Middle East crisis: Israeli delegation arrives in Qatar for ceasefire talks after withdrawal from Netzarim Corridor – as it happened
Forces withdraw from area that bisects the northern and southern halves of the Gaza Strip to the buffer zone, as part of ceasefire agreement with Hamas
Israeli military completes withdrawal from Netzarim Corridor
The Israeli military has completed the withdrawal from the Netzarim Corridor, that bisects the northern and southern halves of the Gaza Strip, to the buffer zone. Under the terms of the ceasefire agreement with Hamas, the Israeli military is supposed to withdraw completely from the corridor, which stretches to the Mediterranean Sea, and allow free movement back and forth between the south and the north of the territory.
As of now, cars are passing an inspection point, as they arrive from the central and southern parts of the Strip.
The Netzarim Corridor is an area that has in the past 15 months turned into a major base for the Israeli military. It is now completely pulverised, with no buildings left.
The majority of the agricultural land has been bulldozed and destroyed by the Israeli military.
It will be very difficult for people who were displaced from this area to return to their homes. It’s hard to imagine where they are going to stay here other than just setting up tents here and there.
So we’re seeing more civilian movement between the north and the south.
The hope is now that with the withdrawal of the Israeli military, there is more free movement, a flow of vehicles and aid trucks going all the way to the northern part of the Strip.
A drone view shows Palestinian people making their way past the rubble after Israeli forces withdrew from the Netzarim Corridor. Photograph: Reuters
A spokesperson for Israeli prime minster Benajmin Netanyahu said that an Israeli delegation arrived in Qatar on Sunday for further ceasefire talks between Hamas and Israel. Reuters reports that indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas on the next stage of the ceasefire are set to begin this coming week.
Israeli president Isaac Herzog said that Donald Trump will meet with Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and potentially Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, Reuters reports. Speaking on Sunday to Fox News’s Maria Bartiromo in response to a question about Trump’s proposal to take over Gaza, Herzog said: “President Trump is due to meet with major, major Arab leaders, first and foremost the king of Jordan and the president of Egypt and I think also the crown prince of Saudi Arabia as well.”
Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry has rejected Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s remarks about displacing Palestinians from their land, Reuters reports. Israeli officials have suggested the establishment of a Palestinian state on Saudi territory.
A pregnant 23-year-old Palestinian was killed by Israeli security forces on Sunday in the Nur Shams refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry has said. Sundus Shalabi, who was eight months pregnant, was killed by Israeli gunfire, the ministry said in a statement, adding that the foetus also did not survive and that Shalabi’s husband was critically injured.
The Israeli military has completed the withdrawal from the Netzarim Corridor, that bisects the northern and southern halves of the Gaza Strip, to the buffer zone. Under the terms of the ceasefire agreement with Hamas, the Israeli military is supposed to withdraw completely from the corridor, which stretches to the Mediterranean Sea, and allow free movement back and forth between the south and the north of the territory.
Israeli spokesperson: Israeli delegation arrives in Qatar for further ceasefire talks
A spokesperson for Israeli prime minster Benajmin Netanyahu said that an Israeli delegation arrived in Qatar on Sunday for further ceasefire talks between Hamas and Israel.
Reuters reports that indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas on the next stage of the ceasefire are set to begin this coming week.
However, a source in Netanyahu’s office said the Israeli delegation at this point will only discuss technical issues, rather than the bigger matters which are supposed to be hammered out, including the administration of post-war Gaza, Reuters reports.
One of the daughters of Ohad Ben Ami, a hostage who was released by Hamas on Saturday, delivered a statement on Sunday, saying:
Yesterday we got our father back. He lost much of his weight, but not his spirit. My father is strong, and I admire him. He survived hell. The return of the hostages yesterday leaves no room for doubt. They all must return. We will not stop fighting until the last hostage comes home.
His daughter went on to thank Donald Trump and his special envoy to the Middle East, Steve Whitkoff, for helping facilitate the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.
