Updates: Hamas-Israel ceasefire holds

Israeli soldiers shot at three Palestinians who were throwing rocks at cars in the occupied West Bank on Sunday and killed one of them, the Israeli military said.

The Palestinian Red Crescent said one person had been killed and one wounded in the incident. There was no immediate comment from Palestinian officials. The Israeli military said that apart from the fatality, one other person was "neutralised" and one arrested.

Israeli settlers attacked Palestinians’ vehicles near the town of Mukhamas in the northeast of occupied East Jerusalem, according to the Wafa news agency, citing a statement by the Jerusalem Governorate.

The statement said that a group of settlers attacked vehicles on the main road near Mukhamas in the evening, without any reported injuries.

Israel’s army chief, Lieutenant General Eyal Zamir, said the demarcation line where Israeli troops have withdrawn behind in Gaza is a "new border", according to a military statement.

"We have operational control over extensive parts of the Gaza Strip and we will remain on those defence lines. The Yellow Line is a new border line — serving as a forward defensive line for our communities and a line of operational activity," the army quoted Zamir as saying to reserve soldiers in Gaza.

Under the US-brokered ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, Israeli forces have withdrawn to positions behind the so-called Yellow Line.

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.