Updates: Hamas-Israel ceasefire holds

The United States on Thursday announced plans for a "New Gaza" rebuilt from scratch to include residential towers, data centres and seaside resorts, part of President Donald Trump's push to advance an Israel-Hamas ceasefire shaken by repeated violations.

In the Gaza Strip, health officials said Israeli airstrikes on Thursday had killed five people in the enclave. There was no immediate Israeli comment on the violence, the latest to fray the October truce accord.

Trump has parlayed the ceasefire into a broader "Board of Peace" initiative aimed at resolving conflicts globally.

After hosting a signing ceremony for the board in Davos, Switzerland, on Thursday, Trump invited his son-in-law Jared Kushner to present development plans for Gaza, its densely populated cities and towns now in ruins from two years of war.

"In the beginning, we were toying with (building) a free zone, and then (having) a Hamas zone," Kushner told an audience in Davos of Trump's early plans to rebuild Gaza, where nearly the entire 2 million population is internally displaced.

"And then we said, you know what? Let's just plan for catastrophic success."

More than 230,000 girls and women, including nearly 15,000 pregnant women, in Gaza are facing limited access to reproductive health services because of Israeli military operations despite a ceasefire deal, the UN has said.

The spokesperson for the UN chief cited the UN Population Fund (UNFPA), which warned that “there is an increased risk of gender-based violence, child marriage, and exploitation of women and girls”, according to Al Jazeera.

Stephane Dujarric added that damage to health facilities, safe spaces and clinics, combined with displacement and flooding, has “sharply limited access to psychosocial support and medical care”.

Palestine’s President Mahmoud Abbas has met his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Moscow where he reiterated his rejection of all attempts to displace the Palestinian people from their land, Al Jazeera reported, citing the Wafa news agency.

The report, quoting the Kremlin, said that “the Palestinian people are holding onto their land, and we categorically oppose attempts by the Americans and Israelis to expatriate Palestinians beyond Palestinian territory. 

The Palestinian people are resolved that they will not abandon their land, whatever the cost”.

It added that Putin “affirmed Moscow’s principled and consistent approach” to the Palestinian question.

Nearly 300 journalists have been killed in Gaza since October 2023, underscoring the extreme risks faced by media workers in the occupied territory, reports Al Jazeera. 

The latest incident occurred yesterday when three photojournalists — Anas Ghunaim, Abdul Ra’ouf Shaath, and Mohammad Qeshta — were killed in an Israeli strike while documenting events in central Gaza. 

Colleagues and medical officials confirmed the deaths, bringing the total toll of media workers to 293 during the conflict spanning over two years.

For the list of martyrs, click here. 

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Italy needs approval from its legislative branch to join the "Board of Peace" initiative aimed at resolving global conflicts.

Trump also said Russian President Vladimir Putin will join the peace board and make a contribution of a billion dollars.

"I think it's important to have everybody," Trump told reporters.

Hundreds of red-eyed and exhausted people, including many journalists, crowded into the grounds of Nasser Hospital in Khan Yunis in Gaza on Thursday to pay tribute to three fallen colleagues.

The three, including a regular AFP contributor, were killed by an Israeli strike the day before that the military said had targeted "suspects" operating a drone.

Mourners gathered around the bodies as they were taken from the morgue towards the hospital courtyard, where men lined up in silence to perform an Islamic funeral prayer recited for the dead.

"Today we are witnessing a systematic execution by the Israeli occupation forces of our colleagues," Ibrahim Qannan, one of the oldest journalists present, told the crowd.

On one stretcher, a bulletproof vest marked "Press" was laid on the body of Abdul Raouf Shaath, a regular AFP contributor.

Also on the vest, under a slate-gray sky where many men brought together in mourning wore hoodies and woollen caps, lay two dandelions and some flower petals.

"Abed loved journalism and held it in high esteem because it documents the truth," his father Samir Shaath told AFP, using his dead son's nickname.

He was just about able to help carry the stretcher bearing his boy, as other journalists crowded round to embrace him.

"Abed's not the first journalist they've targeted," Samir Shaath said.

Israeli forces shelled Gaza’s Al-Zeitoun area, killing four Palestinians, violating the ceasefire declared on 10 October 2025, Al Jazeera reported. 

The attack has reignited fears of escalating violence despite ongoing truce agreements.

UN investigators probing rights violations in Israel and the Palestinian territories said they hoped US President Donald Trump’s new Board of Peace could finally open the door to field visits.

Israeli authorities have blocked the UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry (CoI), which found Israel was committing genocide in Gaza, from conducting investigations on the ground.

Speaking just before the US president unveiled his new Board of Peace at the World Economic Forum in Davos, CoI chairman Srinivasan Muralidhar said of the Trump-brokered plan to end the war in Gaza: "We don’t find anything there that can possibly hinder the work of this commission."

"With this peace plan in place, it’s only a hope that that might change. We might have some cooperation from those who will be controlling the affairs of that zone of conflict," Muralidhar told a press conference in Geneva.

"We would expect them to trust us to do our investigation in the most professional way."

The Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip will reopen in both directions next week, the newly-appointed administrator of the Palestinian territory said at the launch of US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace.

"I am pleased to announce the Rafah crossing will open next week in both directions," Ali Shaath, a former Palestinian Authority deputy minister, said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

"For Palestinians in Gaza Rafah is more than a gate, it is a lifeline and symbol of opportunity. Opening Rafah signals that Gaza is no longer closed to the future and the world," Shaath said.

As part of the truce plan, Shaath was named to head a committee of 15 Palestinian technocrats to oversee the day-to-day administration of Gaza.

US President Donald Trump on Thursday launched his Board of Peace, inviting dozens of other world leaders to join, including Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

Initially focused on cementing Gaza's ceasefire, but the board, Trump said, could take a wider role that may worry other global powers, although he said it would work with the United Nations.

"Once this board is completely formed, we can do pretty much whatever we want to do. And we'll do it in conjunction with the United Nations," Trump said, adding that the UN had great potential that had not been fully utilised.

Trump, who will chair the board, said he wants it to address challenges beyond the stuttering Gaza truce, stirring misgivings that it could undermine the UN's role as the main platform for global diplomacyand conflict resolution.

Representatives from countries introduced as founder members were present in the room as Trump spoke. But Reuters could not immediately spot any representatives from governments of other top global powers or from Israel or the Palestinian Authority.

The signing ceremony was held in Davos, Switzerland, where the annual World Economic Forum, bringing together global political and business leaders, is taking place. 
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