Jordan and Egypt on Sunday rejected a suggestion by US President Donald Trump to “just clean out” the Gaza Strip and move its Palestinian population to those two countries.
Cairo said it was against any attempt to move Palestinians out of their land “whether temporarily or in the long term”, while Jordan said it remained “firm and unwavering” in its rejection of any displacement of Palestinians. Read our blog to see how the day’s events unfolded.
More so, Lebanon said Monday it would extend the implementation of a ceasefire agreement with Israel until February 18, after Israel failed to meet the deadline for withdrawing troops from the country’s south.
“The Lebanese government reaffirms its commitment… to continue implementing the ceasefire agreement until February 18, 2025,” Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati said in a statement, after consulting with the country’s president and parliamentary leader following “contacts with the American party responsible for supervising the agreement”.
Notably, mediator Qatar says an agreement has been reached to release an Israeli civilian hostage and allow Palestinians to return to northern Gaza. The deal eases the first major crisis of the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
Qatar’s statement early Monday says Hamas will hand over the civilian hostage, Arbel Yehoud, along with two other hostages before Friday. And on Monday, Israeli authorities will allow Palestinians to return to northern Gaza.
The office of Israel’s prime minister in a statement says the hostage release will take place on Thursday and confirms that Palestinians can move north on Monday.
