Updates: Hamas-Israel ceasefire holds

US envoy Mike Huckabee suggested he would not object if Israel expanded across much of the Middle East, framing the issue as what he called the Jewish people’s right to the land, Al Jazeera reported.

In an interview with conservative commentator Tucker Carlson aired on Friday, Huckabee was pressed on Israel’s geographical borders, which he said are rooted in the Bible. 

Carlson cited a verse promising land to the descendants of Abraham, describing a span from the Euphrates River to the Nile River, a stretch that would include modern-day Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and parts of Saudi Arabia.

“It would be fine if they took it all,” Huckabee said, adding when challenged that Israel was not seeking to “take it over” and “they’re not asking to take it over.”

The death toll from Israeli strikes in Lebanon’s east and south reached 12 on Friday, with Israel saying it targeted Hezbollah and its Palestinian ally Hamas.

A statement from Hezbollah in the eastern Bekaa Valley said a "commander" had been killed in the raids there.

Israel has kept up regular strikes on Lebanon despite a November 2024 ceasefire that sought to halt more than a year of hostilities with Hezbollah, usually saying it is targeting the group but occasionally also Hamas fighters.

"Israeli enemy strikes on several locations in the Bekaa Valley killed 10 people and wounded 24," Lebanon's health ministry said, adding that three children were among the wounded.

The state-run National News Agency had earlier reported six dead and 25 wounded after "heavy strikes" hit in the region.

Israel's army said in a statement that it hit "Hezbollah command centres".

The raids came hours after an Israeli strike on the country's largest Palestinian refugee camp killed two people, according to the health ministry, with Israel's army saying it had targeted Hamas.

An Israeli strike on Lebanon's largest Palestinian refugee camp killed one person on Friday, state media reported.

The official National News Agency said "an Israeli drone" targeted a neighbourhood of the Ain al-Helweh camp, which is located on the outskirts of the southern city of Sidon.

It reported that one person was killed and an unspecified number wounded.

An AFP correspondent saw smoke rising from a building in the densely populated camp as ambulances headed to the scene.

Israel has kept up regular strikes on Lebanon despite a November 2024 ceasefire that sought to halt more than a year of hostilities with the resistance group Hezbollah.

Hamas said any discussions on Gaza must begin with a total halt to Israeli "aggression" as Donald Trump’s "Board of Peace" maps out the territory’s future, with Israel insisting on the resistance group’s disarmament before reconstruction starts.

"Any political process or any arrangement under discussion concerning the Gaza Strip and the future of our Palestinian people must start with the total halt of aggression," Hamas said in a statement.

The Palestinian group also said arrangements for Gaza’s future must start with the "lifting of the blockade, and the guarantee of our people’s legitimate national rights, first and foremost their right to freedom and self-determination".

Fifa and the Board of Peace signed a partnership agreement to attract investment from global leaders and institutions for sustainable development in conflict-affected regions through football.

The Fifa collaboration plan includes building 50 mini-pitches near schools and residential areas in Gaza, five full-size pitches across multiple districts, a state-of-the-art Fifa academy and a new 20,000-seat national stadium, Fifa said.

Trump said Fifa will raise $75 million for soccer-related projects in Gaza.

"Today, Fifa and the Board of Peace have signed a landmark partnership agreement that will foster investment into football for the purpose of helping the recovery process in post conflict areas," Fifa President Gianni Infantino said in a statement.

"Together with the support of the Board of Peace, Fifa will drive this partnership which is built to deliver impact at every stage."

Palestinian journalists have faced torture and systematic abuse in Israeli detention since the start of the Gaza war, including beatings, starvation, sexual violence and medical neglect, Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) said on Thursday, Anadolu Agency reported.

The report said testimonies from 59 journalists who have been released describe systematic abuse in custody, including beatings, starvation and sexual violence, including rape, in Israeli prisons.

Freed journalists also reported psychological threats, stress positions causing prolonged pain, and prolonged exposure to high-volume sound, including continuous music. CPJ said it reviewed photographs, medical reports and legal documents provided by the released reporters.

“CPJ’s reporting shows a clear pattern in how Palestinian journalists were treated in Israeli custody,” CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg said in a statement. “The scale and consistency of these testimonies point to something far beyond isolated misconduct.”

More than 75,000 Palestinians were killed in the first 15 months of Israel's military assault in Gaza, a figure far higher than the 49,000 deaths local health officials announced at the time, says a new study by The Lancet Global Health medical journal.

The peer-reviewed study, published on Wednesday, found that women, children and the elderly comprised some 56.2% of violent deaths in Gaza during that period, a composition that it said roughly aligned with reporting by Gaza's health ministry.

The field work was conducted by the Palestinian Center for Policy and Survey Research, run by Palestinian pollster Khalil Shikaki, who has carried out public opinion polling in the West Bank and Gaza for decades. The lead author is Michael Spagat, a professor at Royal Holloway, University of London.

The study is the first independent population survey of mortality in the Gaza Strip, said its authors, whose research involved surveying 2,000 Palestinian households over seven days starting on December 30, 2024.

"The combined evidence suggests that, as of Jan 5, 2025, 3–4% of the population of the Gaza Strip had been killed violently and there have been a substantial number of non-violent deaths caused indirectly by the conflict," the authors wrote.

Gaza health authorities, whose figures the UN has long deemed reliable, report more than 72,000 killed and estimate thousands more remain uncounted beneath destroyed buildings 28 months later.

Israel has questioned those tallies, citing Hamas control of the ministry, though a senior military officer told Israeli media last month its figures were broadly accurate — a view the army later said did not reflect official data.

Lancet researchers said their analysis contradicts claims of inflation and suggests the ministry numbers are, if anything, conservative under extreme conditions.

United Arab Emirates deputy prime minister has announced that his country would give $1.2 billion to support Gaza through the Board of Peace.

US President Donald Trump told the first meeting of his Board of Peace that nations had contributed $7 billion to a Gaza reconstruction fund that aims to rebuild the enclave.

In a flurry of announcements at the end of a long, winding speech to representatives from 47 nations, Trump said the United States will contribute $10 billion to the Board of Peace.

He said contributing nations had raised $7 billion as an initial down payment for Gaza reconstruction. Nations contributing included Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, United Arab Emirates, Morocco, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Uzbekistan, and Kuwait, he said.