By Abdul Adil
(AA, Al Jazeera, NNA, Wafa, The Muslim News):
Israel continues to violate ceasefire agreement in Lebanon, attacked several towns in Occupied West Bank, has delayed implementation of humanitarian provisions in Gaza Strip. More Palestinian bodies have been found under the rubble, increasing Palestinians killed by Israel in Gaza to at least 61,709 people
LEBANON
Israeli warplanes launched on Friday an airstrike on the town of Baisariyeh in the Sidon district of southern Lebanon, marking an escalation in Israel’s continued violations of the ceasefire agreement.
Lebanese National News Agency reported that “a loud explosion was heard in the village of Baisariyeh, which was later confirmed to have been caused by an Israeli enemy airstrike.”
The agency also noted: “Israeli enemy forces have commenced a two-phase explosion operation in the southern Lebanese village of Kfarkila.”
A fragile ceasefire has been in place since Nov. 27, 2024, ending a period of mutual shelling between Israel and the Lebanese group Hezbollah that began on Oct. 8, 2023 and escalated into a full-scale conflict on Sept. 23 last year.
Since the ceasefire took effect, Israel has committed over 840 violations, killing and injuring dozens of people in Lebanon, including women and children.
Israel was supposed to complete its withdrawal from southern Lebanon by Jan. 26 under the ceasefire deal, but it refused and the deadline was extended to Feb. 18.
Dozens of supporters of the Lebanese group Hezbollah on Friday protested in Beirut against remarks by US deputy special envoy to the Middle East, Morgan Ortagus, following her meeting with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun.
Ortagus said that Hezbollah will no longer “be able to terrorize the Lebanese people” and went on to thank Israel for “defeating the group” during their last round of fighting that was halted on Nov. 27.
The press office of the Lebanese Presidency also issued a statement, stressing that her remarks “don’t concern the Lebanese Presidency.”
Ortagus is the first senior US official to visit Lebanon since US President Donald Trump took office and President Joseph Aoun was also elected in January.
Mohammad Raad, the head of Hezbollah’s parliamentary bloc, has rebuked Ortagus for her call to exclude the group from the Lebanese government.
Raad said in a video message that the US deputy Middle East envoy’s remarks “are full of hatred and irresponsibility”.
“They aim to insult a national component of Lebanon that is part of the National Accord and Lebanese political life,” he added. “Her statements are a blatant interference in Lebanon’s sovereignty and a violation to all diplomatic norms and obligations of international relations.”
Ortagus had also congratulated Israel for defeating Hezbollah. But Raad rejected her assertion, saying that the Lebanese people were “victorious”, and they revealed the “ugly image of the aggressor that is carrying out a genocide against civilians”.
Earlier US Deputy Special Envoy to the Middle East Morgan Ortagus said after a meeting with Lebanon’s President Joseph Aoun that the participation of Hezbollah in the incoming Lebanese government is a “red line”.
Now the Lebanese presidency is distancing itself from Ortagus’s remarks.
“Some of what was said by the US deputy special envoy to the Middle East Morgan Ortagus in Baabda [the presidential palace] only represents her own view points, and the presidency is not concerned with it,” Aoun’s office said in a brief statement shared on social media.
Ortagus’s visit to Beirut comes as Prime Minister-designate Nawaf Salam is scrambling to put together a cabinet that is expected to include most major political parties in Lebanon.
Hezbollah and its top ally the Amal Movement – known as the Shia duo – have dozens of members in the 128-seat Lebanese Parliament.
Meanwhile, two people were killed and two others injured in an explosion at a house in the southern Lebanese town of Tayr Harfa, a site previously previously booby-trapped by the Israeli army, the state-run National News Agency reported.
The agency initially had reported casualties without specifying numbers, stating that a remnant of war had detonated inside the house.
GAZA
Israel’s war on Gaza has killed a confirmed 47,583 people and injured 111,633, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry.
However, The Government Media Office has updated the death toll to at least 61,709 people, saying thousands of people who were 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.
