Palestinians collect leaflets dropped by an Israeli drone warning people to stay away from the so-called yellow line in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, on Monday, October 20, 2025.
| Photo Credit: AP

Heavy machinery operates at a site where searches for deceased hostages kidnapped by Hamas during the October 7, 2023, attack on Israel are underway amid a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, on October 19, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Palestinians mourn at a hospital after an Israeli strike killed three policemen, according to the Hamas-run interior ministry, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, February 16, 2025.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Hamas said an Israeli strike on Sunday (February 16, 2025) killed three police officers near the southern Gaza city of Rafah, a day after Israel and militants carried out a hostage-prisoner swap.

The Hamas-run interior ministry initially reported that two officers were killed and a third was critically wounded in a strike while they were deployed in the Al-Shouka area, east of Rafah, to secure aid.

The third officer later succumbed to his wounds, the ministry said in an updated statement.

The Israeli military said in a statement that its air force struck “several armed individuals moving toward troops in the southern Gaza Strip”.

A fragile ceasefire that came into effect on January 19 between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas has largely brought a pause to more than 15 months of fighting in the coastal Palestinian territory.

Since then, Israel has conducted at least one other air strike in Gaza. On February 2, it said one of its aircraft fired towards a “suspicious vehicle” in central Gaza.

The ceasefire was more recently put to test when Hamas said it would not release Israeli hostages on Saturday (February 16, 2025), accusing Israel of violating terms of the agreement, particularly on the topic of aid entry.

In response, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had warned Israel would resume “intense fighting” in Gaza unless Hamas returns the hostages by noon on Saturday, February 16, 2025.

Following intense mediation by Qatar and Egypt the latest hostage-prisoner swap was carried out on Saturday, February 16, 2025.

Donald Trump has floated the possibility of cutting off aid to longstanding allies Jordan and Egypt should they refuse his plan. File
| Photo Credit: AP

Saudi Arabia will host the leaders of four Arab countries at a summit on February 20 to discuss President Donald Trump’s proposal for a U.S. takeover of Gaza, a source with knowledge of the preparations said on Friday (February 14, 2025).

“The leaders of Egypt, Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates will attend the summit, to take place ahead of an Arab League meeting in Cairo one week later on the same issue,” the source said.

Speaking on condition of anonymity, another source said Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas would also attend.

Mr. Trump sparked a global outcry with his proposal for the United States to “take over” the Gaza Strip and to move more than two million Palestinians out of the war-devastated territory, citing Egypt or Jordan as possible destinations.

Mr. Trump made the proposal during a visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington.

Arab countries have come together in a rare, united front, outraged by the idea of displacing the Palestinians en masse.

For Palestinians, any forced displacement evokes memories of the “Nakba”, or catastrophe – the mass displacement of their ancestors during Israel’s creation in 1948.

But Mr. Trump has floated the possibility of cutting off aid to longstanding allies Jordan and Egypt should they refuse his plan.

Jordan is already home to more than two million Palestinian refugees. More than half of the country’s population of 11 million is of Palestinian origin.

Egypt put forward its own proposal for the reconstruction of Gaza under a framework that would allow for the Palestinians to remain in the territory.

‘The only plan’

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Thursday (February 14, 2025) the United States was eager to hear new proposals on Gaza from Arab governments but that, “right now the only plan – they don’t like it – but the only plan is the Trump plan”.

In January, Rubio’s predecessor Antony Blinken outlined a roadmap for post-war Gaza and warned it required Israel’s acceptance of a path to a Palestinian state – something the Israeli government strongly opposes.

Regional states including Saudi Arabia have repeatedly called for a Palestinian state, existing alongside Israel.

Rubio was on his way to Europe on Friday (February 14, 2025).

He was set to join Vice President J.D. Vance in a meeting with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, after Mr. Trump spoke by phone with his counterpart Vladimir Putin and said he would pursue talks to end the war in Ukraine, which Russia invaded in 2022.

