3h ago
06.03 GMT
Reopening
summary
Hello and
welcome to our live coverage of developments in the Middle East, and a tenuous
moment in the three-week ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.
Speaking
to reporters at the White House, US president Donald Trump has warned that “all
hell is going to break out” if Hamas does not release the remaining Israeli
hostages this Saturday.
Hamas
said earlier that it was delaying the release of Israeli hostages indefinitely
over what it said were violations of the ceasefire, prompting Israel’s defence
minister to put the country’s military on alert with orders to prepare for “any
scenario in Gaza”.
It’s just
past 8am in Gaza and Jerusalem, and if you are just tuning into this story,
here is what you need to know.
Trump
said his plan to “take over Gaza” would not include a right of return for the
more than 2 million Palestinians whom he has said have “no alternative” but to
leave because of the destruction left by Israel’s military campaign. Trump
continued to endorse a plan for the Palestinians to be resettled in Egypt and
Jordan, a plan that both countries have rejected. The remarks are the latest
effective endorsement of ethnic cleansing by the US president.
Trump
also said he might withhold aid to Jordan and Egypt if those countries do not
take Palestinian refugees being relocated from Gaza.
The US
president will host Jordan’s King Abdullah II at the White House on Tuesday as
he escalates pressure on the Arab nation to take in refugees from Gaza –
perhaps permanently – as part of his audacious plan to remake the Middle East.
The visit is happening at a perilous moment for the ongoing ceasefire.
In
response to Hamas’ announcement delaying the release of hostages, Israel’s
security cabinet has moved forward a meeting to discuss negotiations on the
second phase of the ceasefire, which had been set for Tuesday evening. The army
has cancelled all leave for soldiers in the Gaza division, the Kan news outlet
reported, in a sign that Israeli authorities are preparing for the resumption
of war.
Mediators
fear a breakdown of the three-week-old ceasefire and have postponed talks until
they receive a clear indication of Washington’s intent to continue with the
phased deal, according to reports. Qatar had reportedly warned Israeli
officials at the weekend that even the first stage of the ceasefire deal was
being put in jeopardy by provocative statements from Benjamin Netanyahu and by
his government’s approach to talks on a second stage.
Israeli
police raided a leading Palestinian-owned bookshop in Jerusalem and detained
two of its owners, accusing them of selling books that supported terrorism,
including a children’s colouring book entitled From the Jordan to the Sea.
Karim
Khan, the chief prosecutor of the international criminal court (ICC), is the
first person to be hit with economic and travel sanctions authorised by Trump
that target the court over investigations of US citizens or US allies, the
White House has confirmed. The US president signed an executive order last week
authorising aggressive economic sanctions against the ICC, accusing the body of
“illegitimate and baseless actions” targeting the US and Israel.
A former
UK supreme court judge described Israel’s assault on Gaza as “grossly
disproportionate” and said there was “at least an arguable case” that it was
genocidal. Lord Sumption, who served on the UK’s highest court from 2012 to
2018, was one of the highest profile signatories of a letter last year warning
that the UK government was breaching international law by arming Israel.
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