of independence and the establishment of a Palestinian state.”

Reconstruction process

Mr. Abu Jazer, who represents the Palestinian authority based in Ramallah in the West Bank, said that his government looks forward to India’s contribution to the reconstruction process along with the international community “by assisting in cooperation with the Palestinian government in implementing the vital projects that Gaza needs”. Since 2007, when Hamas militants overthrew the Fatah-led Palestinian government and took control of Gaza, the Palestinian government has not administered Gaza, but his comments indicate that it hopes to have a greater say in Gaza during the reconstruction phase.  

India established a “Representative Office” in Gaza in 1996, but moved it to Ramallah in 2003, and has helped build and maintain the Palestinian Embassy in New Delhi. Over the years, India has provided about $40 million to support the U.N.’s activities for Palestinians, and since 2017, the Modi government increased its support to the U.N. Relief Works Agency (UNRWA) from $1 million a year to $5 million a year. Since the beginning of the latest phase of the conflict in October 2023, the Indian government has provided about 70 tonnes of humanitarian aid, including medicines, to the Palestinian Ministry of Health as well. 

Private sector welcome

“Palestine also welcomes various Indian companies from the private sector to contribute to reconstruction, just like any of the international private sector companies that expect to work through the Palestinian government in the reconstruction of Gaza,” Mr. Abu Jazer said, adding that there were high expectations from India based on its “international importance, regional status, its historical relations with the Palestinian people and leadership, and its distinguished relations with the Middle East/West Asia under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi”.

Officials said that no specific conversations have yet taken place on the projects or sectors that India could take part in. As part of an MoU with the Israeli Labour Agency, India has sent about 6,583 workers dealing with construction, welding and ceramic tiling to Israeli territories since February 2024, demonstrating its capacity to send skilled labour if required. 

Extensive damage

According to a “damage assessment report” released by the United Nations last month and a satellite-enabled “preliminary debris quantification” survey infographic released this week, the reconstruction of Gaza will require clearing over 50 million tonnes of rubble left in the aftermath of Israel’s bombardment and could take 21 years and cost up to $1.2 billion. In addition to hazardous materials in the rubble, the Palestinian Ministry of Health estimates that 10,000 bodies are missing under the debris as well.

“Two-thirds of Gaza’s pre-war structures – over 170,000 buildings – have been damaged or flattened, according to U.N. satellite data (UNOSAT) in December. That amounts to around 69% of the total structures in the Gaza Strip,” the Reuters news agency reported this week. 

Tel Aviv:

The fates of a baby and his four-year-old brother, taken hostage by Hamas on October 7, 2023, have been on everyone’s mind in Israel since the announcement of a Gaza ceasefire.

Kfir Bibas, whose second birthday falls on Saturday, is the youngest of the 251 people seized by militants during Hamas’s unprecedented attack on southern Israel more than 15 months ago.

Hamas said in November 2023 that Kfir, his brother Ariel and their mother Shiri were killed in an Israeli strike, but with the Israeli military yet to confirm their deaths, many are clinging to the hope they are still alive.

“To imagine them coming back alive brings me immense joy,” Hila Shlomo, a musician, told AFP at “Hostages Square”, a central plaza in Israel’s main commercial city Tel Aviv that has become the focus of protests and campaigns on the captives’ behalf.

“What happened to these children is a symbol, a symbol of man-made evil, but also of the victory of life if we manage to free them, whatever the cost,” said the 23-year-old, visibly moved.

The boys and their mother are on the list of 33 hostages to be released during the first stage of the ceasefire deal, as is the boys’ father, Yarden Bibas, though that does not guarantee they are among the living.

Hostages released during an earlier, short-lived truce said Yarden Bibas was kept separately from his family, and Hamas has not said he is dead. 

For several days now, countless messages of support accompanied by photos of Kfir Bibas have been circulating on social media, a sign that many are still holding out hope.

Footage published by Hamas of Shiri Bibas tightly holding her two red-headed boys, taken from their house in kibbutz Nir Oz, became one of the lasting images of the tragedy that struck Israel that day.

– ‘Heart-wrenching’ –

Further along the square, two retirees, Osnat Nyska and Yafa Wolfensohn, also became emotional at the mention of the Bibas boys.

The two friends were attending a weekly gathering calling for the liberation of the hostages.