She added:
We will not give up and will continue to fight until everyone is home. We must continue until all phases of the deal are done and save our people.
Israeli president Isaac Herzog said that Donald Trump will meet with Egyptian president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and potentially Saudi crown prince Mohammed bin Salman, Reuters reports.
Speaking on Sunday to Fox News’s Maria Bartiromo in response to a question about Trump’s proposal to take over Gaza, Herzog said:
“President Trump is due to meet with major, major Arab leaders, first and foremost the king of Jordan and the president of Egypt and I think also the crown prince of Saudi Arabia as well.”
Trump has suggested – to much furore across the Middle East – that the US take over Gaza and for Palestinians who have been forcibly displaced by Israeli forces to relocate to neighbouring countries.
Meanwhile, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu suggested for Saudi Arabia to create a Palestinian state within their own country, saying: “The Saudis can create a Palestinian state in Saudi Arabia; they have a lot of land over there.”
Netanyahu’s reactions led to widespread condemnation from Arab countries including the GCC, with GCC secretary general Jasem Mohamed Albudaiwi saying:
“These dangerous and irresponsible statements confirm the approach of the Israeli occupation forces in their disrespect for international and UN laws and treaties and the sovereignty of states.”
Kurdish officials are fearing an Islamic State revival as US aid cuts loom.
The Guardian’s William Christou reports from al-Hol, northeast Syria:
Kurdish officials have warned of an Islamic State resurgence if US foreign aid cuts take effect on Monday, which would cripple essential services for tens of thousands of people detained in tented camps in north-east Syria, including suspected members of IS and their families.
Blumont, a Virginia-based humanitarian aid group responsible for the management of two of Syria’s IS detention camps, al-Hol and al-Roj, was given a stop-work order on 24 January by the US state department. The sudden cessation of services prompted panic in the camps after aid workers failed to turn up for work.
Three days later, Blumont was given a two-week waiver to the aid cuts, which unless extended, will expire on Monday. “We have no idea what will happen tomorrow. It seems as if even the provision of bread will be halted,” said Jihan Hanan, the director of al-Hol camp.
The camp holds the relatives of suspected IS fighters and is mostly populated by women and children. Rights groups have for years warned that detainees are held arbitrarily without charges in inhumane and substandard living conditions.
Displaced Palestinian people made their way between the north and south of Gaza after the Israeli military withdrew from the Netzarim corridor as part of its ceasefire agreement with Hamas.
The Palestinian health ministry said Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank killed two women on Sunday, including one who was eight months pregnant. The Palestinian foreign ministry condemned what it described as “a crime of execution committed by the occupation forces”, accusing Israeli forces of “deliberately targeting defenceless civilians”.
Egypt will host an Arab summit on 27 February to discuss what it said were “serious” developments for Palestinian people, according to the country’s foreign ministry. Egypt has rejected Donald Trump’s plans – condemned as ethnic cleansing - to move Palestinians out of their territories in Gaza and the occupied West Bank to neighbouring countries such as Egypt and Jordan.
Egyptian foreign minister Badr Abdelatty was heading to Washington for talks on Sunday, while Jordan’s King Abdullah II was due to meet Trump at the White House on 11 February.
Saudi Arabia and other Arab countries have condemned comments made by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu who appeared to suggest in an interview that a Palestinian state could be established on Saudi territory.
As we have been reporting, Palestinians are returning to devastated areas in the northern part of the Gaza Strip after Israeli troops withdrew from the Netzarim Corridor.
The corridor, which runs along 4 miles (6 kilometers) from the Israeli border to the Mediterranean sea, was used by Israel to deploy troops during its war on Gaza, blocking people in the north from southern parts of the territory.
“What we saw was a catastrophe, horrific destruction. The (Israeli) occupation destroyed all the homes, shops, farms, mosques, universities and the courthouse,” Osama Abu Kamil, a resident of al-Maghraqa just north of Netzarim, said.
The 57-year-old said he had been displaced by the war for more than a year, living in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.
