Middle East latest: Palestinians return to their homes in northern Gaza for a second day

Crowds of displaced Palestinians made the arduous journey back to heavily destroyed northern Gaza for a second day Tuesday, under a fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.

More than 375,000 Palestinians have crossed into northern Gaza since Israel allowed their return on Monday morning, the United Nations said Tuesday. That represents over a third of the million people who fled the north in the war’s first weeks.

Many Palestinians said they were happy to return, even though their homes in northern Gaza are likely damaged or destroyed. Others said the feeling was bittersweet, as nearly everyone has friends or relatives killed by Israel during the 15-month war against Hamas.

“This is our homeland and we have to go back,” said one displaced woman, Ola Saleh.

The ceasefire is aimed at ending the war and releasing dozens of hostages and hundreds of Palestinians imprisoned or detained by Israel.

Here's the latest:

Resident returns to a Gaza City he no longer recognizes

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip — Nader Shamalakh had seen Israel’s bombardment and invasion of Gaza City — that’s what sent him and his family fleeing south nearly 16 months ago.

But nothing could have prepared him on Tuesday for the terror of returning to a hometown he no longer recognized.

This time, it wasn’t just bombed-out buildings that Palestinians in this besieged territory have become accustomed to rebuilding in the wake of various wars between Israel and Hamas since the militant group seized control of this coastal enclave in 2007.

Following intense Israeli airstrikes and the army’s demolition of scores of buildings, many of them booby-trapped by militants, Gaza City had become a landscape of near-apocalyptic destruction. It was possible to make out where houses once stood only by keeping an eye out for piles of cement strewn with clothes and other belongings.

“I swear that when I arrived here I did not realize it,” said Shamalakh, one of the hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who made the exhausting trek home to arrive in northern Gaza on Tuesday.

Most of those returning had fled at the start of Israel’s offensive after Hamas’ brutal Oct. 7, 2023 attack on southern Israel.

Egypt gets ready to treat wounded Palestinians from Gaza

RAFAH, Egypt — Hospitals and medics in Egypt are making preparations to treat wounded Palestinians from Gaza once the border reopens in the coming days.

At least 15 ambulances were seen lined up and waiting Tuesday on the Egyptian side of the Rafah border crossing. In the meantime there are tents, hygiene products and medicine being sent into Gaza, said Ahmed Abdullah, the emergency coordinator in Rafah for Egypt’s Red Crescent aid group.

Before the Rafah crossing was captured by Israel and closed last spring, around 800 Palestinian patients from Gaza were treated at hospitals just across the border in North Sinai, according to Gov. Khaled Megawer. Some of those patients were able to travel abroad for care, he said.

If the coming influx of patients proves too great, he said, they can be transferred to hospitals in Cairo or other parts of Egypt.

Israel shoots Palestinians in Gaza and kills an Israeli civilian contractor in ‘friendly fire incident’

JERUSALEM — The Israeli military said Tuesday its soldiers fired shots at approaching people in Gaza it deemed a threat and “hits were identified.” The military statement said the soldiers had fired warning shots but the people kept getting closer.

There was no immediate word in casualties from Palestinian health authorities.

The military also said in a brief statement that “an Israeli civilian contractor with the Defense Ministry was killed in a friendly fire incident by Israeli soldiers.”

Israel has killed several Palestinians since the ceasefire took effect.

Trump administration ends US endorsement of UNRWA

UNITED NATIONS -- The Trump administration has reversed the Biden administration’s endorsement of the United Nations agency helping Palestinian refugees.

Israel will ban the agency known as UNRWA in areas under sovereign Israeli control starting Thursday. The U.S. Congress has already cut funding for UNRWA until March.

The U.S. said Tuesday it supports Israel’s decision to close UNRWA’s office in Israeli-annexed East Jerusalem, and said the agency’s alleged ties to Hamas have “tainted” its work and credibility.