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have returned to northern Gaza since the ceasefire came into effect last month, pausing Israel’s 15-month assault on the territory. But most people found their homes destroyed or heavily damaged.
Strong winds, rain and low temperatures are now adding to their suffering as thousands of families are living in worn-out tents after their homes were destroyed in Israel’s bombardment and ground offensive in the coastal enclave.
Families have since struggled to find shelter in the mounds of debris and destruction across the besieged enclave.
The Israeli army on Friday announced the redeployment of three of its military divisions at several fronts in the Gaza Strip in preparation for the implementation of the second phase of the ceasefire agreement that took effect on Jan. 19.
In a statement, the army said its 162nd, 143rd and 99th divisions were deployed “to strengthen the defense for civilians living in the western Negev” area and Israel in general.
It noted that the redeployment measure in Gaza comes in preparation for the next step of the ceasefire agreement with the Hamas group.
A Palestinian child was killed on Friday in an explosion caused by remnants of Israeli army munitions in the southern Gaza Strip.
A medical source at the Nasser Hospital in the city of Khan Younis told Anadolu that Mohammad Al-Qadi, 10, was killed in the explosion in the Badr area in Rafah.
A security source said that based on preliminary investigations, the exploded object was one of the war remnants left by the Israeli army in the area.
On Jan. 29, Luke Irving, UN’s mine action program chief in the occupied Palestinian territories, said the threat of explosive ordnance in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank affects the delivery of humanitarian aid and civilian safety.
The Gaza government announced on Friday that Israel is delaying the implementation of the humanitarian provisions of the ceasefire agreement which came into effect on Jan. 19.
Speaking at a press conference at the Al-Ahli Baptist Hospital in Gaza City, Salama Marouf, head of the Gaza Government Media Office, said that “despite 20 days passing since the agreement, the humanitarian situation remains catastrophic due to Israeli obstruction.”
He explained that “the agreement mandates the daily entry of 600 aid trucks, including 50 fuel trucks, alongside the provision of 60,000 mobile housing units, 200,000 tents, generators, spare parts, solar panels, and materials for rebuilding Gaza.”
He added that “the deal also includes removing debris, rehabilitating health facilities, bakeries, and infrastructure, and ensuring the movement of patients and the injured through the Rafah crossing.”
However, according to Marouf, only 8,500 trucks have entered Gaza since Jan. 19 — far below the 12,000 expected under the agreement.
He said the majority of these trucks contain food packages, fruits, and vegetables, while critical aid such as shelter supplies and medical equipment is being deliberately delayed.
Marouf highlighted that “just 10% of the required tents have entered Gaza, and Israel has not allowed a single mobile housing unit to be delivered.”
Regarding fuel, he stated that only 15 trucks enter daily instead of the agreed 50, which severely impacts hospitals and essential public services.
The official also noted that international organizations informed Gaza authorities that “Israel is refusing to coordinate the entry of basic materials needed to repair water and sewage networks in northern Gaza
WEST BANK
The Israeli army demolished on Friday several Palestinian homes in the Jenin refugee camp as part of its ongoing military offensive in the northern West Bank since Jan. 21.
Witnesses reported to Anadolu that the Israeli army “detonated houses in the Jenin camp.”
Israeli forces have reinforced their presence around the camp and conducted intensive drone surveillance, according to the witnesses.
On last Sunday, the Israeli army carried out the demolition of residential blocks in Jenin for the first time since 2002, as reported by Jenin Governor Kamal Abu Al-Rub.
The Israeli military offensive, which began on Jan. 21 in northern occupied West Bank, targeted Jenin city, its refugee camp, and surrounding towns, killing 25 Palestinians, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
Alongside the ongoing operation in Jenin camp, the Israeli army has raided several neighboring towns, including Qabatiya and Burqin.
Tulkarem
For the 12th consecutive day, Israeli forces have continued their wide-scale military assault on Tulkarem city and its refugee camp, causing extensive damage to infrastructure and civilian property.
Over the past few days, the Israeli army has arrested dozens of Palestinians, forced hundreds of families to flee their homes, and killed four Palestinians, including a child and a journalist.
