Israel puts army 'on high alert' after Hamas suspends hostage release | LIVE

South Lebanon

Four bodies were extracted today from Robb Thalathin (Marjayoun), where the Lebanese Army completed its deployment following the withdrawal of the Israeli army, reports our correspondent.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he was holding a meeting with top security officials following Hamas’ announcement that it would postpone the upcoming hostage release “until further notice,” Haaretz reported.

Netanyahu also said he would move up a security cabinet meeting originally scheduled for Tuesday afternoon to discuss negotiations on the “second phase” of the upcoming cease-fire deal.

Israel/Gaza

The United Nations has urged Israel and Hamas to ensure humane treatment for all detainees, saying recent images of “emaciated” former Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners were “deeply disturbing.”

“The images of emaciated Israeli hostages and Palestinian detainees, released as part of the first phase of the Gaza cease-fire agreement, are deeply disturbing,” a spokesperson for the U.N. human rights office in Geneva said in a statement.

Israel/Gaza

Hundreds of Israelis blocked roads in Tel Aviv, demanding the return of all Israeli hostages, Haaretz reported. The protests erupted after Hamas announced it was delaying the next release of Israeli captives “until further notice,” accusing Israel of failing to meet its commitments.

Meanwhile, the Hostages and Missing Families Forum said it had reached out to mediator countries for an immediate and effective intervention “to restore the implementation of the agreement.” The families also called on the government to “refrain from any action that could jeopardize the implementation of the signed deal.”

An Israeli explosion in Mais al-Jabal (Marjayoun district) echoed through the neighboring villages, local residents reported.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stated that his government is working to "break the Iranian axis and eliminate Hamas' missile system and Hezbollah’s Radwan Force." He claimed that "the killing of [former Hezbollah Secretary-General] Hassan Nasrallah shattered the axis of evil, led to the fall of [former Syrian President] Bashar al-Assad, and allowed Israel to take control of the Golan."

During his speech at the Knesset, which came after his return from the United States — where he met with U.S. President Donald Trump and several officials — opposition lawmakers interrupted his address, accusing him of attempting to derail the cease-fire agreement in Gaza.

Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana expelled lawmakers who disrupted Netanyahu’s speech.

Meanwhile, the Knesset failed to pass a motion of confidence against Netanyahu’s government.

"[U.S.] President Trump presented a new and revolutionary vision for the day after Hamas. You wanted 'the day after,' and now you have it," said Netanyahu on the sidelines of a press conference, according to Haaretz.

Netanyahu and Trump continue to discuss a plan to forcibly displace all Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, a proposal that has been met with widespread Arab and international condemnation.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas issued a decree on Monday revoking the system of payments allocated to the families of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails or to “the families of Palestinian terrorists,” reported Axios. The American media added that a senior Palestinian official stated that Abbas had previously informed the Trump administration of this new decision.

The spokesman for the armed wing of Hamas, Abu Obeida, announced in a statement that the release of the Israeli hostages scheduled for next Saturday has been postponed “until further notice,” according to Reuters. “The handover of the Zionist prisoners due to be released next Saturday will be postponed until further notice, and until the occupation commits to the terms of the agreement," insisting on the need for Israel to "fulfill its obligations and retroactively compensate for the violations committed in recent weeks."

“President Trump has presented a new and revolutionary vision for the day after Hamas. You wanted 'the day after', you got it,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on the sidelines of a press conference, according to Haaretz.

Israeli hostage Ofer Calderon, who was released from Hamas captivity last week, told reporters that the current agreement should not be interrupted. “We need to get everyone out as quickly as possible,” he said, according to Haaretz.

At the same time, his nephew, Eyal Calderon, entered a public meeting at the Knesset organized by the party of Israel's far-right Finance Minister, Bezalel Smotrich, holding a photo of Calderon reunited with his family: “This is absolute victory, and this is what you tried to prevent!” he shouted at him.

He was removed from the stage after Smotrich retorted that “absolute victory” would include “the destruction of Hamas, Hezbollah, Iran and the strengthening of Israel's security,” adding that the former captive's family's comments were “painful emotional manipulation.”

Prime Minister Nawaf Salam strongly condemned comments by his Israeli counterpart, Benjamin Netanyahu, on the creation of a Palestinian state in Saudi Arabia, calling them “an ongoing attack on Arab countries and an interference in their affairs.”