U.S. deputy Ambassador Dorothy Shea told an emergency meeting of the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday that there are other humanitarian organizations in Gaza with the experience and expertise to do UNRWA’s job.

“What is needed is a nuanced discussion about how we can ensure that there is no interruption in the delivery of humanitarian aid and essential services,” Shea said.

The Biden administration's U.N. ambassador had called UNRWA's work “indispensable.”

Israeli strike in Lebanon wounds 24 people

BEIRUT — Two Israeli strikes wounded 24 people in southern Lebanon's Nabatiyeh province on Tuesday evening, the country's Health Ministry reported.

The Israeli military said in a statement that it had struck “struck a Hezbollah truck and an additional vehicle that transferred weapons ” to “eliminate the threat.”

The two strikes both hit areas north of Lebanon’s Litani River. Under a U.N. resolution and a ceasefire agreement that halted the Israel-Hezbollah war in November, the Hezbollah militant group is not allowed to have a military presence south of the river.

The deal that went into effect in late November gave both sides 60 days to remove their forces from southern Lebanon and for the Lebanese army to move in and secure the area, along with U.N. peacekeepers. Israel did not withdraw its forces by the deadline, and on Sunday the U.S. and Lebanon announced that the deadline had been extended to Feb. 18.

Lebanon’s caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati condemned the strikes in a statement as a “violation of Lebanese sovereignty and a blatant breach of the ceasefire arrangement and the provisions of UN Security Council Resolution 1701.”

Slow progress for Palestinians in vehicles heading to northern Gaza

SALAH AL-DIN ROAD, Gaza Strip — Palestinians returning to northern Gaza in vehicles say the journey has been long and treacherous, with one displaced man saying he travelled over four days to reach a checkpoint on Gaza’s main north-south highway.

“God knows what else we shall see of torment,” Othman Abu Halima said. Others said they ran out of fuel and had to push their vehicle.

Palestinians packed their cars and trucks high with mattresses and other belongings. A displaced family even rode in the bucket of a large bulldozer, surrounded by blankets and their possessions.

Associated Press footage showed Egyptian and U.S. officials inspecting vehicles Tuesday as the crawled from southern to northern Gaza on Salah al-Din road.

Trump invites Israel’s prime minister to the White House

JERUSALEM — U.S. President Donald Trump has invited Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to visit the White House on Feb. 4 to become the first foreign leader to visit in Trump’s second term, Netanyahu and the White House said Tuesday.

The announcement came as the United States pressures Israel and Hamas to continue their ceasefire. Talks about the ceasefire’s more difficult second phase, which aims to end the war, begin on Feb. 3.

A White House letter shared by Netanyahu’s office, dated Tuesday, said “I look forward to discussing how we can bring peace to Israel and its neighbors, and efforts to counter our shared adversaries.”

The meeting is a chance for Netanyahu, under pressure at home, to remind the world of the support he has received from Trump over the years, and to defend Israel’s conduct of the war. Last year, the two men met face-to-face for the first time in nearly four years at Trump’s Florida Mar-a-Lago estate.

Israel is the largest recipient of U.S. military aid, and Netanyahu is likely to encourage Trump not to hold up some weapons deliveries the way the Biden administration did, though it continued other deliveries and overall military support.

Israeli soldier describes her time as a hostage in Gaza

TEL AVIV, Israel — An Israeli soldier released from captivity in Gaza this weekend shared some information about her 15 months as a hostage on social media on Tuesday, noting she spent most of the first 50 days alone.

In a post on an Instagram account thanking supporters who championed her release, Naama Levy, 20, wrote that she was now “safe and protected and surrounded by family and friends, and feeling better every day.”

Levy wrote that after spending the first 50 days mostly alone, she was reunited with the other soldiers kidnapped from her military base as well as other civilian captives.

“They gave me strength and hope,” she wrote. “We strengthened each other until the day of our release, and also afterwards.”