Israeli forces have also turned Palestinian homes in Tulkarem and its camp into military outposts after evicting their residents.
Eyewitnesses told Anadolu that the Israeli army carried out mass arrests in the eastern neighborhood of Tulkarem city, although further details were unavailable.
Tulkarem Governor Abdullah Kamil confirmed in a statement that 85% of the camp’s population had been displaced due to the Israeli military assault.
Tubas
For the sixth consecutive day, the Israeli army has continued its offensive in the town of Tammun and the Far’a refugee camp in Tubas Governorate.
According to local eyewitnesses, Israeli forces have been conducting house-to-house searches in Tammun under the cover of airstrikes with drone attacks targeting various locations in the town.
While no casualties have been reported, the residents are suffering from a severe shortage of supplies and a near-total power outage.
The Israeli army has also conducted many arrests and interrogations of Palestinians in the area.
In the Far’a camp, sources reported that Israeli forces targeted the area’s infrastructure, cutting off electricity and water supplies to most residents.
Israeli occupation forces Friday detained at least 14 Palestinians from the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestine Prisoner’s Society (PPS) and local sources.
They said that the occupying forces stopped and inspected a vehicle near al-Hathnawi Circle in the city of Jenin, assaulted three young men and detained them.
In the Tubas governorate, Kamal Bani Odeh, Director of the PPS Office, said that the occupying forces rounded up a Palestinian from Tammun town and three others, including a father and his 12-year-old son, from al-Faraa refugee camp.
The four were detained as the occupation forces continued to wage a military aggression on the town and the refugee camp for the sixth consecutive day.
In the Jerusalem governorate, the occupying forces showed up at a house in Beit Surik town, went inside, and rounded up a young man after beating him up.
In the Salfit governorate, the sources confirmed a raid in Az-Zawiya town, resulting in the detention of two residents.
Earlier today, the occupation forces assaulted two others and detained them in the Old City of Hebron.
Meanwhile, the occupation soldiers stopped two vehicles on a dirt road leading to Idhna town, west of Hebron, and detained the drivers after handcuffing them.
Palestinians are compelled to take lengthy dirt roads to access and exit the town, whose entries have been blocked by the occupation forces for over a year.
According to the latest figures from Addameer, the Palestinian Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, there are currently 10,000 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli prisons and detention centers, including 365 child prisoners and 15 female prisoners.
This number includes approximately 3,369 Palestinians placed under “administrative detention”, which allows the detention of Palestinians without charge or trial for renewable intervals ranging between three and six months based on undisclosed evidence that even a detainee’s lawyer is barred from viewing.
Israeli occupation forces attacked ambulance crews during a raid today on the town of Beita, south of Nablus, leading to injuries and property damage.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society reported that Israeli forces targeted medical teams while the latter were responding to the needs of the local population in Beita. One paramedic was injured during the assault, and Israeli soldiers fired stun grenades directly at the ambulance, causing significant damage to the vehicle.
In a separate incident, an Israeli military patrol deliberately collided with the car of a Palestinian civilian during the same raid on Beita. No injuries were reported.
A Palestinian child was killed today following the explosion of an unexploded ordnance left behind by Israeli occupation forces in the city of Rafah, according to local sources.
WAFA correspondent said the victim, identified as Mohammad Yasser al-Qadi, was killed when an explosive remnant of the Israeli occupation detonated.
The United Nations Mine Action Service (UNMAS) had previously issued a warning about the increasing risks posed by unexploded ordnance in the occupied Palestinian territories. Last month, UNMAS Director in Palestine, Luke Irving, cautioned that such remnants continue to have a devastating impact on civilians.
She revealed that over the past 14 months, various types of ordnance, including aerial bombs, rockets, and shells, have been discovered. These explosives have resulted in both fatalities and injuries among civilians while also obstructing humanitarian efforts.
[Photo: A view of the destruction in the cemetery resulting from Israeli army attacks as Palestinians try to locate the graves of their relatives following the ceasefire in Beit Lahia, Gaza on February 03, 2025. Photojournalist: Khalil Ramzi Alkahlut/AA]
