Updates: Hamas-Israel ceasefire holds

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Sunday that he expected to move into the second phase of the US-sponsored ceasefire plan for Gaza "very shortly".

Speaking during a joint press conference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz after a meeting between the two leaders, Netanyahu said: "We discussed how to bring an end to the Hamas rule in Gaza [...] We finished the first part [...] And then we very shortly expect to move into the second phase, which is more difficult."

Israel’s military said that its forces killed two men in the occupied West Bank after what it described as an attempted ramming attack, with the Palestinian Authority identifying the deceased as a 17- and 55-year-old.

The Ramallah-based health ministry named the two victims as Ahmad Khalil Al-Rajabi, 17, and Ziad Jabara Abu Dawoud, 55, after the incident on Saturday night in the Bab al-Zawiya area in the city of Hebron.

"A terrorist accelerated toward (Israeli) soldiers during an operational activity at a security checkpoint in Hebron. The soldiers responded by firing at the terrorist in the vehicle and he was eliminated," the army told AFP.

The military added that a second "uninvolved person" was hit but did not provide further information.

Israeli President Isaac Herzog has rejected a formal request from US President Donald Trump to pardon Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has been facing corruption charges for more than five years.

Speaking to US news outlet Politico, Herzog said he valued Trump’s "friendship and his opinion", but emphasised that Israel is a sovereign state with an independent legal system.

"This is certainly an extraordinary request, and above all, when dealing with it, I will consider what is in the best interest of the Israeli people," he said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the United Kingdom's former premier Tony Blair recently held a secret meeting to discuss "the day after" arrangements in Gaza, TRT World reported, citing Israeli media.

Netanyahu's office did not provide any details about what was discussed.

Sources cited by the public broadcaster KAN said Blair is advancing a proposal that would place the Palestinian Authority in charge of "certain selected areas" of the Gaza Strip.

The plan would start on a pilot basis and become permanent if it proves effective.

The Prisoners’ Media Office reports that 275 Palestinian children remain in Israeli prisons as of last September, the Quds News Network reported.

In 2023 alone, 1,085 detentions were recorded, including 696 minors from Jerusalem, many facing harsh sentences or awaiting trial.

Hamas said it was ready to hand over its weapons in the Gaza Strip to a Palestinian authority governing the territory, on the condition that the Israeli army’s occupation ends.

“Our weapons are linked to the existence of the occupation and the aggression,” Hamas chief negotiator and its Gaza chief Khalil al-Hayya said in a statement, adding: “If the occupation ends, these weapons will be placed under the authority of the state.”

Asked by AFP, Hayya’s bureau said he was referring to a sovereign and independent Palestinian state.

“We accept the deployment of UN forces as a separation force, tasked with monitoring the borders and ensuring compliance with the ceasefire in Gaza,” Hayya added, signalling his group’s rejection of the deployment of an international force in the Strip whose mission would be to disarm it.

A senior official from Saudi Arabia has said that a two-state solution is the only way to end the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Al Jazeera reported.

Manal Radwan, an official in the Foreign Ministry, told the Doha Forum 2025 that US President Trump’s peace plan is clear and there should not be efforts to diverge from it.

“We cannot be open to redefinition and renegotiation of what we have already agreed to and also what was issued as a Security Council resolution that was passed and welcomed by all parties,” Radwan said.

“So we cannot go back and redefine what we mean by ceasefire, what we mean even by disarmament, what we mean by a Palestinian-led process in governing Gaza,” she added.

“Almost everyone in the international community agrees that the two-state solution is the only solution forward. If that is so, then it is asking people what it is that they are going to do to bring this implementation and make it possible.”

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz has praised the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip following talks with King Abdullah in the Jordanian city of Aqaba, Al Jazeera reported. 

“We share relief that the ceasefire in Gaza has stabilised after more than two months. But now, the start of the second phase must begin. This includes that we finally remove the support base for Hamas’s terror,” Merz said.

He called for more humanitarian aid in Gaza before winter. Israel continues to block crucial items such as tents, tarpaulins, and blankets. It also continues deadly attacks on Gaza with more than 360 Palestinians killed since the ceasefire began on October 10.

On the occupied West Bank, the chancellor said Berlin is not losing sight of the situation and ongoing settlement expansion, adding, “There can be no steps towards annexation in the West Bank.”

Following his visit, Merz flew to West Jerusalem and was welcomed by Israeli President Isaac Herzog. He’ll meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday.

Hamas described the ramming attack in Hebron as an expression of growing anger in the West Bank, the Quds News Network said. 

In a statement shared on X, formerly Twitter, the group mourned the attackers and urged Palestinians to unite against Israeli occupation and settlement expansion.

"We call upon the masses of our people to greater unity of ranks, to confront the arrogance of the occupation and the assaults of its settlers, and to stand with all strength against its colonial displacement schemes," it stated.