Gaza updates: Israeli army arrests 15 Palestinians in West Bank amid raids

Tuesday, February 4, 2025

09:00 GMT — Israeli army arrests 15 Palestinians in West Bank amid raids

The Israeli army has arrested 15 Palestinians, including a child, during raids into areas across the occupied West Bank.

The official Palestinian news agency WAFA said the Israeli army's arrests were concentrated in East Jerusalem, Ramallah, Tubas, and Tulkarem.

It added that the Israeli army raided Silwad town, east of Ramallah city, in the central West Bank, broke into several commercial stores, and arrested a 15-year-old boy.

08:17 GMT — 8 Israeli soldiers injured in armed attack in northern occupied West Bank

Eight Israeli soldiers were wounded in an armed attack on an Israeli army checkpoint in the northern occupied West Bank, according to Israeli media.

The Israeli Yedioth Ahronoth daily said the attack took place at an Israeli army checkpoint near the Palestinian village of Tayasir in the Tubas Governorate.

Israel's ambulance service Magen David Adom said that two of the injured soldiers are listed in critical condition, while the five others are moderately and lightly injured.

07:27 GMT — Trump to stop US engagement with UN Human Rights Council, UNRWA

US President Donald Trump is expected to stop US engagement with the United Nations Human Rights Council and continue a halt to funding for the UN Palestinian relief agency UNRWA, a White House official said.

The move coincides with a visit to Washington by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has long been critical of UNRWA, accusing the agency of anti-Israel incitement and its staff of being "involved in terrorist activities against Israel."

06:15 GMT — Freed Palestinians recount torture, horror they faced in Israeli prisons

Palestinians from Gaza held in Israeli prisons faced severe mistreatment, including torture and humiliation, two rights groups said.

The findings were based on accounts from prisoners visited by lawyers, according to a joint statement by the Commission of Detainees' Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner's Society.

Palestinians held at the notorious Sde Teiman detention camp in the Negev desert in southern Israel, along with those in Negev Prison in southern Israel, the Naftali Camp in northern Israel and the Anatot Camp in occupied Jerusalem, described enduring various forms of torture and abuse during detention and interrogation.

05:57 GMT — Arab nations oppose removing Palestinians from Gaza in letter to US

Five Arab foreign ministers and a senior Palestinian official sent a joint letter to US Secretary of State Marco Rubio opposing plans to displace Palestinians from Gaza, as suggested by President Donald Trump in late January.

The letter was sent and signed by the foreign ministers of Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE, as well as Palestinian presidential adviser Hussein al-Sheikh.

It was reported first by Axios, which said the top diplomats met in Cairo over the weekend. "Reconstruction in Gaza should be through direct engagement with and participation of the people of Gaza. Palestinians will live in their land and help rebuild it," the letter said.

04:58 GMT — Qatar launches air bridge from Jordan to deliver medical aid to Gaza

"Complementing this land bridge, two helicopter flights carrying vital medical aid will arrive in North Khan Younis," she added.

04:10 GMT — Israel obstructs relief efforts in Tulkarem

Israel forces carried out an aggressive raid in Tulkarem, occupied West Bank, wounding a young Palestinian and obstructing relief efforts, the Palestinian news agency WAFA said.

The agency said Israeli forces raided a home in the town of Dhinnaba east of Tulkarem, where they interrogated family members and fired gunshots in the vicinity of the house.

The forces also stormed the emergency department of the Martyr Thabet Thabet Governmental Hospital and detained two Palestinians.

03:43 GMT — US seeks congressional approval for $1B arms sales to Israel

The Trump administration has requested congressional approval for the transfer of roughly $1 billion in bombs and other military equipment to Israel, even as Washington seeks to uphold a fragile ceasefire in Gaza, according to a report.

The Wall Street Journal, citing US officials familiar with the sale, reported that the proposed arms transfers include 4,700 1,000-pound bombs valued at over $700 million, along with Caterpillar-built armoured bulldozers worth more than $300 million.

The report added that the request would be paid from the annual US military aid allocated to Israel, which totals $3.3 billion in foreign military financing.

For our live updates from Monday, February 3, 2025, click here.