Middle East crisis live: Trump envoy says US expects second phase of Israel-Hamas deal to proceed

Defence Minister Israel Katz tells an IDF cadets graduation ceremony that the military is prepared to return to fighting if necessary.

“If we are forced to return to fighting, the enemy will face the IDF with power it has never known before. We are preparing for this, and we are ready for this,” he says.

“The fighting will end with two clear achievements: The defeat of Hamas and the release of all our hostages,” Katz says, adding that Israel will work to return all the remaining living and dead hostages in Hamas captivity “swiftly.”

Katz also hinted that Israeli hawkishness is not limited to Gaza but the entire Middle East: “especially toward Syria,” he says.

“We have committed that we will not be able to return to the reality of October 7. There is a new policy in southern Syria. The IDF will not allow hostile forces to base themselves in the security zone in southern Syria, from here to the Suwayda-Damascus route, and we will act against any threat.”

Sean O’Hagan

Like many people, I have followed the unrelenting horror that has unfolded in Gaza since the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel on 7 October 2023 mainly through the medium of social media. The Instagram reels of citizen journalists on the ground have become for me and countless others the most powerful testimony to the slaughter, destruction and trauma visited on the already beleaguered Palestinian population. Recorded at great risk, they are often heartbreaking and enraging: so many dead infants; so many maimed and traumatised children; so many obliterated families and communities…

Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy on Sunday said the US expects the second phase of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal to go forward.

Steve Witkoff made the comment in a CNN interview when asked about Israel’s decision to postpone the release of Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

“We have to get an extension of phase one,” Witkoff said. “I’ll be going to the region this week, probably Wednesday, to negotiate that.”

He said Benjamin Netanyahu is ‘well-motivated’ and Hamas cannot be part of any governance in Gaza, according to Reuters.

• Tens of thousands of people gathered in Beirut this morning to attend the funeral of Hezbollah’s former leader nearly five months after he was killed in an Israeli airstrike on a southern suburb of the Lebanese capital.Hassan Nasrallah was killed when Israel’s air force dropped more than 80 bombs on the militant group’s main operations room. His death was a major blow for the Iran-backed group that the late leader transformed into a potent force in the Middle East.

• Hezbollah leader Naim Qassem said the group would keep following the path of slain chief Hassan Nasrallah on Sunday during a televised speech broadcast at his massive funeral on the outskirts of Beirut. “We will uphold trust and walk on this path, we will uphold your will,” Qassem said referring to Nasrallah, adding: “you are still with us: your… path and struggle live within us” and “I am loyal to the legacy Nasrallah”.

• The Health Ministry in the Gaza Strip reports that hospitals received 10 dead during the past 24 hours, bringing the death toll since 7 October, 2023 to 48,339. The number of injuries stands at 111,753 people since the start of the war.

• IDF strikes south Lebanon as crowds gather in Beirut for Nasrallah funeral. Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency (NNA) reported earlier today that Israeli aircraft launched a series of attacks targeting the outskirts of the towns of al-Qalila and al-Ansar. The IDF confirmed this morning that it carried out airstrikes in southern Lebanon.

• IDF instructed to remain in some West Bank refugee camps ‘for the coming year.’ Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, said he has instructed the military to prepare to remain in some of the occupied West Bank’s refugee camps “for the coming year”. “40,000 Palestinians have so far evacuated from the Jenin, Tulkarm and Nur Shams refugee camps, and are now empty of residents. Unrwa activity in the camps has also been stopped.” Katz said, as he claimed the IDF is clearing the “nests of terror” of terrorists and destroying infrastructure and weapons “on an extensive scale”.

• Earlier, Hamas released six hostages in Gaza. Tal Shoham and Avera Mengistu were handed over to officials from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) on stage in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. Later, Eliya Cohen, Omer Shem Tov and Omer Wenkert were released in Nuseirat in central Gaza. In the afternoon, Hisham al-Sayed, was transferred to the Red Cross without a ceremony and then crossed into Israeli territory.

• Hamas has called the delay of the prisoners’ release “a blatant violation” of the ceasefire. “The [Israeli] occupation’s failure to comply with the release of the seventh batch of prisoners in the exchange deal at the agreed-upon time constitutes a blatant violation of the agreement,” Hamas spokesperson Abdel Latif al-Qanou said, accusing Benjamin Netanyahu of “procrastination and stalling tactics”.

• The body of the Israeli hostage Shiri Bibas has been identified, after the remains initially returned were found to belong to someone else. Hamas said Shiri’s body had been “mistakenly mixed” with others who were killed and buried under rubble in Gaza.

• British doctors who worked in Gaza during the war have issued dire predictions over the long-term health of Palestinian civilians, warning that large numbers of people will continue to die. The prevalence of infectious disease and multiple health problems linked to malnutrition, alongside the destruction of hospitals and killing of medical experts, meant mortality rates among Palestinians in Gaza would remain high after the cessation of Israeli shelling.

Israel on Sunday said troops will remain in West Bank refugee camps in 2025, announcing expanded military operations including tank deployments.

“So far, 40,000 Palestinians have evacuated from the refugee camps of Jenin, Tulkarem, and Nur Shams, which are now empty of residents,” Defence Minister Israel Katz said in a statement.

“I have instructed (troops) to prepare for a prolonged presence in the cleared camps for the coming year and to prevent the return of residents and the resurgence of terrorism,” he added.

According to the United Nations, the Israeli offensive has so far killed at least 51 Palestinians, including seven children, and three Israeli soldiers, as well as displacing at least 40,000 people.

On Sunday, Israel’s military said “a tank division will operate in Jenin” as part of “expanding” operations in the area.

“The Nahal (infantry) Brigade and (elite) Duvdevan Unit forces have begun to intervene in other villages” in the north of the territory, Katz’s statement said, adding that the forces “are continuing their operations in the Jenin and Tulkarem regions.”

The Health Ministry in the Gaza Strip reports that hospitals received 10 dead during the past 24 hours, bringing the death toll since 7 October, 2023 to 48,339.

The number of injuries stands at 111,753 people since the start of the war.

The Wafa news agency reports that many victims remain trapped under collapsed buildings and on the streets, which emergency services have been unable to reach due to insufficient equipment.