Afterwards Rubio is set to fly on to Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to discuss the fragile Gaza ceasefire in effect since January 19.

Following his surprise call with Mr. Putin, Mr. Trump said the two leaders were “going to meet probably in Saudi Arabia the first time”.

Riyadh, which has been increasingly prominent on the international diplomatic stage, on Friday (February 14, 2025) expressed “its welcome to hosting the summit in Saudi Arabia”, without confirming whether or when the meeting would go ahead.

Mutlaq al-Mutairi, of King Saud University, said Saudi Arabia is seeking to emphasise the importance of its role in any solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.

It wants “to emphasise that it stands behind Egypt and Jordan, the Arab countries threatened with displacement”, he said, adding that would include economic backing should the United States withdraw support.

Saudi analyst Suleiman al-Aqili said the meeting will seek to “lay out the rules of engagement and the foundations of an Arab alternative solution to the issue of displacement”.

Two of the governments invited, Qatar and Egypt, are mediators in the Gaza war.

Protesters demonstrate in solidarity with the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, as Israel kept up strikes on the enclave following the announcement of a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Israel’s Cabinet approved a deal early on Saturday (January 18, 2025) for a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of dozens of hostages that will pause the 15-month war with Hamas for six weeks.

The deal brings Israel and Hamas a step closer to ending their deadliest and most destructive fighting ever.

The ceasefire — just the second achieved during the war — is expected to begin Sunday.

Mediators Qatar and the U.S. announced the ceasefire Wednesday, but the deal was in limbo for more than a day as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu insisted there were last-minute complications that he blamed on the Hamas militant group.

The ceasefire — just the second achieved during the war — will go into effect Sunday, though key questions remain, including the names of the 33 hostages to be released during the six-week first phase of the ceasefire and who among them is still alive.

Netanyahu instructed a special task force to prepare to receive the hostages returning from Gaza and said that their families were informed a deal had been reached.

Hundreds of Palestinian detainees are to be released as well, and the largely devastated Gaza should see a surge in humanitarian aid.

Israel’s justice ministry published a list of 95 Palestinian prisoners to be freed in the deal’s first phase and said the release will not begin before 4 p.m. local time Sunday. All people on the list are younger or female.

Israel’s Prison Services said it will transport the prisoners instead of the International Committee of the Red Cross, which handled transportation during the first ceasefire, to avoid “public expressions of joy.” The prisoners have been accused of crimes like incitement, vandalism, supporting terror, terror activities, attempted murder or throwing stones or Molotov cocktails.

Trucks carrying aid lined up Friday on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing into Gaza. An Egyptian official said an Israeli delegation from the military and Israel’s Shin Bet internal security agency arrived Friday in Cairo to discuss the reopening of the crossing. An Israeli official confirmed a delegation was going to Cairo. Both spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the private negotiations.

Israeli forces will also pull back from many areas in Gaza during the first phase of the ceasefire and hundreds of thousands of Palestinians will be able to return to what’s left of their homes.

Israel’s military said that as its forces gradually withdraw from specific locations and routes in Gaza, residents will not be allowed to return to areas where troops are present or near the Israel-Gaza border and any threat to Israeli forces “will be met with a forceful response.”

Hamas triggered the war with its Oct. 7, 2023, cross-border attack into Israel that killed some 1,200 people and left some 250 others captive. Nearly 100 hostages remain in Gaza.

Israel responded with a devastating offensive that has killed more than 46,000 Palestinians, according to local health officials, who do not distinguish between civilians and militants but say women and children make up more than half the dead.

Fighting continued into Friday, and Gaza’s Health Ministry said 88 bodies had arrived at hospitals in the past 24 hours. In previous conflicts, both sides stepped up military operations in the final hours before ceasefires as a way to project strength.

The remainder of the hostages, including male soldiers, are to be released in a second — and much more difficult — phase that will be negotiated during the first.

