Israel’s Defence Ministry says it is establishing a government body for the “voluntary departures” of Palestinians from Gaza as it pushes forward with a plan proposed by US President Donald Trump to forcibly displace the enclave’s residents.

    Israeli media reports say the military is preparing to receive the bodies of four captives taken to Gaza on Thursday as part of the first phase of the Israel-Hamas ceasefire deal.

    The deadline for Israel to fully withdraw from Lebanon is expiring today, but the Israeli military says its troops will continue to remain in five “strategic points along the border” despite opposition from Beirut.

    Gaza’s Health Ministry has confirmed 48,271 Palestinian deaths in Israel’s war on Gaza while 111,693 people have been wounded. The Government Media Office has updated its death toll to at least 61,709 people, saying thousands of Palestinians missing under the rubble are now presumed dead.

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

    For Palestinians in Gaza, 500 days of ‘humiliation, suffering and bloodshed’

    Mohammed Abu Mursa, who has been displaced more than a dozen times since Israel’s war on Gaza began, says he is hoping the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas holds.

    “It’s been 500 days of humiliation, suffering and bloodshed,” the resident of northern Gaza told the AFP news agency.

    Mursa, who has been able to return home after the truce took effect on January 19, said, “There is only destruction around us”.

    “I just hope the ceasefire holds,” he added.

    What’s in Egypt’s plan for Gaza’s reconstruction?

    Two Egyptian officials who spoke to the Associated Press news agency on condition of anonymity say the proposal is still being negotiated.

    At present, it envisions a three-phase reconstruction process that will take up to five years, without displacing Palestinians from Gaza.

    It designates three “safe zones” within Gaza to relocate Palestinians during an initial six-month “early recovery period”. These zones will be equipped with mobile houses and shelters, with humanitarian aid streaming in.

    The officials said that about two dozen Egyptian and international firms would take part in removing the rubble and rebuilding Gaza’s infrastructure, and that the reconstruction would provide tens of thousands of jobs to the enclave’s population.

    They said the proposal also calls for the establishment of a Palestinian administration that is not aligned with either Hamas or the Palestinian Authority to run the Strip and oversee the reconstruction efforts. They added that officials from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, the UAE and Jordan will discuss Cairo’s proposal at a gathering in Riyadh this week, before introducing it to the Arab summit later this month.