Israel’s war on Gaza updates: Hamas responds ‘positively’ to truce proposal
Qatar’s PM and top US diplomat say response has been delivered to Israel, but that deal ‘will take time’.
- Hamas has officially responded “positively” to the framework of proposal for latest truce in Gaza war, but US and Qatar say any deal will take time.
- The UN says “everything possible” must be done to avoid an Israeli attack on Rafah, a city in southern Gaza, which it says could lead to a “large scale” loss of life.
- Hamas has officially responded “positively” to the framework of proposal for latest truce in Gaza war, but US and Qatar say any deal will take time.
- The UN says “everything possible” must be done to avoid an Israeli attack on Rafah, a city in southern Gaza, which it says could lead to a “large scale” loss of life.
- Palestinian Health Ministry says at least 107 Palestinians killed by Israeli attacks across Gaza in last 24 hours.
- US Secretary of State Blinken visits Egypt and Qatar to push for a deal between Israel and Hamas on a truce and the release of captives in Gaza and Palestinian prisoners in Israel.
- At least 27,585 people have been killed and 66,978 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The death toll in Israel from the October 7 Hamas attacks stands at 1,139.
Here’s what happened today
We will be closing the live blog soon. Here’s a review of the day’s main events.
- Hamas issued a response to a proposed truce deal with Israel, which the mediator Qatar called “mostly positive”. Israel has said that it is “thoroughly” evaluating Hamas’s comments on the prospective agreement.
- The Israeli military said that 31 captives held in Gaza have been pronounced dead, adding to grief in Israel and rising pressure on the Netanyahu government to prioritise the return of the remaining captives.
- The Israeli military apologised after a military drill simulating a Palestinian being abducted by Jewish settlers in the occupied West Bank drew ire from right-wing politicians. Prime Minister Netanyahu slammed the drill as “detached from reality” but attacks on Palestinians by Jewish settlers across the West Bank have surged to new heights since October 7.
- The UN raised alarm about an anticipated Israeli assault on Rafah near the border with Egypt where an estimated 1.9 million of Gaza’s 2.3 million people are now concentrated in the hope of finding safety. The UN said that “everything possible” must be done to stop an Israeli assault that could bring “large scale” loss of life for displaced Palestinians with nowhere to flee.
Senator Bernie Sanders decries influence of pro-Israel lobby groups on US politics
Sanders has slammed “lobbying groups like AIPAC [the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee] and Christians United for Israel [CUFI]” for using their considerable financial resources to advance “unquestioning support for Israel’s right-wing government”.
In remarks to a US think tank on Tuesday, Sanders said that AIPAC is expected to spend about $100m in a push to remove progressive candidates who have spoken in favour of Palestinian rights during the upcoming election cycle.
“The message was clear: if you criticize Netanyahu, you will be targeted,” Sanders said, linking the influence of lobbying groups that promote the interests of governments such as Israel, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates to the larger issue of the role that money plays in US politics.
Egypt confirms it has received Hamas response to deal proposal
Egyptian officials said they have received Hamas’s response to a truce agreement they proposed for the Gaza Strip, a statement from Egypt’s state information service said.
Earlier, we reported on an official statement from Hamas saying it had responded in a “positive” manner to the framework for a proposed deal for an extended pause in fighting in the Gaza war. The proposal would also see Israeli captives held in Gaza exchanged for Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.
US Secretary of State Blinken and Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani confirmed as much during a joint press conference today in Doha.
Israeli forces raid Jenin, Tulkarem
Videos shared by Palestinian people and platforms and verified by Al Jazeera have shown a large gathering of Israeli forces near Jenin in the occupied West Bank, along with Israeli raids into the city of Tulkarem.
The videos of the Tulkarem raids show bulldozers and armoured vehicles entering the city’s main neighbourhoods.
UK MP asks FM for details on ‘flimsy’ Israeli report on UNRWA
Tommy Sheppard, an MP with the Scottish National Party, has sent a letter to UK Foreign Minister David Cameron asking if the UK government suspended aid to UNRWA based exclusively on an Israeli dossier.
