Hamas officials hold talks in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, as mediators Egypt and Qatar race against time to save the fragile ceasefire deal in Gaza.

      Hamas official Mahmoud Mardawi says there are “positive signals” that three Israeli captives will be released as planned on Saturday.

      Israel’s defence minister again threatens to resume war on Gaza, saying the new conflict will be of another intensity altogether and “allow the realisation of” US President Donald Trump’s “vision” to displace Palestinians there.

      Gaza’s Health Ministry confirms 48,222 deaths in Israel’s war on Gaza while 111,674 people have been wounded. The Government Media Office has updated the death toll to at least 61,709 people, saying thousands missing under the rubble are now presumed dead.

      At least 1,139 people were killed in Israel during the October 7, 2023, attacks and more than 200 were taken captive.

      Rights groups call for truce negotiators to secure release of Gaza health workers

      Four human rights organisations are calling on the negotiating parties in the Gaza ceasefire agreement “to secure the release” of hundreds of essential healthcare workers in Gaza unlawfully detained by the Israeli military.

      “As hostage exchange negotiations progress, we call for unlawfully detained medical personnel to be released,” Children Not Numbers, Human Rights Watch, MedGlobal and Physicians for Human Rights Israel said in a joint statement.

      The groups noted that releasing the health workers is a necessity since medical personnel are protected under international humanitarian law.

      They also noted that releasing the health workers is “crucial to saving lives in Gaza” where “the remaining staff are overwhelmed by more than 110,000 wounded civilians”.

      “Gaza’s irreplaceable health workers – surgeons, pediatricians, gynecologists, obstetricians, orthopedists, and emergency responders – are vital for saving lives and sustaining essential medical services,” they said.

      Where does the Gaza ceasefire stand?

•       So far, 16 of the 33 captives to be released in the first 42-day phase of the deal have come home as well as five Thais who were returned in an unscheduled release. In exchange, Israel has released hundreds of Palestinians from its prisons.
•       Hamas, however, has said it will delay the next release after accusing Israel of failing to uphold its side of the deal, including by killing more than 100 Palestinians in Gaza since the truce and holding back urgently needed aid shipments.
•       Israel has threatened to resume the war on Gaza with a renewed intensity, while its military has called up reservists and reinforced positions in the Strip.
•       A Hamas delegation is now in Cairo for talks and a top official said there are now “positive signals” that three Israeli captives will be released as planned on Saturday.
•       US Secretary of State Marco Rubio is also set to travel to Israel, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, starting on Friday, to discuss freeing all the remaining captives held by Hamas and “advancing to Phase II of the ceasefire agreement in Gaza”.

      Israel’s West Bank offensive displaces 44,000 Palestinians

      Israel’s “Iron Wall” operation has displaced 44,000 Palestinians in the north of the occupied territory, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) says, calling for “serious” global pressure on Israeli authorities to end the deadly campaign.

      “What we are witnessing in the West Bank is the worst situation since the second Intifada; certain aspects of the military campaign may be even worse. The patterns of attacks and methods used are also similar to those seen during Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza,” Diana Alzeer, FIDH’s vice president, said from Ramallah.

      “The Israeli occupying forces have been extremely brutal in their systematic methods to empty refugee camps; they have raided Palestinian houses, destroyed infrastructure and homes, and used aerial attacks and live ammunition to kill Palestinians, and obstructed medical care from communities. Across the entire West Bank, various forms of oppressive and collective punishment measures have been implemented. This illegal occupation and Israel’s settler-colonial apartheid against the Palestinian people must come to an end,” she said.

      As we’ve been reporting, the operation, which started in Jenin in the north of the occupied West Bank on January 21, has now expanded to other refugee camps, including in the south of the territory.