“I think of them, these two little redheads, and I get shivers,” said 70-year-old Nyska, whose grandchildren attended nursery school with the Bibas brothers.

“They really are a symbol… the two youngest children kidnapped, and if they’re not alive anymore it will be heart-wrenching,” added Wolfensohn.

At a football game in the southern Israeli city of Beersheba on Wednesday evening, players from Hapoel Beersheba held orange balls, a colour that has come to be associated with the redheaded Bibas children.

During Saturday night’s regular protest, Eli Bibas, grandfather to Kfir and Ariel, was among the speakers addressing the crowd.

“Next Saturday, our Kfir will live his second birthday in captivity. How is it possible that my grandson, who was kidnapped when he was eight-and-a-half months old, is going through his second birthday in hell?” he asked.

“How is it that he still hasn’t celebrated a birthday with his father, his family, in his home in his country?”

Relatives of the Bibas family declined to speak about the ceasefire deal when contacted by AFP, but did issue a statement Wednesday saying they were “aware of information suggesting that our family will be part of the first phase of the deal, and that Shiri and the children will be freed”.

But, they added, we “won’t take anything for granted as long as our loved ones haven’t crossed the border”.

Thirty-three Israeli hostages — among them women and children — will be released in the initial 42-day phase of the agreement, which could become a permanent ceasefire, according to Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani, whose country acted as a mediator during the months-long negotiations.

“All the hostages are in our hearts,” said Nelly Ben Israel, a librarian at Jerusalem’s Hebrew University. “But I think I’m not mistaken when I say we think first and foremost about the young Bibases.”

(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)

A destroyed part of Gaza City as seen from southern Israel, on January 2, 2025. File
| Photo Credit: AP

Israeli airstrikes killed at least 50 people, including several children, across the Gaza Strip, hitting Hamas security officers and an Israeli-declared humanitarian zone.

As the bombardment continued on Thursday (January 2, 2025) and into Friday (January 3, 2025), Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said he had authorised a delegation from the Mossad intelligence agency, the Shin Bet internal security agency and the military to continue negotiations in Qatar toward a ceasefire deal.

Gaza rescuers say 93 people killed in Israel air strike in north

Israeli media said the delegation would depart on Friday (January 3, 2025). There was no immediate Hamas comment. The U.S.-led talks have repeatedly stalled during 15 months of war.

The Israeli strike in the seaside humanitarian zone known as Muwasi occurred as hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians have been huddling there in damp winter weather.

“Everyone was taking shelter in their tents from the cold and suddenly we found the world turning upside down. Why, and for what?” said Ziyad Abu Jabal, displaced from Gaza City.

The early morning strike killed at least 10 people, including three children and two senior Hamas police officers. Israel’s military said it targeted a senior police officer, saying he was involved in gathering intelligence used by Hamas’ armed wing in attacks on Israeli forces.

Another Israeli strike killed at least eight people in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza. The men were members of local committees that help secure aid convoys, according to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, which received the bodies. An Associated Press journalist there confirmed the toll. There was no immediate comment from Israel’s military.

In southern Gaza, the military killed five policemen in eastern Khan Younis. Israeli government spokesman David Mencer said the strike targeted the head of the Hamas internal security force in southern Gaza.

“Where did we find him? Where else, but of course hiding in the humanitarian zone in Khan Younis, where Gazans are sheltering from this war,” Mr. Mencer said.

Israel has repeatedly targeted Gaza’s police during the war, contributing to a breakdown of law and order that has made it difficult for humanitarian groups to deliver aid. Israel accuses Hamas of hijacking aid for its own purposes.

The Hamas-run government had a police force numbering in the tens of thousands that maintained a high degree of public security before the war, while also violently suppressing dissent. Now officers have largely vanished from the streets in many areas.

Meanwhile, three Palestinians were killed in an Israeli strike that hit a group of people walking in the street in Maghazi in central Gaza. Their bodies were taken to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.

Late Thursday and early Friday (December 26 and 27, 2024), Israeli strikes in central Gaza, including Maghazi and the Nuseirat refugee camp, killed at least 24 people, including children, according to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.

The war was sparked by Hamas-led militants’ October 7, 2023 attack into Israel. The militants killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted around 250. Around 100 hostages are still inside Gaza, at least a third believed to be dead.