Several outlets have reported that the dossier, which formed the basis for Israeli allegations that a handful of UNRWA employees took part in the October 7 attack, includes no evidence for those claims.
“I urge you to review the decision made to suspend funding in light of the revelations surrounding the 6-page document and resume support for UNRWA while it carries out its internal investigation,” the letter concludes.
Did the UK Government end UNRWA funding on the basis of ‘flimsy evidence’?
My letter to the Foreign Secretary: pic.twitter.com/uL9vW8TetR
— Tommy Sheppard MP (@TommySheppard) February 6, 2024
WATCH: Blinken believes ‘an agreement is possible’ with Hamas
Speaking at a joint press conference with Qatar’s prime minister today in Doha, the US Secretary of State expressed optimism for the success of ongoing talks to bring a pause to Israel’s war.
Watch our video to hear his remarks:
Dead and wounded after Israeli air attack on Rafah home
Our correspondent in Rafah reports that at least two Palestinians have died and many more have been injured after the Israeli army shelled a home in the west of Rafah in the Gaza Strip.
Videos posted by Palestinian journalists on Instagram, and verified by Al Jazeera, show those injured in the attack being rescued from under rubble and transported to the Kuwaiti Hospital in Rafah. The journalists report that the shelling hit a home belonging to the Abu Aker family.
One video, posted by journalist Awad Abus Sharkh, shows a young boy injured in the strike receiving treatment at the hospital.
AFP reports that Blinken has arrived in Israel
The news outlet AFP has reported that the US Secretary of State has arrived in Israel, following meetings in Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Qatar during his fifth tour of the Middle East since the war in Gaza began on October 7.
Blinken landed in Israel late on Tuesday, according to an AFP reporter.
US Education Department to investigate rights claim against Harvard
A statement from the rights group The Muslim Legal Fund of America says that the department responded to a complaint it filed against Harvard University last week, alleging that the institution failed to protect students from “harassment, intimidation, and threats based solely on their status as Palestinian, Arab, Muslim, and supporters of Palestinian rights”.
“In recent months, students endured harassment while attending vigils for Palestine, physical assaults while walking to the library, doxxing on campus, stalking by classmates, and racial profiling by professors,” the statement says.
“Students who reported the harassment to Harvard administrators received slow and ineffective responses and often met with closed doors, and in some cases threats to limit or retract their future academic opportunities,” it continued.
Numerous incidents of harassment against Palestinian and Arab citizens of the US have been reported since Hamas’s October 7 attacks against Israel.
In late November last year, three Palestinian university students were shot in Vermont.
Warehouse housing displaced Palestinians hit by Israeli shelling
Al Jazeera has obtained footage of the moments after Israeli army bombs hit a warehouse in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip.
There were no immediate reports of a death toll but it is reported that several Palestinians have been injured.
Al Jazeera’s video shows ambulance crews frantically loading some of the injured for transport to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital.
We will bring you updates as information comes in.
Texas police investigating stabbing of Palestinian man as possible bias crime
Police in Austin, Texas, have said that they are probing the stabbing of a 23-year-old Palestinian-American man over the weekend as a possible “bias-motivated incident”.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has said that a man identified by police as Bert James Baker approached a Muslim family in their car at a stop sign as they were on their way back from a rally in solidarity with Palestine, shouting obscenities and trying to rip a “Free Palestine” flag from their vehicle.
The victim, identified by his father as Zacharia Doar, was trying to stop him when Baker allegedly stabbed him in the chest. He underwent surgery and is now recovering, according to his father.
“The entire Austin Muslim community stands in solidarity with these young members of our community, who appear to be the latest victims of a surge in anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian hate across our nation,” CAIR Austin chapter’s board chair, Fayyaz Shah, said in a television interview.
Our Austin chapter's Board Chair Fayyaz Shah: “The entire Austin Muslim community stands in solidarity with these young members of our community, who appear to be the latest victims of a surge in anti-Muslim and anti-Palestinian hate across our nation." pic.twitter.com/jy1075l3dk
— CAIR National (@CAIRNational) February 6, 2024
Senior Hamas official says group aiming for release of as many prisoners as possible
Hamas official Ghazi Hamad has told the Reuters news agency that the group is aiming for the release of as many Palestinians held in Israeli prisons as possible, a central point of contention in a possible deal with Israel, whose prime minister has said he will not release “thousands” of imprisoned Palestinians.