Now back to the north, Abu Kamil said he “will set up a tent for me and my family next to the rubble of our house. We have no choice.”
Mahmoud al-Sarhi, a resident of Zeitun neighbourhood near the Netzarim Corridor, said that Sunday was “the first time I saw our destroyed house”.
The 44-year-old said:
Arriving at the Netzarim Corridor meant death - until this morning.
The entire area is in ruins. I cannot live here. Israeli tanks can invade at any time. The area is unfit for normal living. It is very dangerous.
Displaced people move through the Netzarim Corridor after Israel's withdrawal. Photograph: Reuters
Saudi Arabia's foreign ministry rejects Israeli remarks suggesting establishing Palestinian state on Saudi territory
Saudi Arabia’s foreign ministry has rejected Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s remarks about displacing Palestinians from their land, Reuters reports.
Israeli officials have suggested the establishment of a Palestinian state on Saudi territory. Netanyahu appeared to be joking on Thursday when he responded to an interviewer on pro-Netanyahu Channel 14 who mistakenly said “Saudi state” instead of “Palestinian state”, before correcting himself.
While the Saudi statement mentioned Netanyahu’s name, it did not directly refer to the comments about establishing a Palestinian state in Saudi territory.
Egypt and Jordan also condemned the Israeli suggestions, with Cairo deeming the idea as a “direct infringement of Saudi sovereignty”. The kingdom said it valued “brotherly” states’ rejection of Netanyahu’s remarks.
“This occupying extremist mindset does not comprehend what the Palestinian territory means for the brotherly people of Palestine and its conscientious, historical and legal association with that land,” it said.
Discussions of the fate of Palestinians in Gaza has been upended by Tuesday’s proposal from president Donald Trump that the US would “take over the Gaza Strip” from Israel and create a “Riviera of the Middle East” after moving Palestinians elsewhere. This suggestion has been widely condemned as a proposal for ethnic cleansing.
Trump has said Saudi Arabia was not demanding a Palestinian state as a condition for normalising ties with Israel. But Riyadh rebuffed his statements, saying it would not establish ties with Israel without the creation of a Palestinian state.
Israeli forces kill two women in West Bank raid - health ministry
In an earlier post, we reported that 23-year-old Sundus Shalabi, who was pregnant, was killed by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank, along with her fetus. Her husband was reportedly injured.
Murad Alyan, a member of the popular committee in the Nur Shams camp, near the northern city of Tulkarem, told Agence France-Presse (AFP) that the couple “were trying to leave the camp before the occupation forces advanced into it. They were shot while they were inside their car.”
The Palestinian foreign ministry condemned what it described as “a crime of execution committed by the occupation forces”, accusing Israeli forces of “deliberately targeting defenceless civilians”.
The health ministry later said a second woman, 21-year-old Rahaf Fouad Abdullah al-Ashqar, was killed in a separate attack by Israeli forces who stormed Nur Shams camp.
In a post on X, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) wrote that one person was “critically wounded” by an Israeli sniper at the al-Najma roundabout in the southern city of Rafah and was taken to hospital for treatment. This is despite the ongoing ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israel.
A journalist from the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency in the Netzarim area of Gaza, which controls key access points between the territory’s north and south, has confirmed that no Israeli forces were present on Sunday.
AFP journalists saw cars, buses, pickup trucks and donkey carts travelling on Salaheddin Road from both the north and south, crossing the Netzarim Corridor where an Israeli checkpoint used to stand.
Asked about Sunday’s withdrawal, an Israeli security official told AFP: “We are preparing to implement the ceasefire agreement according to the guidelines of the political echelon.”
Here are some of the latest images coming out of the newswires as hundreds of Palestinian people start returning to northern Gaza after Israeli troops withdrew from the Netzarim Corridor:
Palestinian people wait to cross through a checkpoint after Israeli forces withdrew from the Netzarim Corridor. Photograph: Dawoud Abu Alkas/Reuters
Palestinians make their way on donkeys near the Gaza Strip. Photograph: Dawoud Abu Alkas/Reuters
Many Palestinian people, displaced by Israeli evacuation orders and airstrikes during the war, are returning home or reuniting with family. Photograph: Dawoud Abu Alkas/Reuters
Pregnant Palestinian woman killed by Israeli forces in West Bank - ministry
A pregnant 23-year-old Palestinian was killed by Israeli security forces on Sunday in the Nur Shams refugee camp in the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian health ministry has said.
