Updates: Hamas-Israel ceasefire holds

Amid the ruins of his six-story home in Gaza, Palestinian father Mahmoud Hammad sifted rubble with a crude sieve, searching for the remains of his wife and children who killed in Israeli airstrikes

Fragments of concrete and scorched belongings were all that survived, leaving him clinging to memory alone.

Hammad shared a video of his search, writing that he had recovered his wife’s remains and continued to look for his children.

The footage spread widely online, sparking grief and outrage as activists described it as one of Gaza’s most haunting testimonies of loss.

His story reflects the plight of thousands of families forced to recover loved ones with bare hands amid relentless bombardment and blockade.

Israeli settlers stormed Khirbet Tana in the Beit Furik town, east of Nablus, and vandalised the Sheikh Mosque, damaging its contents, reported, the Palestinian Information Centre.

The settlers also destroyed fences around agricultural orchards, escalating tensions in the occupied West Bank, according to Thaher Hanani, head of the committee for the defense of Khirbet Tana’s lands.

Such assaults on Palestinian villages, homes, and farmland have become increasingly frequent in recent months in West Bank.

Israel wants to restrict the number of Palestinians entering Gaza through the border crossing with Egypt to ensure that more are allowed out than in, three sources briefed on the matter said ahead of the border's expected opening next week.

The three sources said it was still not clear how Israel planned to enforce limits on the number of Palestinians entering Gaza from Egypt, or what ratio of exits to entries it aimed to achieve.

The Rafah Crossing is expected to be staffed by Palestinians affiliated with the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority and monitored by EU personnel, as took place during an earlier, weeks-long ceasefire between Israel and Hamas early last year.

Sources said that Israel also wants to establish a military checkpoint inside Gaza near the border, through which all Palestinians entering or leaving would be required to pass and be subjected to Israeli security checks.

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.