“Netanyahu is trying to make everyone believe that he has or will achieve victory to preserve his coalition government,” Hamad told Reuters.
While some Palestinians held in Israeli prisons have planned or carried out violent acts, many are women and minors held on less serious charges.
Others are held through administrative detention laws that rights groups say Israel wields widely to jail Palestinians in the occupied territories without charge or trial. Israel has rounded up and arrested thousands of Palestinians in the occupied territories since the war in Gaza began.
WATCH: US ‘deeply troubled’ by photo of injured Palestinian
A photo of an Israeli soldier standing over a stripped, injured and detained Palestinian man, which went viral, has been brought to the attention of the US State Department.
Washington has repeatedly denied that it has seen evidence of Israel committing war crimes or violating international law as it carries out its war on Gaza.
Watch our video to learn more about the photo and the US’s response:
Israel’s Mossad is studying Hamas’s response to captive deal
The Israeli prime minister’s office says on X that Qatar delivered the response to its security agency.
It added that all parties involved in negotiations are currently reviewing the response.
Earlier, Hamas issued an official response to a deal that would see the release of Israelis held captive in Gaza and bring a pause in the fighting there. Its response, per a statement, was “positive”.
Israeli FM meets with UN official on UNRWA
Israel Katz says on X that he met with Sigrid Kaag, the United Nations’ operations coordinator for Gaza.
“I made it clear to her emphatically that the humanitarian aid to Gaza through the organization UNRWA, which is part of the Hamas infrastructure, whose employees participated in the October 7th massacre and transfers a significant part, must be stopped from the supply to Hamas,” he wrote.
He added that he suggested that the UN find “another way” to supply aid to residents of Gaza.
Israel has been accused by UN bodies and top officials of blocking aid into the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian foreign ministry calls for UNRWA funding
The ministry says in a post on X that countries that suspended aid to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) must “immediately” reinstate it.
“The Ministry confirms that countries’ adherence to their decision to suspend their aid to UNRWA will have disastrous effects on its ability to provide services to millions of Palestinian refugees and endanger their lives, especially in the Gaza Strip,” its statement said.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates// warns of the catastrophic risks of suspending aid to @UNRWA on the lives of millions of Palestinians
الخارجية والمغتربين // تحذر من المخاطر الكارثية لتعليق المساعدات #للاونروا على حياة ملايين الفلسطينيين#Gaza_under_attack… pic.twitter.com/lxXRT6MicF
— State of Palestine – MFA 🇵🇸🇵🇸 (@pmofa) February 6, 2024
Israeli military to probe reports that some Israeli civilians killed by fire from own forces on October 7
The Israeli military has opened a probe to investigate possible breaches of the law by its forces on October 7, following reports that some Israeli civilians may have been killed by fire from their own forces on that day.
The Israeli paper Haaretz had reported on an incident in Kibbutz Be’eri, which came under attack by Hamas gunmen, in which an Israeli tank may have killed 12 Israelis and a Palestinian fighter when it shelled the house where they were being held.
While rights groups have said that it is clear that Hamas’ attack killed many Israeli civilians, including women and children, questions remain over the frantic Israeli response, which may have led to the deaths of numerous Israeli civilians.
The military said that it is “operating the Fact Finding and Assessment Mechanism (FFAM) to examine reports and complaints regarding the violation of Israeli and international law during the fighting,” in a statement on Tuesday.
Israel says it is studying Hamas response to possible deal
The Israeli government has issued its first official remarks on Hamas’s response to a possible truce deal, stating that the group’s comments are being studied by all parties involved in the mediation process, but offering few details.
“Hamas’s reply has been conveyed by the Qatari mediator to the Mossad. Its details are being thoroughly evaluated by the officials involved in the negotiations,” a statement from Israel’s foreign intelligence agency, the Mossad, said on Tuesday, per the office of the prime minister.