Sundus Shalabi, who was eight months pregnant, was killed by Israeli gunfire, the ministry said in a statement, adding that the foetus also did not survive and that Shalabi’s husband was critically injured.
The Palestinian state news agency cited eyewitnesses as saying that Shalabi and her husband were shot by Israeli forces as they were trying to leave their home.
The Israeli military had said it was expanding its reign in the north of the West Bank to Nur Shams, a refugee camp close to the Palestinian town of Tulkarm.
Israel’s military, police and intelligence services started the deadly raid in Jenin on 21 January, claiming it was targeting terrorists. The raid has expanded to Tulkarm, Al Faraa and Tamun.
A drone view shows Nur Shams refugee camp near Tulkarm, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Photograph: Mohamad Torokman/Reuters
Since the start of Israel’s war in October 2023, which has sparked a wave of violence in the West Bank, Israel has raided or carried out airstrikes in Jenin multiple times, killing dozens and leaving a trial of heavy destruction there.
The UN has expressed concern that the ceasefire in Gaza could be endangered by Israel’s military tactics in the West Bank, which have involved what the UN human rights spokesperson labelled “unnecessary or disproportionate use of force”.
Israeli military completes withdrawal from Netzarim Corridor
The Israeli military has completed the withdrawal from the Netzarim Corridor, that bisects the northern and southern halves of the Gaza Strip, to the buffer zone. Under the terms of the ceasefire agreement with Hamas, the Israeli military is supposed to withdraw completely from the corridor, which stretches to the Mediterranean Sea, and allow free movement back and forth between the south and the north of the territory.
As of now, cars are passing an inspection point, as they arrive from the central and southern parts of the Strip.
The Netzarim Corridor is an area that has in the past 15 months turned into a major base for the Israeli military. It is now completely pulverised, with no buildings left.
The majority of the agricultural land has been bulldozed and destroyed by the Israeli military.
It will be very difficult for people who were displaced from this area to return to their homes. It’s hard to imagine where they are going to stay here other than just setting up tents here and there.
So we’re seeing more civilian movement between the north and the south.
The hope is now that with the withdrawal of the Israeli military, there is more free movement, a flow of vehicles and aid trucks going all the way to the northern part of the Strip.
A drone view shows Palestinian people making their way past the rubble after Israeli forces withdrew from the Netzarim Corridor. Photograph: Reuters
The Gaza ceasefire deal, which came into effect on 19 January, aims to bring a permanent end to Israel’s war and free hostages held by Hamas in Gaza in exchange for Palestinians detained by Israel. Negotiations on the second stage of the fragile three part agreement are set to begin on Monday.
The following is from this report by the Guardian’s senior international affairs correspondent, Emma Graham-Harrison, who adds some more detail about the negotiations:
Netanyahu has ordered a delegation to Qatar to discuss “technical matters”, but no substantial talks will start until after he returns from Washington for a security cabinet meeting on Monday, Israeli media reported.
A third stage would see the reconstruction of Gaza, but the process has been thrown into turmoil by Trump’s shock suggestion that the US should take over the territory and Palestinians be resettled elsewhere, prompting the UN secretary general to warn of ethnic cleansing.
Israelis were also angered by a Hamas ceremony that saw the frail-looking men forced to make statements on a stage in Gaza before they were taken to waiting buses.
Israel orders negotiators back to Qatar for next stage of ceasefire talks
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu ordered negotiators on Saturday to return to Qatar to continue ceasefire talks with Hamas after the fifth hostage-prisoner swap agreed under the truce was completed, the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency reports.
