Updates: Hamas-Israel ceasefire holds

Israel's security cabinet approved a series of steps on Sunday that would make it easier for settlers in the occupied West Bank to buy land while granting Israeli authorities more enforcement powers over Palestinians, Israeli media reported.

The West Bank is among the territories that the Palestinians seek for a future independent state. Much of it is under Israeli military control, with limited Palestinian self-rule in some areas run by the Western-backed Palestinian Authority (PA).

Citing statements by Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and Defence Minister Israel Katz, Israeli news sites Ynet and Haaretz said the measures included scrapping decades-old regulations that prevent Jewish private citizens buying land in the West Bank.

They were also reported to include allowing Israeli authorities to administer some religious sites, and expand supervision and enforcement in areas under PA administration in matters of environmental hazards, water offences and damage to archaeological sites.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said the new measures were dangerous, illegal and tantamount to de-facto annexation.

Around 180 Palestinians have left the Gaza Strip since the limited reopening of the Rafah crossing with Egypt a week ago, according to officials in the territory.

Between Monday and Thursday, 135 people crossed into Egypt from Gaza through the crossing, mostly patients and their companions, according to Ismail al-Thawabteh, head of the Hamas-run media office in the Palestinian territory.

"Official statistics on the movement at the Rafah crossing from Monday, February 2, 2026, until Thursday, February 5, 2026, show a severe restriction on travel," Thawabteh said.

He said the crossing was also closed on Friday and Saturday.

On Sunday, another 44 people left the Gaza Strip through the crossing to Egypt, Mohammed Abu Salmiya, director of the territory's main Al-Shifa Hospital, told AFP.

They included 19 patients, while the rest were their companions, he added.

A senior Hamas leader said that the group would not surrender its weapons nor accept foreign intervention in Gaza, pushing back against US and Israeli demands.

"Criminalising the resistance, its weapons, and those who carried it out is something we should not accept," Khaled Meshal said at a conference in Doha.

"As long as there is occupation, there is resistance. Resistance is a right of peoples under occupation [...] something nations take pride in," said Meshal, who previously headed the group.

On Sunday, Meshal urged the Board of Peace to adopt what he called a "balanced approach" that would allow for Gaza’s reconstruction and the flow of aid to its roughly 2.2 million residents, while warning that Hamas would "not accept foreign rule" over Palestinian territory.

"We adhere to our national principles and reject the logic of guardianship, external intervention, or the return of a mandate in any form," Meshal said.

"Palestinians are to govern Palestinians. Gaza belongs to the people of Gaza and to Palestine. We will not accept foreign rule," he added.

ISLAMABAD: Nearly three-quarters of the Pakistani public support the deployment of military forces to Gaza as part of a multilateral peace-monitoring mission, The News reported.

According to a nationally representative survey released by Gallup Pakistan, conducted between January 15 and February 3, reveals that 73% of respondents favour sending troops, though this support is heavily contingent on the mission being framed as a joint alliance of Muslim countries, receiving a formal request from the Palestinian leadership, and obtaining the United Nations approval.

While 55% of those surveyed expressed strong support for a military role, the public remains cautious about the nature of international involvement; notably, only 34% expressed approval of Pakistan's inclusion in the “Board of Peace” initiated by US President Donald Trump, while a significant 39% remained unsure.

he survey highlights a high level of public engagement, with 54% of Pakistanis actively following developments in Gaza, yet it also reflects a divided outlook on post-ceasefire stability.

While 43% of the population sees slight improvements in food and security conditions, 26% perceive no change at all. Strategically, the public is split between those who believe military action is necessary (44%) and those who prioritise diplomacy and humanitarian aid (33%).

Despite these differences, fears of a broader escalation remain relatively low, with only 20% of respondents concerned that a military deployment would draw Pakistan into a wider regional war.

Ultimately, the findings suggest that while there is a clear mandate for a Pakistani role in Gaza, the public demands a framework rooted in Muslim solidarity and international legitimacy rather than one led by global superpowers.

Illegal Israeli settlers injured at least five Palestinians late Saturday in what Palestinian official sources described as coordinated attacks across the occupied West Bank, Anadolu reports.

According to WAFA, armed settlers assaulted three Palestinians while they were working on their land in the town of Beit Imrin, north of Nablus, leaving them with bruises and other injuries.

The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said its crews evacuated one of the injured to hospital.

Separately, the official Voice of Palestine radio reported that settlers also attacked the town of Qusra, south of Nablus, though no further details were immediately available.

In another incident in the central West Bank, WAFA said two Palestinians were injured after settlers blocked a road between the village of Ramoun and the town of Deir Dibwan, east of Ramallah, before assaulting them. One of the victims sustained head injuries and was transferred to hospital, while the other suffered bruises.

Voice of Palestine said settlers also targeted a cave in the Wadi I'mer area near the village of al-Mughayyir, northeast of Ramallah, as part of a wider pattern of attacks in the area.

Italy will not take part in US President Donald Trump's "Board of Peace", Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said Saturday, citing "insurmountable" constitutional issues.

Trump launched his "Board of Peace" at the World Economic Forum in Davos in January, and some 19 countries have signed its founding charter.

But Italy's constitution bars the country from joining an organisation led by a single foreign leader.

Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, a Trump ally, last month noted "constitutional problems" with joining, but suggested Trump could perhaps reopen the framework "to meet the needs not only of Italy, but also of other European countries".

Tajani appeared Saturday to rule that out.

"We cannot participate in the Board of Peace because there is a constitutional limit," he told the ANSA news agency.

"This is insurmountable from a legal standpoint," he said, the day after meeting US Secretary of State Marco Rubio and US Vice President JD Vance at the Olympics in Milan.

Although originally meant to oversee Gaza's rebuilding, the board's charter does not limit its role to the Palestinian territory and appears to want to rival the United Nations.

Key US allies, including France and Britain, have expressed doubts about joining.

The White House is planning the first leaders meeting for the Gaza "Board of Peace" on February 19, Axios reported on Friday.

The plans for the meeting, which would also be a fundraising conference for Gaza reconstruction, are in early stages and could still change, Axios reported.

The White House and the US State Department did not immediately respond to requests for comment late on Friday.

At least two Palestinians have been killed in Israeli forces attacks in the northern Gaza Strip, Al Jazeera reported.

According to the emergency services, Israeli soldiers stormed into multiple areas of the coastal enclave as Israel presses its genocidal war despite the “ceasefire” it has violated daily since October 10.

The bodies of those victims in the cities of Jabalia and Beit Lahiya were transported to al-Shifa Medical Complex in Gaza City.

Turkish intelligence has arrested two people on suspicion of spying for Israel’s Mossad and providing information that helped the spy agency target its enemies, state news agency Anadolu reported Friday.

Security sources said Mehmet Budak Derya and Veysel Kerimoglu had been arrested in Istanbul, saying they had long been on the radar of Turkiye’s MIT intelligence agency.

The men were invited on a business trip in 2013, but they are alleged to have sent technical information and photos of premises they were looking to acquire, notably in Gaza.