Israeli soldiers fired machine guns at a house in al-Sawana neighborhood in the town of Yaroun (Bint Jbeil), while several soldiers stormed the house, NNA reported.

A number of Israeli soldiers advanced with Israeli tanks from the Raheb site to the outskirts of Aita al-Shaab (Bint Jbeil) and set up an earth barrier before withdrawing.

Israeli forces also carried out machine gun fire sweeps from al-Hamamsa Hill, south of Khiam, towards Wadi al-Asafir (all located in Marjayoun), our correspondent in the South reported.

The UN refugee agency (UNRWA) said it had distributed food aid to 1.2 million people in the Gaza Strip during the two-week cease-fire, in coordination with the World Food Program (WFP).

UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said the organization had opened 10 new shelters to accommodate displaced people returning to northern Gaza. Tents, blankets, plastic sheeting and warm clothing were distributed to cope with the harsh weather conditions, marked by rain and storms.

The agency, which is under pressure from Israel to dismantle it, also announced that it has repaired several wells and provided water and waste management services to nearly 500,000 people living in or near its shelters. It also continues to provide medicines and medical equipment to its clinics.

The Gaza Health Ministry announced that the death toll in the Gaza Strip since the start of Israel's war on the territory now stands at 48,208.

Over the past 24 hours, 19 deaths have been recorded in hospitals in the Palestinian enclave, including 14 bodies recovered, two people who succumbed to their injuries and three new victims. The ministry also reported 15 injured people admitted to hospital, bringing the total number of injured to 111,655 since Oct. 7, 2023.

An anonymous Palestinian source told the pro-Iranian Al-Mayadeen news channel that Hamas accused Israel of seeking to derail the second phase of the hostage and cease-fire agreement in the Gaza Strip.

According to the source, the Palestinian movement believes that Tel Aviv is relying on former U.S. President Donald Trump's new proposals for taking control of Gaza to avoid honoring its commitments. It warned that the Israelis "will pay a heavy price" if the agreement fails.

U.S. President Donald Trump said Palestinians would not have the right of return under his Gaza plan, in an interview excerpt released Monday and cited by AFP.

Asked by a Fox News reporter whether the Palestinians would have "the right of return," Trump replied, "No, they wouldn't because they're going to have much better housing ... In other words, I'm talking about building them a permanent place."

The army command announced on X that military units and intelligence services searched the homes of wanted persons in the villages of al-Qasr, in Hermel (northern Bekaa) and Asfourieh in Akkar. Also, according to the army statement, large quantities of weapons were seized, including rockets, shells, grenades, rifles and ammunition. The army published photos in support of the text.

"Photos from the village of Yarine (Bint Jbeil) in southern Lebanon. This is the real face of Hezbollah! Party members are removing the Lebanese flag and patriotic symbols from the streets," wrote Arabic-language Israeli army spokesperson Avichay Adraee, on X.

He posted a video showing men getting out of a car with Hezbollah flags raised, claiming that they were members of the party removing the Lebanese flag from an electricity pole.

"Lebanon does not concern them and the Lebanese flag does not exist in their dictionary," the spokesperson said.

Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu's security cabinet will meet tomorrow to discuss the second phase of the cease-fire agreement with Hamas, according to multiple Israeli media reports.

The meeting comes after the Israeli negotiating team returned from talks on the issue in Doha, Qatar.

Several Israeli soldiers, accompanied by tanks, approached the surroundings of the village of Aita al-Shaab (Bint Jbeil), erecting a sand barrier there before withdrawing, according to L'Orient Today's correspondent's sources in south Lebanon.

In addition, Israeli forces fired their machine guns toward Tallet al-Hamames, south of Khiam (Marjayoun) and towards Wadi al-Asafir.

With the support of Palestinian Authority (PA) Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa, the United Nations Development Program and the Arab International Organization for Reconstruction in Palestine have signed a memorandum of understanding to work in Gaza, the state-run Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

The deal was signed at the Prime Minister's Office in Ramallah in the occupied West Bank and is worth $80 million in its first phase.

The operation is the first of its kind since the cease-fire in Gaza, according to the official Wafa news agency, which said the aim was to limit damage and remove rubble from vital areas, deal with unexploded ordnance and establish several temporary shelters that could provide basic services.