Seven female Israeli hostages, including four soldiers, have been released since the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas began a week and a half ago, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

UNRWA chief warns Israeli ban would cripple Gaza recovery

UNITED NATIONS – The head of the U.N. agency helping Palestinian refugees is warning that Israeli legislation which takes effect in two days will cripple its operations, undermine the current ceasefire and “sabotage Gaza’s recovery and political transition.”

The agency known as UNRWA is the major distributor of aid in Gaza and provides education, health and other basic services.

Israel accuses the agency of turning a blind eye to staff members it says belong to Hamas, divert aid and use UNRWA facilities for military purposes -- allegations UNRWA has repeatedly denied.

“A ceasefire in Gaza must be followed by a political transition that includes an orderly conclusion of UNRWA’s mandate, and the handover of its public-like services to empowered and prepared Palestinian institutions,” he said, stressing that this is the path now being pursued by an alliance led by Saudi Arabia, the European Union and the Arab League.

Aid is flowing into Gaza from Egypt — with a detour for inspection in Israel

RAFAH, Egypt — Hundreds of aid trucks rumble each day from Egypt to Israel for inspection before heading into the Gaza Strip. The goal is to send 600 aid trucks to Gaza daily, as outlined in the ceasefire agreement.

Egyptian officials said Tuesday that 320 aid trucks, including 10 fuel trucks, entered the Kerem Shalom and Al Ouga crossings with Israel. After security checks, they’re unloaded in an area where humanitarian organizations on the ground receive the supplies for distribution throughout the territory.

Egypt’s governor of North Sinai, Khaled Megawer, told reporters in front of the Rafah border crossing on Tuesday that there are no hurdles from Egypt’s side that could keep the aid from reaching Gaza and said repairs are underway to reopen the Rafah border crossing “within days” for Palestinians seeking to cross into Egypt.

Over a dozen aid trucks were parked Tuesday some 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the Rafah Gate, preparing to cross. Others near the gate carried oranges, bananas, and blankets among other items.

Ibrahim Mahmoud, a driver waiting to drive in tons of flour, told the AP that Israeli authorities is turning away closed container trucks without reason. However, he believes it’s easier for them to inspect and unload open trucks carrying aid on visible wooden pallets.

A spokesperson for COGAT, the Israeli military body in charge of humanitarian aid to Gaza, said Israel would only allow open-bed trucks to transfer aid in Gaza, as was the policy prior to the ceasefire, over concerns that closed-bed trucks could be used to transport militants or weapons.

During a visit to the Kerem Shalom crossing on Tuesday, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel said that in the past week, 4,200 trucks carrying aid have entered the Gaza Strip following inspections by Israel.

Israel's defense minister says troops will remain in Syrian buffer zone indefinitely

TEL AVIV, Israel — Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz visited the Syrian summit of Mount Hermon, currently occupied by Israeli forces, on Tuesday and said Israel will remain there and in the buffer zone for an “unlimited time.”

Katz said Israel must stay in the zone to ensure “hostile forces” will not gain a foothold on the Israeli border nor anywhere within 50 kilometers (30 miles) beyond the zone, citing security for Israeli residents in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights.

For decades, the Syrian-Israeli border remained largely quiet under a 1974 agreement that established a U.N.-patrolled demilitarized buffer zone after the 1973 Mideast war.

But after Syrian President Bashar Assad’s ouster in December, Israeli forces entered the 400-square-kilometer (155-square mile) buffer zone, calling it a temporary move to block hostile forces.

However, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu later said Israel will stay in the zone until another arrangement is in place “that ensures Israel’s security.” That drew criticism from residents of the zone and Arab countries.

Palestinians stream into northern Gaza for a second day

WADI GAZA, Gaza Strip — Palestinians streamed into northern Gaza on foot and in vehicles Tuesday, a day after Israel opened the north for the first time since the early weeks of the war with Hamas.