Hamas has said it will not release the remaining captives without a lasting ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal, while Israel has vowed to keep fighting until it dismantles the group and to maintain open-ended security control over the territory.

Longer-term questions about postwar Gaza remain, including who will rule the territory or oversee the daunting task of reconstruction.

The conflict has destabilized the Middle East and sparked worldwide protests. It also highlighted political tensions inside Israel, drawing fierce resistance from Netanyahu’s far-right coalition partners.

On Thursday, Israel’s hard-line national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, threatened to quit the government if Israel approved the ceasefire. He reiterated that Friday, writing on social media platform X: “If the ‘deal’ passes, we will leave the government with a heavy heart.”

Ben-Gvir’s resignation would not bring down the government or derail the ceasefire deal, but the move would destabilize the government at a delicate moment and could eventually lead to its collapse if Ben-Gvir were joined by other key Netanyahu allies.

A view shows rubble at a site of an Israeli air strike, in the Christian-majority town of Aitou, north Lebanon October 15, 2024
| Photo Credit: REUTERS

The United Nations on Tuesday (October 15, 2024) demanded a “prompt, independent and thorough investigation” into an Israeli strike on the northern Lebanese village of Aito, which had killed 22 civilians.

“What we’re hearing is that amongst the 22 people who were killed were 12 women and two children,” UN Rights Office Spokesman Jeremy Laurence told reporters about Monday’s (October 14, 2024) strike, which he said appeared to have hit a four-storey residential building.

“With these factors in mind we have real concerns with respect to… the laws of war and the principles of distinction, proportion and proportionality,” he said.

“Our office calls for a prompt, independent and thorough investigation into this incident.”

So far, Israel’s numerous strikes since it invaded Lebanon in September have mainly been concentrated in predominantly Shiite Muslim areas further south, where Hezbollah has built its power base.

An AFP photographer at the site of Monday’s (October 14, 2024) strike in the north said the attack had levelled a residential building at the entrance to the Christian-majority village.

Body parts were scattered in the rubble, with Red Cross volunteers searching for survivors in the wreckage while ambulances evacuated the wounded.

Hezbollah had been exchanging cross-border fire with Israel for almost a year, saying it is acting in response to Israel’s devastating ground and air assault on Gaza.

The war in Gaza began after the armed wing of Palestinian group Hamas launched a surprise attack from the territory into Israel on October 7, 2023.

The near-daily exchange of fire across the Israel-Lebanon border led to the displacement of tens of thousands of people on both sides even before the dramatic escalation last month, when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed to crush Hezbollah.

New Delhi:
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has shut down talks of ceasefire negotiations, citing an unwillingness to comply with Hamas’s conditions for ending the conflict in Gaza.

Here are 10 points on this big story:

Jenin, West Bank:

Israeli soldiers killed two Palestinian gunmen who opened fire at them from a vehicle in the occupied West Bank, the military said on Saturday.

The military released a photo of two automatic rifles that it said were used by several gunmen to shoot at the soldiers, at an outpost near the flashpoint Palestinian city of Jenin.

The Jenin Brigade, an umbrella group that includes armed factions such as Islamic Jihad and Hamas, said the two gunmen were its members.

There was no other immediate comment from Palestinian officials in the West Bank, where violence has been on the rise as Israel presses its war against Palestinian group Hamas in Gaza.

Israel launched its offensive in Gaza after Hamas led an attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7 in which Israel said 1,200 people were killed and 253 taken hostage. More than 34,000 Palestinians have since been killed, according to the Gaza health ministry, and most of the population displaced.

Violence in the West Bank, which had already been on the rise before the war, has since flared with stepped-up Israeli raids and Palestinian street attacks.

The West Bank and Gaza, which Israel captured in a 1967 war, are among the territories which the Palestinians seek for a state. U.S.-brokered peace talks collapsed a decade ago.

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