"The Palestinian government has developed a program for the first six months to address the situation on the ground, as well as a three-year plan to move from aid to economic recovery and early recovery, and then to full reconstruction over ten years, as part of a program developed in coordination with the World Bank, the European Union.

The Lebanese army continues its deployment in the border region north of Hermel, even as armed men from Lebanese clans withdraw from the area, reports L'Orient Today's correspondent in the region. Clashes have been taking place between these Lebanese clans and Syrian security forces since the end of last week.

Syrian interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa announced in an interview broadcast today that "thousands" of people joined the "new Syrian army" since the overthrow of Bashar al-Assad.

"I did not impose compulsory conscription in Syria. I opted instead for voluntary enlistment, and today thousands of people are joining the new Syrian army," the president said on the podcast "The Rest is Politics" hosted by Alastair Campbell and Rory Stewart, two British political figures. The new government had announced the dissolution of Assad's army and all the armed rebel factions, including the radical Islamist group Hay'at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) led by Sharaa.

Hussein Jeshi, a member of Hezbollah's parliamentary group, said from the town of Qana (Sour) that "it is the resistance, not international resolutions, that protects the land, its people and their honor."

During a tribute to the party fighters killed, the MP stated that "the State is today required to put an end to the aggressions of this enemy and its withdrawal, through the international bodies responsible for supervising the cease-fire."

He also expressed hope that these instances will yield positive results by Feb. 18, while warning that "in case of failure, our proud people and the resistance will not remain passive in the face of the occupation and its aggressions."

The Lebanese Foreign Ministry, in a statement, denounced the statements of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on the creation of a Palestinian state in Saudi Arabia.

"We express our solidarity with Saudi Arabia in the face of anything that threatens its security, stability, sovereignty and the integrity of its territory," the text stated. The ministry also rejected "all attempts to deport Palestinians or to settle them, particularly in Lebanon" in reference to repeated comments by U.S. President Donald Trump on the subject, reaffirming the Lebanese position in favor of the two-state solution.

Several residents of the village of Rab al-Thalathine (Marjayoun) entered to return to their homes after the Lebanese army cleared the main roads, L'Orient Today's correspondent reported.

The Kremlin said it was awaiting "more details" on U.S. President Donald Trump's plan to buy the Gaza Strip, an idea that has drawn condemnation from many countries, Reuters reports.

Asked whether Trump's plan was acceptable to Moscow, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov noted that 1.2 million people lived in Gaza.

"It is worth waiting for some details if we are talking about a coherent action plan. We are talking about almost 1.2 million Palestinians living there, and this is probably the main problem," Peskov said in a conference call.

"These are people who were promised a two-state solution to the Middle East problem within the framework of Security Council resolutions, etc. There are many such questions. We do not know the details yet, so we have to be patient," Peskov said.

The Lebanese army completed its deployment in the localities of Rab al-Thalathine, Tallousseh and Bani Hayyan (Marjayoun) after the withdrawal of Israeli forces, the military institution announced on X Sunday.

The army set up armored patrols on the roads and began clearing earth barricades and debris. Mine-clearing operations were also launched between homes and on traffic routes.

The municipalities of the three villages have urged residents to respect the army's instructions and not to return to their homes until they are completely secured and it has been confirmed that there are no explosive devices.

(Credit: Hezbollah press office)

Hezbollah commemorated several of its members killed in the fighting against Israel in the village of Khiam (Marjayoun), in the presence of party MP Ali Fayad, several local and religious authorities, as well as a crowd of sympathizers from the locality and surrounding areas.

Yechi Yehoud, father of freed hostage Arbel Yehoud, read a message she sent to the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Security Committee: "I thought I was being psychologically terrorized when they said the hostages had become a political issue. I didn't believe it until I returned to Israel and was exposed to this harsh reality," Haaretz reported.

“You can imagine some of the horrors I experienced during my captivity,” Arbel continued in her message. “Despite this, I returned with the goal of saving my partner Ariel, his brother David and the rest of the hostages, taking part in the fight for their release while following the long process of rehabilitation that awaits me.”

She also said she learned Arabic in captivity and heard her captors "express their joy at the division of the [Israeli] people over the issue of the hostages' release." The former hostage called for "everyone to be brought back at once – the living and the dead."