Israel’s offensive in retaliation has killed more than 45,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the territory’s Health Ministry, which says women and children make up more than half the dead. The Ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in their tally.

Israel’s military says it only targets militants and blames Hamas for civilian deaths because its fighters operate in dense residential areas. The army says it has killed 17,000 militants, without providing evidence.

The war has caused widespread destruction and displaced some 90% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million, many of them multiple times. Hunger is widespread. Children, some barefoot or in sandals, waited in line with metal pails or other containers at a food distribution centre in Deir al-Balah on Thursday (January 2, 2025.)

Dubai/Beirut:

Only a ceasefire deal in Gaza stemming from hoped-for talks this week would hold Iran back from direct retaliation against Israel for the assassination of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh on its soil, three senior Iranian officials said.

Iran has vowed a severe response to Haniyeh’s killing, which took place as he visited Tehran late last month and which it blamed on Israel. Israel has neither confirmed or denied its involvement. The US Navy has deployed warships and a submarine to the Middle East to bolster Israeli defenses.

One of the sources, a senior Iranian security official, said Iran, along with allies such as Hezbollah, would launch a direct attack if the Gaza talks fail or it perceives Israel is dragging out negotiations. The sources did not say how long Iran would allow for talks to progress before responding.

With an increased risk of a broader Middle East war after the killings of Haniyeh and Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr, Iran has been involved in intense dialogue with Western countries and the United States in recent days on ways to calibrate retaliation, said the sources, who all spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.

In comments published on Tuesday, the US ambassador to Turkey confirmed Washington was asking allies to help convince Iran to de-escalate tensions. Three regional government sources described conversations with Tehran to avoid escalation ahead of the Gaza ceasefire talks, due to begin on Thursday in either Egypt or Qatar.

“We hope our response will be timed and executed in a way that does not harm a potential ceasefire,” Iran’s mission to the UN said on Friday in a statement. Iran’s foreign ministry on Tuesday said calls to exercise restraint “contradict principles of international law.”

Iran’s foreign ministry and its Revolutionary Guards Corps did not immediately respond to questions for this story. The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office and the US State Department did not respond to questions.

“Something could happen as soon as this week by Iran and its proxies… That is a US assessment as well as an Israel assessment,” White House spokesperson John Kirby told reporters on Monday.

“If something does happen this week, the timing of it could certainly well have an impact on these talks we want to do on Thursday,” he added. At the weekend, Hamas cast doubt on whether talks would go ahead. Israel and Hamas have held several rounds of talks in recent months without agreeing a final ceasefire.

In Israel, many observers believe a response is imminent after Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said Iran would “harshly punish” Israel for the strike in Tehran.

Iran’s regional policy is set by the elite Revolutionary Guards, who answer only to Khamenei, the country’s top authority. Iran’s relatively moderate new president Masoud Pezeshkian has repeatedly reaffirmed Iran’s anti-Israel stance and its support for resistance movements across the region since taking office last month.

Meir Litva, a senior researcher at Tel Aviv University’s Alliance Center for Iranian Studies, said he thought Iran would put its needs before helping its ally Hamas but that Iran also wanted to avoid a full-scale war.

“The Iranians never subordinated their strategy and policies to the needs of their proxies or protégées,” Litva said. “An attack is likely and almost inevitable but I don’t know the scale and the timing.”

Iran-based analyst Saeed Laylaz said the Islamic Republic’s leaders were now keen to work towards a ceasefire in Gaza, “to obtain incentives, avoid an all-out war and strengthen its position in the region.”

Laylaz said Iran had not previously been involved in the Gaza peace process but was now ready to play “a key role.”

Iran, two of the sources said, was considering sending a representative to the ceasefire talks, in what would be a first since the war started in Gaza.

The representative would not directly attend the meetings but would engage in behind-the-scenes discussions “to maintain a line of diplomatic communication” with the United States while negotiations proceed. Officials in Washington, Qatar and Egypt did not immediately respond to questions about whether Iran would play an indirect role in talks.

Two senior sources close to Lebanon’s Hezbollah said Tehran would give the negotiations a chance but would not give up its intentions to retaliate.

A ceasefire in Gaza would give Iran cover for a smaller “symbolic” response, one of the sources said.

Israel launched its assault on Gaza after Hamas fighters entered southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and capturing more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.