Prime Minister's Office – Mossad Announcement:
Hamas's reply has been conveyed by the Qatari mediator to the Mossad. Its details are being thoroughly evaluated by the officials involved in the negotiations.
— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) February 6, 2024
Blinken’s Middle East trip faces obstacles from Arabs, Israelis: Analyst
Ahmad Rafiq Awad of Al-Quds University says that the US secretary of state faces many obstacles throughout his visit, “not only from the Arabs who have reservations about his plans, but he will also be subject to Israeli stubbornness – an extension of the current far-right government”.
The plans to which Awad is referring include the normalisation deal between Saudi Arabia and Israel, which he says will not take place if the root of the conflict is not addressed. “The plan will fail if it does not provide a political solution, offer a ceasefire, or restrain Israel in any way,” Awad told Al Jazeera.
“I think that [US Secretary of State Antony] Blinken does not have much to offer to the Palestinians, and the Arabs, who will not normalise with Israel for free,” he said. “The Arabs will be wary of partaking in any settlement that does not involve them heavily or give them some sort of influence on the outcome.”
Israeli bombs kill another journalist: Gaza’s Government Media Office
The office says in a statement that Rizq Al-Gharabli, director of the Palestinian Information Center in the Gaza Strip, was killed “as a result of the continuous targeting and bombing by the ‘Israeli’ occupation of citizens’ homes in Khan Younis”.
The office asserts that the number of journalists killed in the Gaza Strip since the beginning of the war in Gaza is now 123.
US Yemen envoy: Efforts to provide Houthis with ‘climb down’ from Red Sea attacks
Diplomatic efforts are under way to end the Yemeni group’s attacks on international shipping in the Red Sea, said Special Envoy Tim Lenderking in pre-recorded comments released today.
Diplomatic efforts are “being made to try and find a climb down for the Houthis that would enable [the] situation to improve and to move away from the kinetic aspect” of the Red Sea crisis, Lenderking said.
He also said, “We need to see serious de-escalation in Gaza” and that Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is on a diplomatic swing through the region, “is working very hard on that.”
The Houthis have promised that their actions in the Red Sea will not cease until a ceasefire is achieved in Gaza, and that any strikes on their positions in Yemen will not affect this position.
A US-led coalition has undertaken multiple air raids on Houthi personnel and equipment.
Israeli military says 31 additional captives in Gaza have been pronounced dead
“We have informed 31 families that their captured loved ones are no longer among the living and that we have pronounced them dead,” Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari told reporters.
In recent months, the Netanyahu government has faced criticism from Israeli demonstrators, and family members of those held captive, that he has not prioritised the safe return of the captives taken by armed Palestinian groups on October 7.
The well-being of the captives has become a focus for many in Israeli society, who have pleaded for their release so that they may be reunited with their families.
Israeli military apologises for military drill simulating settler abduction of Palestinian
The Israeli military has released a statement apologising for a military training exercise simulating a situation where an Israeli settler abducts a Palestinian in the occupied West Bank.
Amid a period of skyrocketing settler attacks on Palestinians, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed the drill as offensive to Jewish settlers and based on a “fictitious scenario … detached from reality”.
“The scenario in question should not have been practiced and is an error,” Israeli military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said in a statement on Tuesday. “We will investigate and learn, and we are sorry to anyone who was hurt by this.”
Little appetite in the region for normalisation talks until war comes to an end
Mahjoob Zweiri, a Middle East analyst at Qatar University, has said that there is “some hope” from the largely positive response from Hamas towards a potential truce, and added that talk of further normalisation with Israel would remain largely unpopular as long as the war in Gaza continues.
“No one is ready to listen to this at the moment, without stopping the war on Gaza,” Zweiri told Al Jazeera, adding that Israeli-Saudi normalisation would be a victory for both Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and the administration of US President Joe Biden as their approaches to the region face heavy criticism.
“This is the context of normalisation. It has to do with fixing the failures of Biden’s foreign policy in the Middle East, and giving a reward to Netanyahu,” Zweiri said.