Iranian President Massoud Pezeshkian accused his American counterpart Donald Trump of wanting to "bring the Islamic Republic to its knees" during a speech marking the 46th anniversary of the revolution that overthrew the Pahlavi monarchy.

"Trump says 'we want to talk [with Iran]', and ... he signs in a memorandum all the conspiracies to bring our Revolution to its knees," said Pezeshkian, in reference to a text signed Tuesday by the American president and which provides for new sanctions against Iran.

Former Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz criticized the Israeli cabinet's decision to postpone discussions on establishing a commission to investigate the Oct. 7 attacks carried out by Hamas.

In a message posted on X, he called the Oct. 7 attacks "the greatest disaster" in Israel's history and said: "Those being interrogated will not choose the investigators. A state commission of inquiry, independent according to the law, will be established."

The United Nations refugee agency (UNRWA) said that many families in the Gaza Strip continue to be exposed to very cold temperatures without adequate shelter, in a post on X.

In Deir al-Balah, in the central part of the enclave, and in the north, which has been under heavy siege by the Israeli army for months, many still live in dilapidated tents and makeshift shelters that offer little or no protection from the cold.

U.S. President Donald Trump said overnight Sunday that he is committed to buying and owning Gaza, but could allow sections of the territory to be rebuilt by other Middle Eastern states, Reuters reports.

"I am committed to buying and owning Gaza. Regarding reconstruction, we could give other Middle Eastern states the opportunity to build parts of it, others could do it under our auspices. But we are determined to own it, to take it and to ensure that Hamas does not return there," he said.

Find the full details here.

(Credit: Hezbollah press office)

"As Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said: 'If you want to threaten us, we will threaten you, and if you want to carry out your threats, we will carry out ours.' Therefore, the Americans will think twice before acting," Hezbollah MP Hassan Ezzeddine said during a tribute to a slain Hezbollah fighter.

"The United States does not believe in human value and treats human beings as numbers, to buy, sell and make deals," continued the MP from Kfour. A clear allusion to the words of Donald Trump who expressed his desire to buy the Gaza Strip.

Hamas leader in Gaza Khalil Hayyeh said that the plans of the West, the United States and President Donald Trump for the Gaza Strip are "doomed to failure," Reuters reports.

"We will fail them as we failed the projects before them," he said at a commemoration of the 46th anniversary of the Iranian revolution in Tehran.

On Sunday, Trump said he was committed to buying and owning the Gaza Strip but could allow other Middle Eastern states to rebuild parts of the war-torn territory.

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There is calm this morning on the Lebanese-Syrian border after yesterday's events, reports L'Orient Today's correspondent. No shooting or bombing was recorded during the night, and the Lebanese army deployed at the crossing points between Lebanon and Syria.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz yesterday called U.S. President Donald Trump's proposal, which would include U.S. control of the Gaza Strip and the displacement of Palestinians, a "scandal." The proposal has sparked a number of reactions and condemnations since the U.S. president first put it forward.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described Donald Trump's proposal for U.S. control of the Gaza Strip and the displacement of Palestinians as "revolutionary," striking a triumphant tone in front of his office after his return from Washington.

Despite the entry into force of a truce between Israel and Hamas on Jan. 19 in the Palestinian territory devastated by 15 months of conflict, triggered by the Hamas attack on Israeli soil on Oct. 7, 2023, diplomatic tensions are high around the post-war period.

The Israeli army said that it carried out an airstrike last night against a tunnel on the border between Syria and Lebanon, which it said was used by Hezbollah for arms smuggling.

In a statement, it reported a " precise, intelligence-based strike against a tunnel extending from Syrian territory to Lebanese territory and used by Hezbollah to smuggle weapons," adding that it had also struck "several other Hezbollah sites" in Lebanon, despite a cease-fire in force since the end of November between Israel and the party.

Yesterday evening, Israel struck an area between Roumin and Azzeh (Nabatieh). Its air force also carried out strikes in Hermel, at the border crossing point of Qard al-Sabaa.

In addition to the Israeli strikes on the Nabatieh district, Israel's air force also bombed the area known as "Jabbour" in the Jezzine district last night, according to L'Orient Today's correspondent.