Netanyahu repeated his pledge to crush Hamas and free all remaining hostages, denouncing the militant group as “monsters” after the handover of three captives in Gaza who appeared emaciated and were forced to speak on a stage.
As we mentioned in the opening summary, the hospital treating the three Israeli hostages released from Gaza on Saturday said Or Levy and Eli Sharabi were in a “poor medical condition,” while Ohad Ben Ami was in a “severe nutritional state”.
Of the 183 inmates released by Israel in return, the Palestinian prisoners’ club advocacy group said seven required hospitalisation “as a result of the brutality they were subjected” to in jail. Rights groups and whistleblowers have described a policy of “institutionalised abuse” in Israeli jails and detention centres.
Relatives and friends outside the Sheba Medical Center in Ramat Gan, Israel after the release of three Israeli hostages. Photograph: Atef Safadi/EPA
Welcome back to our live coverage of the latest news from the Middle East, here are the latest updates.
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered negotiators to return to Qatar to discuss the next stage of the ceasefire deal with Hamas after the fifth hostage-prisoner exchange was completed on Saturday. Substantial talks are not expected to start until after a security cabinet meeting on Monday, Israeli media reported.
The hospital treating the three Israeli hostages released from Gaza on Saturday said Or Levy and Eli Sharabi were in a “poor medical condition”, while Ohad Ben Ami was in a “severe nutritional state”. With their return, 73 out of 251 hostages taken during the attack now remain in Gaza, including 34 the Israeli military says are dead.
Hamas releases three more Israeli hostages as part of ceasefire deal – video
The Palestinian prisoners’ club advocacy group said of the 183 inmates released in return, seven required hospitalisation and described “brutality” and mistreatment in jail.
Hamas accused Israel of “systematic assaults and mistreatment of our prisoners”, calling it “part of the policy of … the slow killing of prisoners”.
The fifth exchange since the truce took effect last month comes as negotiations are set to begin on the next phase of the ceasefire, which could pave the way for a permanent end to Israel’s war on Gaza.
Palestinian prisoners and detainees released as part of ceasefire agreement – video
In some other key developments:
Five Thai hostages released by Hamas last weekend have arrived back in Bangkok amid tearful scenes of joy in the capital. The five farm workers smiled as they walked through the arrivals hall and were greeted by family and foreign ministry officials on Sunday. Pongsak Tanna, one of those freed, said he was at a “loss for words” as he saw his family. “I thank everyone who helped us make it out. We wouldn’t be here today if it weren’t for them. We can finally return to our motherland,” he said. The other four who were released were Watchara Sriaoun, Sathian Suwannakham, Surasak Lamnau and Bannawat Saethao. The five returnees are now making their way to their hometowns. One Thai national, Nattapong Pinta, is still believed to be alive in Gaza.
Each released Thai hostage is to receive a one-off payment of around $18,000 (600,000 baht), along with a monthly salary of $900 until the age of 80, Thai officials said. Boonsong Tapchaiyut, a labour ministry official at the airport on Sunday, said the payments would ensure they did not have to return to Israel to find jobs that would support their families. Foreign minister Maris Sangiampongsa said it was “very inspiring” to witness their return, and that officials would monitor their reintegration into Thai society, “focusing on their mental health”.
Egypt will host an Arab summit on 27 February to discuss what it said were “serious” developments for Palestinian people, according to the country’s foreign ministry. A statement said the gathering was called “after extensive consultations by Egypt at the highest levels with Arab countries in recent days, including Palestine, which requested the summit, to address the latest serious developments regarding the Palestinian cause”. That included coordination with Bahrain, which currently chairs the Arab League. Cairo has rejected Donald Trump’s plans – condemned as ethnic cleansing - to move Palestinians out of their territories in Gaza and the occupied West Bank to neighbouring countries such as Egypt and Jordan.
Iran’s foreign minister, Abbas Araghchi, said the US president’s plan “poses a serious threat to the stability and security” in the region. According to Araghchi, “it is essential that Islamic countries take a firm and unified stance against this project”.
