Updates: Hamas-Israel ceasefire holds

Torrential rain swept across the Gaza Strip on Thursday, flooding hundreds of tents sheltering families displaced by two years of war, and leading to the death of a baby girl due to exposure, local health officials said.

Medics said eight-month-old Rahaf Abu Jazar died of exposure after water inundated her family's tent in Khan Younis, in the south of the enclave.

"When we woke up, we found the rain over her and the wind on her, and the girl died of cold suddenly," she told Reuters.

Gaza Health Ministry said that at least 383 people have been killed in Israeli strikes on Palestinian territory since the ceasefire began on October 10, Al Jazeera reported.

In a recent update posted to Telegram, the ministry said 1,002 people have been injured, and 627 bodies have been recovered.

Since the war began in October 2023, Israeli attacks on Gaza have killed 70,373 people and injured 171,079 others, the ministry added.

Israel said that Hamas "will be disarmed" as part of the US-sponsored peace plan for Gaza, after a top leader from the Islamist movement suggested a weapons freeze.

"There will be no future for Hamas under the 20-point plan. The group will be disarmed and Gaza will be demilitarised," the Israeli official told AFP.

Hamas’s Khaled Meshaal told Qatari news channel Al Jazeera on Wednesday that the Palestinian resistance group is open to a weapons "freeze", but rejects the demand for disarmament put forward in US President Donald Trump’s plan for Gaza.

US Ambassador to Turkiye and Special Envoy for Syria Tom Barrack said Turkiye should be included in an international stabilisation force for Gaza, citing Ankara’s military capacity and its channels of dialogue with the Palestinian group Hamas, Anadolu Agency reported, citing comments he made at the Jerusalem Post’s Washington Conference.

In remarks posted Thursday by Israeli journalist Amichai Stein through US social media company X, Barrack said Turkiye’s participation would strengthen the proposed International Stabilisation Force (ISF), which is part of the post-war mechanism laid out under the ceasefire plan.

"Our suggestion was that since the Turks have the largest and most effective ground troop operation in the region, and since they have a dialogue with Hamas, perhaps that would be beneficial as part of the force to cool the temperature," Barrack said.

Storm Byron has exacerbated Gazans' woes adding to the difficulties faced by the displaced population who have been left homeless after two years of Israel's destructive war, Al Jazeera reported.

 Gaza'a Medi Office has said that 300,000 new tents were needed urgently amid harsh conditions.

"Hundreds of thousands of families are living inside dilapidated tents damaged by the war of extermination and storms. The sector urgently needs 300,000 new tents, while only 20,000 tents have entered," said Media Office Director Ismail al Thawabta..

"More than 22,000 tents were completely damaged, including tarpaulins, insulation materials and blankets. Emergency shelters collapsed, temporary water networks broke down and became mixed with rainwater."

"10 mobile medical points were disrupted, vital supplies were lost, and medical teams faced difficulty accessing the area. The displaced people have lost the minimum necessities of life and are living without protection from the cold, wind and rain," he added.

The Civil Defence in Gaza has evacuated 14 tents in Khan Younis after flooding due to Storm Byron, reported Al Jazeera.

 Shifting displaced Palestinians to other locations, the Civil Defence crews also freed stuck cars despite difficult access and scarcity of resources.

• The Palestinian Civil Defence reports that families forcibly uprooted in the blockaded strip by Israel’s offensive are now stuck in water-logged tents as Storm Byron hits Gaza.
• UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese says Palestinians are being left to go hungry during the storm, which is expected to cause severe damage in Gaza through Friday, prolonging what she describes as an unrelenting “nightmare.”
• Israel has acknowledged striking Palestinians near the so-called yellow line in northern Gaza, resulting in one death. Al Jazeera reported citing medical sources told that Israeli gunfire also killed a Palestinian child close to Jabalia.
• Foreign Minister Gideon Saar stated that Israel will not relent on its requirement that Hamas be stripped of weapons as part of the second stage of the Gaza truce.
• The UN peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon (UNIFIL) says Israeli forces opened fire on peacekeepers who were conducting a patrol along the Blue Line — the unofficial boundary between Israel and Lebanon — on Tuesday.
• Iceland has become the fifth nation to pull out of the 2026 Eurovision Song Contest following last week’s confirmation that Israel will take part.

Trump administration officials have held advanced discussions on hitting UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA with terrorism-related sanctions, said two sources with direct knowledge of the matter, prompting serious legal and humanitarian concerns inside the State Department.

The United Nations agency operates in Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Jordan and Syria, providing aid, schooling, healthcare, social services and shelter to millions of Palestinians.

Top UN officials and the UN Security Council have described UNRWA as the backbone of the aid response in Gaza.

The Trump administration, however, has accused the agency of links with Hamas, allegations UNRWA has vigorously disputed.