Updates: Hamas-Israel ceasefire holds

A second group of Palestinians has returned to Gaza through Rafah crossing after the opening of the border between Gaza and Egypt, Egyptian media reported, marking another small step in the limited reopening of the territory’s only non-Israeli gateway.

The arrivals came a day after Israel partially reopened Rafah, ending months of near-total closure.

Israeli media said that only about 50 Palestinians will be allowed to enter Gaza on Tuesday, while roughly 150 patients and their companions are scheduled to leave the enclave for treatment in Egypt.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) stated that only the first five patients in Gaza were transferred through Gaza’s Rafah crossing with Egypt on Monday, Al Jazeera reported.

“On the second of February, WHO and partners supported the medical ​evacuation ‌of five patients and seven companions to Egypt via ‌the Rafah crossing,” WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier said.

He maintained that more than 18,000 patients are awaiting urgent evacuation ‌after Israel’s more than two-year war.

Germany on Monday welcomed the reopening of the Rafah border crossing and called for additional Gaza crossings to be opened to speed the delivery of humanitarian aid and essential supplies, Anadolu reported.

A spokesperson for Germany’s foreign ministry said Rafah was open for passenger traffic to and from Gaza as of Monday, calling it an important step in implementing a “20-point plan” linked to US President Donald Trump’s peace initiative.

The spokesperson said the move would initially allow sick and wounded people to receive medical treatment abroad and offered hope to Gaza’s population, adding that Germany was committed to the systematic opening of other crossings for the delivery of goods and supplies. The spokesperson said the European Union and Germany would continue to support these efforts.

Israel’s far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Monday that Hamas would be given a “two-month ultimatum” to disarm by US President Donald Trump’s “Board of Peace”, Anadolu reported, citing Israeli media.

“The Board of Peace will issue a two-month ultimatum to Hamas to disarm,” Smotrich said in comments carried by the local newspaper Makor Rishon.

He added that Israel would not end its war on the Gaza Strip “before Hamas is destroyed”. “There will be no Hamas in Gaza, neither militarily, nor civilianly, nor in government. We made a commitment, and that is the main objective of the war,” he said.

There was no immediate comment from Trump’s “Board of Peace” on Smotrich’s remarks.

Smotrich also claimed the Israeli army controls more than half of the Gaza Strip “and controls everything”, and said the second phase of the ceasefire was focused on disarmament. “The second phase (of the ceasefire) is for disarmament. It is unfortunate that we didn’t begin it three months ago,” he said.

A bus carrying travelers from Egypt marked a new arrival into Gaza via the Rafah crossing.

Qatar on Monday urged the free entry of aid into Gaza and welcomed the partial reopening of the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Palestinian territory as a "step in the right direction".

"Qatar affirms that the opening of the Rafah land border crossing in the southern Gaza Strip to the movement of Palestinians is a step in the right direction towards addressing the tragic situation of civilians," the Gulf state's foreign ministry said.

Qatar also "stressed the necessity for all parties to fully implement the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip and to open the crossings to ensure the sustainable and unimpeded flow of humanitarian aid to the Strip".

Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas said elections will be held on November 1 for the Palestinian National Council, the parliament of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), the official news agency Wafa reported Monday.

This is the first time members of the council will be elected by direct popular vote, while in the past they were appointed or co-opted from within the movement.

Abbas, who is president both of the Palestinian Authority and of the PLO, issued a decree saying that: "Elections will be held wherever possible, both inside and outside Palestine, to ensure the broadest possible participation of the Palestinian people wherever they reside".

The PNC has long served as the PLO's parliament in exile. It is dominated by Fatah, Abbas's political movement, which was co-founded by Yasser Arafat, the Palestinians' historic leader who died in 2004.

The Islamist movements Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which are not members of the PLO, are not represented in the council.

French authorities have issued warrants for two Franco-Israeli nationals for "complicity in genocide" over allegations that they tried to stop humanitarian aid entering conflict stricken Gaza, a legal source said Monday.

According to a lawyer for the NGOs that made a legal complaint last year, it is the first time that a country has considered the blocking of aid as possible "complicity in genocide".

The warrants were issued in July last year for Nili Kupfer-Naouri of the Israel is Forever group and Rachel Touitou of the Tsav 9 group, the source close to the investigation told AFP following a French media report.

The warrants call for the two to appear before an investigating magistrate but not for their detention.

The pair are accused of seeking to block aid trucks entering Gaza between January and November 2024 and in May last year at the Nitzana and Kerem Shalom frontier posts. 

The two activists are also suspected of "public provocation for genocide" by calling for aid to be prevented from reaching Gaza, the source said.

Another source close to the investigation said warrants could be issued for about 10 other people.

As many as twelve Palestinians became the first to enter Gaza from Egypt in nearly 18 months as the Rafah crossing reopened, according to Al Jazeera.

The number of people reported to be allowed by Israel to enter Gaza per day via Rafah was 50.

Al Jazeera’s Hani Mahmoud says the low number of people who successfully entered shows the challenges posed by Israel’s intense security screening process.

A Palestinian man is in critical condition after having been shot by Israeli forces in West Bank city of Qalqilya, reported Al Jazeera, citing the Wafa news agency.

The victim was transported to the Darwish Nazzal Governmental Hospital. 

The motive of the shooting remains unclear, the Palestinian news agency said.