Since then, nearly 40,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli offensive in Gaza, according to the health ministry.

APRIL MISSILES

Iran has not publicly indicated what would be the target of an eventual response to the Haniyeh assassination.

On April 13, two weeks after two Iranian generals were killed in a strike on Tehran’s embassy in Syria, Iran unleashed a barrage of hundreds of drones, cruise missiles and ballistic missiles towards Israel, damaging two airbases. Almost all of the weapons were shot down before they reached their targets.

“Iran wants its response to be much more effective than the April 13 attack,” said Farzin Nadimi, senior fellow with the Washington Institute for Near East policy.”

Nadimi said such a response would require “a lot of preparation and coordination” especially if it involved Iran’s network of allied armed groups opposing Israel and the United States across the Middle East, with Hezbollah the senior member of the so-called “Axis of Resistance,” that along with Iraqi militias and Yemen’s Houthis have harried Israel since Oct. 7.

Two of the Iranian sources said Iran would support Hezbollah and other allies if they launched their own responses to the killing of Haniyeh and Hezbollah’s top military commander, Fuad Shukr, who died in a strike in Beirut the day before Haniyeh was killed in Tehran.

The sources did not specify what form such support could take.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

New York:

India at the United Nations has reiterated its call for an immediate and complete ceasefire in the Gaza Strip and called for the release of the hostages without any conditions.

Delivering his remarks at the United Nations Security Council’s (UNSC) Open Debate on the Middle East on Wednesday, India’s Deputy Representative to the UN, R Ravindra, also underlined that India’s developmental assistance to Palestine, in various forms over the years, is close to USD 120 million.

“India was among the countries which strongly and unequivocally condemned the terror attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023. We have also condemned the loss of civilian lives in the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict. We have called for restraint, de-escalation and emphasized peaceful resolution of the conflict through dialogue and diplomacy,” he said

#IndiaAtUN

Ambassador R. Ravindra, Chargé d’Affaires & DPR, delivered India’s statement at the UNSC Open Debate on the Middle East today. pic.twitter.com/PTat4Z0PfB

— India at UN, NY (@IndiaUNNewYork) July 17, 2024

He urged adherence to international law and international humanitarian law under all circumstances.

“We reiterate the call for an immediate, full and complete ceasefire, safe, timely and sustained humanitarian assistance and unrestricted access to relief and essential humanitarian services in the Gaza Strip. In addition, we also call for immediate and unconditional release of all hostages,” Ambassador R Ravindra said.

He also appreciated the role of countries like Qatar and Egypt for their continued engagement with the leadership of Israel and Palestine.

“We have consistently reiterated our position in all the relevant multilateral fora,” he added.

India stands for peace and stability in the region. “It has been our longstanding position that we support a two-state solution that entails the establishment of a sovereign, viable and independent state of Palestine within recognized and mutually agreed borders, living side by side with Israel in peace. With due regard to the security needs of Israel, India was represented at the senior level at the International High-Level Conference on Urgent humanitarian response to Gaza held in Jordan last month,” the Ambassador said.

He also underlined that India’s developmental assistance to Palestine, in various forms over the years, amounts close to USD 120 million.

“Our developmental assistance to Palestine in various forms over the years amounts close to USD 120 million, including USD 35 million as a contribution to UNRWA. India has been providing an annual contribution of USD 5 million since 2018 to UNRWA. We have already announced the disbursement of USD 2.5 million. The first trans of our annual contribution to UNRWA was transferred early this week on July 15, 2024,” he added.

Concluding his remarks, he stated that India stands ready to continue its engagement with the region with an abiding faith in realizing the vision of sustained peace and stability in West Asia.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Rafah, Palestinian Territories:

Hamas on Friday said it “considers positively” an Israeli roadmap towards a full Gaza ceasefire announced by US President Joe Biden, who urged an end to the almost eight-month war.

But swiftly afterwards, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu poured cold water on Biden’s talk of peace, insisting the army would continue fighting until it had “eliminated” Hamas’s capacity to rule Gaza and pose a military threat.

Biden’s address came as Israeli troops pushed into central Rafah, escalating the war with Hamas despite international objections to any assault on the southern Gaza city.

Outlining how the war might end, Biden said Israel’s three-stage offer would begin with a six-week phase that would see Israeli forces withdraw from all populated areas of Gaza.