Families walked for hours up a seaside road with whatever they could carry. Others packed up belongings in squalid tent camps and former schools where they’ve been sheltering in the south.

“Although my husband was martyred and my sons are injured, I’m happy that we’re going back home to our land and our home,” said Fayza al-Nahal, who was preparing to head north.

Many in Khan Younis in the south were preparing to walk for hours. The mood was mostly joyful, even though many knew homes had been destroyed.

"We will move from being in tents here to living in tents there. What can we do?" said Osama Ayesh. "There’s no water, there’s no electricity, there’s nothing. We will also face hardships there, but we are relieved and thankful.”

More than 375,000 Palestinians have so far crossed back to the north, the United Nations said Tuesday. The Palestinians say they are determined to pitch makeshift shelters or sleep outdoors amid the vast piles of broken concrete or perilously leaning buildings.

“It’s still better for us to be on our land, than to live on a land that’s not yours,” said Fayza al-Nahal as she prepared to leave.

A Palestinian family’s ordeal during an Israeli raid in the West Bank

TULKAREM, West Bank — The thunder of explosions in the urban Tulkarem camp in the West Bank marked the start of Osama Al-Qubbaj’s 24-hour ordeal to evacuate his children.

Before the Israeli army began its ongoing raid on Monday, Al-Qubbaj dropped his two toddler sons and young daughter at their grandmother’s apartment in the camp and returned home to the surrounding city with plans to pick them up later.

But within hours, Israel's army surrounded the camp, firing at Palestinian gunmen and ripping up the roads and water pipes with bulldozers in search of explosives.

Al-Qubbaj phoned the Palestinian Red Crescent, pleading with the dispatcher to send rescuers for his children. Tulkarem's streets were empty, as residents were trapped in their homes while Israeli soldiers roamed, checking drivers’ IDs.

On Tuesday, roughly 24 hours after the army operation started, the Red Crescent delivered the children to their father.

“The situation was so scary, for everyone but especially for children,” Al-Qubbaj told The Associated Press.

The West Bank has seen a surge in violence since the war in Gaza began.

First Russian officials visit Syria since ally Assad was ousted

BEIRUT — Russian state news agency RIA Novosti said Tuesday that a delegation of Russian officials had arrived in Damascus, the first to visit Syria since the fall of former President Bashar Assad — an ally of Moscow — in December in a rebel offensive.

The report said the delegation includes Russian deputy foreign minister Mikhail Bogdanov and the Russian president’s special envoy for Syria, Alexander Lavrentyev. RIA Novosti didn’t say who the delegation was planning to meet or the subject of the talks.

There was no official comment on the visit from Syria’s interim government, but the semi-official Al Watan newspaper reported that the Russian delegation would meet with Syria’s de facto leader, Ahmad al-Sharaa, and with the Syrian foreign minister.

Assad took refuge in Russia after his ouster. The new Syrian authorities have not cut off relations with Moscow or forced a complete exit of Russian forces from bases in Syria, but Al Watan this month reported that a contract with a Russian company to manage the port in Tartous had been canceled.

Explosion hits container ship in the Red Sea

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — An explosion struck a Hong Kong-flagged container ship Tuesday on the Red Sea, sparking a fire that forced its crew to abandon the vessel, shipping industry officials said.

The ship was drifting and ablaze some 225 kilometers (140 miles) off the coast of Hodeida, a port city in Yemen held by the country’s Houthi rebels, said the Diaplous Group maritime firm.

It wasn’t immediately clear what caused the fire, and the Houthis did not immediately acknowledge it. The rebels said last week they were was limiting their Red Sea assaults following the Gaza ceasefire.

The vessel was abandoned and the crew was later rescued unharmed, another maritime industry official told The Associated Press, speaking on condition of anonymity as authorization hadn’t been given to speak publicly about the incident. The name of the vessel wasn’t released.

— by Jon Gambrell