Israel-Gaza ceasefire live: Netanyahu warns Israel will end ceasefire if Hamas does not free hostages by Saturday – UK Times

At least 48,219 Palestinians have been killed and 111,665 injured in Israeli attacks on Gaza since 7 October 2023, the Gaza health ministry said on Thursday.

In the past 24 hours, 11 deaths were recorded and 10 people went into hospitals injured, health authorities said according to Wafa news agency.

Israel’s fatal shooting of a pregnant Palestinian woman raises fears in the West Bank

The call came in the middle of the night, Mohammed Shula said. His daughter-in-law, eight months pregnant with her first child, was whispering. There was panic in her voice.

“Help, please,” Shula recalled her saying. “You have to save us.”

Minutes later, Sondos Shalabi was fatally shot.

Shalabi and her husband, 26-year-old Yazan Shula, had fled their home in the early hours of Sunday as Israeli security forces closed in on Nur Shams refugee camp, a crowded urban district in the northern West Bank city of Tulkarem.

Israeli military vehicles surrounded the camp days earlier, part of a larger crackdown on Palestinian militants across the northern occupied West Bank that has escalated since the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza took effect last month.

Pregnant woman Sondos Shalabi was killed by Israeli forces in the West Bank. Read more here:

Away from the headline proposals on Gaza’s future, many Palestinians now fear the prospective Israeli annexation of the occupied West Bank, where Israeli forces have escalated attacks since the Gaza ceasefire agreement.

Syria’s new president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, has described Donald Trump’s plan to expel Palestinians from Gaza as a “serious crime that will ultimately fail”.

Trump has called for Palestinians to be removed from Gaza to make way for a US-owned major development site.

“I believe no power can drive people from their land. Many countries have tried to do it and they have all failed, especially during the recent war in Gaza over the past year and a half,” Mr Sharaa said.

“Over 80 years of this conflict, all attempts to displace them have failed; those who left have regretted their decision. The Palestinian lesson that every generation has learned is the importance of holding on to their land.”

Egypt, Jordan and other Arab nations have also opposed any attempt to push Palestinians over the border.

More than a year after Hamas attacked southern Israel on 7 October 2023 – killing around 1,200 people and taking another 250 captive – around 80 hostages remain, although Israel believes around a third are dead.

A ceasefire deal currently in place promises the release of the hostages held by Hamas and other Palestinian militants in Gaza.

The first stage of the ceasefire to due to last six weeks and see “a full and complete ceasefire” while 33 hostages in Gaza and up to 1,900 Palestinian prisoners in Israel are to be freed. The hostages released will include women, the elderly and the sick.

Tara Cobham and Tom Watling report:

Abiding by the ceasefire deal is the only way to bring home Israeli hostages, senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said on Tuesday.

“Trump must remember that there is an agreement that must be respected by both parties, and this is the only way to bring back the prisoners. The language of threats has no value and only complicates matters,” he told Reuters.

Hamas indefinitely suspended the release of hostages on Monday, accusing Israel of failing to uphold its ceasefire obligations.

UN chief Antonio Guterres has urged Hamas to continue with the release of hostages, one day after the militant group announced it would halt the exchange.

“We must avoid at all costs the resumption of hostilities in Gaza that would lead to an immense tragedy,” Mr Guterres said in a statement.

It comes after Hamas said on Monday it would stop releasing Israeli hostages due to alleged violations of the ceasefire agreement, including air strikes on areas in the enclave.

“Both sides must fully abide by their commitments in the ceasefire agreement and resume negotiations in Doha for the second phase”, Mr Guterres added.