It would also see the “release of a number of hostages, including women, the elderly, the wounded, in exchange for (the) release of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners”.

Israel and the Palestinians would then negotiate during those six weeks for a lasting ceasefire — but the truce would continue while the talks remained underway, Biden said.

The US president urged Hamas to accept the Israeli offer. “It’s time for this war to end, for the day after to begin,” he said, in comments echoed by British Foreign Secretary David Cameron.

Hamas in a statement on Friday evening said it “considers positively” Biden’s speech regarding “a permanent ceasefire, the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza, reconstruction and the exchange of prisoners”.

UN chief Antonio Guterres “strongly hopes” the latest development “will lead to an agreement by the parties for lasting peace”, his spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said the Israeli offer “provides a glimpse of hope and a possible path out of the war’s deadlock”, while EU chief Ursula von der Leyen welcomed a “balanced and realistic” approach to end the bloodshed.

– Israel insists on war aims –

But Netanyahu took issue with Biden’s presentation of what was on the table, insisting the transition from one stage to the next in the proposed roadmap was “conditional” and crafted to allow Israel to maintain its war aims.

“The prime minister authorised the negotiating team to present an outline for achieving (the return of hostages), while insisting that the war will not end until all of its goals are achieved,” Netanyahu’s office said in a statement.

Those aims include “the return of all our hostages and the elimination of Hamas’s military and governmental capabilities”, it added.

“The exact outline proposed by Israel, including the conditional transition from stage to stage, allows Israel to maintain these principles.”

Hamas has been careful about commenting on ceasefire proposals put to it by Egyptian, Qatari or US mediators. It accepted one earlier this year only for it to be disavowed by Israel.

Earlier on Friday, Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh accused Israel of “using negotiations as a cover to continue its aggression”, saying Hamas “refuses to be a part of these manoeuvres”.

Israel has repeatedly vowed to destroy Hamas since the Palestinian militant group attacked southern Israel on October 7.

Israel sent tanks and troops into Rafah in early May, ignoring concerns over the safety of displaced Palestinian civilians sheltering in the city on the Egyptian border.

On Friday, soldiers were operating in the city centre where they uncovered rocket launchers and tunnel shafts and dismantled a Hamas weapons storage facility, the army said.

– Blinken says aid situation ‘dire’ –

A stream of civilians has flooded out of Rafah, taking their belongings on their shoulders, in cars or on donkey-drawn carts.

Before the Rafah offensive began, the United Nations said up to 1.4 million people were sheltering in the city.

Since then, one million have fled the area, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, has said.

The Israeli seizure of the Rafah crossing has further slowed sporadic deliveries of aid for Gaza’s 2.4 million people and effectively shuttered the territory’s main exit point.

Israel said at the weekend that aid deliveries had been stepped up.

But US Secretary of State Antony Blinken acknowledged Friday that the humanitarian situation was “dire” despite US efforts to bring in more assistance.

The World Food Programme said daily life had become “apocalyptic” in parts of southern Gaza since Israel began its assault on Rafah in early May.

Jordan announced it will host a summit on June 11, jointly organised with Egypt and the United Nations, bringing together aid agency chiefs and heads of donor governments to discuss the humanitarian response.

– ‘Everything is ashes’ –

The Gaza war was sparked by Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of 1,189 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.

Militants also took 252 hostages, 121 of whom remain in Gaza, including 37 the army says are dead.

Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 36,284 people in Gaza, mostly civilians, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.

A medical official at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza’s Deir al-Balah said eight people, including two children, were killed in an air strike that hit a house in Al-Bureij refugee camp.

Another source at Nuseirat’s Al-Awda Hospital reported three deaths in a strike on a car.

In northern Gaza, witnesses said that after carrying out a three-week operation in the town of Jabalia and its neighbouring refugee camp, troops had ordered residents of nearby Beit Hanoun to evacuate ahead of an imminent assault.

The Israeli army said troops “completed their mission in eastern Jabalia and began preparation for continued operations in the Gaza Strip”.

Jabalia shopkeeper Belal al-Kahlot said there was nothing left of his store after the Israeli operation. “Everything is ashes.”

The Israeli military announced the deaths of two soldiers in Gaza, taking to 294 the number of Israeli troops killed since the start of ground operations in late October.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)