Tuesday, February 25, 2025
1330 GMT — At least 59 Palestinian detainees have died in Israeli prisons since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, a prisoners' affairs group said.
The victims include 38 prisoners from Gaza, the Palestinian Prisoner Society said in a statement. It accused the Israeli authorities of hiding the deaths of scores of Palestinian prisoners in detention.
The Commission of Detainees' Affairs said that a Palestinian prisoner, Musab Hani Haniyeh, died in Israeli custody.
Haniyeh, 35, from the southern city of Khan Younis, was arrested by the Israeli army on March 3, 2024. According to his family, Haniyeh was in good health before his detention.
According to Palestinian figures, at least 296 Palestinian prisoners have died in Israeli detention since Tel Aviv’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza in 1967.
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1321 GMT — No further talks with Israel until prisoners are freed: Hamas
A Hamas official says Israel’s delay in the release of some 600 Palestinian prisoners is a "serious violation" of the ceasefire agreement and talks on a second phase of the accord are not possible until they are returned.
As part of the agreement, Israel was supposed to release the prisoners last weekend after Hamas freed hostages from its Oct. 7, 2023, attack. But Israel delayed the release over the treatment of the captives, who were paraded before crowds.
In a written statement, Bassem Naim, a senior Hamas official, said the militant group had "fully adhered to all provisions of the agreements" and that Israel’s delay "puts the agreement at risk of collapse, potentially leading to a resumption of war."
1212 GMT — WHO worries about West Bank violence, impact on healthcare
The World Health Organization is deeply concerned about violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and the impact of "starkly rising" attacks on healthcare, its representative in the Palestinian territories said.
Israel sent tanks into the West Bank for the first time in more than 20 years on Sunday. It ordered the military to prepare for an "extended stay" to fight Palestinian resistance groups in the area's refugee camps.
"We are deeply concerned about the situation in the West Bank and the impact on health", Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative in the West Bank and Gaza, told reporters via video link from Gaza.
"We see the current flashpoints of violence, attacks on healthcare ... starkly rising in the West Bank."
1017 GMT — Egypt rejects proposals to displace Palestinians
Egypt rejects proposals to displace the Palestinian people to not "liquidate" the Palestinian cause and to avoid threatening the national security of countries in the region, the Egyptian presidency said in a statement.
US President Donald Trump has angered the Arab world with a plan to permanently displace the population of more than 2 million Palestinians from Gaza, assert US control over the territory and turn it into an international beach resort.
Egypt will on March 4 host an emergency Arab League summit set to focus on Arab efforts to counter Trump's plan and calls for Egypt and Jordan to resettle displaced Palestinians from Gaza. Both countries reject the proposal, citing national security concerns.
1000 GMT — More Palestinian babies freeze to death in Gaza
Five newborn babies froze to death in Gaza amid cold weather in the Israeli-besieged Palestinian enclave, a local doctor said.
“Nine infants were hospitalised in the past two weeks due to health complications caused by severe cold,” Saeed Salah, Director of the Patient’s Friends Benevolent Society Hospital in Gaza, told Anadolu Agency.
“Of the nine cases, five babies aged between one day and two weeks died,” he added.
Salah said one baby is still on a ventilator due to his serious health condition, while three others were discharged from hospital.
0941 GMT — Israeli ex-minister 'proud' over images of inhumane treatment of Palestinian inmates
Israel's far-right former National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir boasted about forcing Palestinian prisoners to kneel at gunpoint and paint over slogans they had written on prison walls, including "Arab Jerusalem."
“Proud of the Israel Prison Service, in the Ktzi'ot Prison (Negev Desert), it emerged that incitement inscriptions were written on the walls of several cells in the security wings,” Ben-Gvir wrote Monday on X.
Palestinian prisoners had written phrases such as “We will not forget, we will not forgive, we will not kneel, Jerusalem is Arab,” said the former minister, who also heads the far-right Jewish Strength (Otzma Yehudit) political party.
0917 GMT — Israeli army says Golan interceptor launch ‘false alarm’
The Israeli army confirmed that it fired two interceptor missiles towards "suspicious objects" that turned out to be a false alarm in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights.
A military statement said that an investigation has been launched into the incident.
According to Israeli media, sirens sounded in several Israeli settlements in the Golan Heights area over fear of falling shrapnel from the interceptor missiles.
0855 GMT — Egypt rejects displacement of Palestinians, threats to countries’ national security
Egypt rejects proposals to displace the Palestinian people in order to not "liquidate" the Palestinian cause and to avoid threatening the national security of countries in the region, according to a statement by the Egyptian Presidency.
US President Donald Trump has infuriated the Arab world with a plan to permanently expel more than 2 million Palestinians from Gaza, claiming the US will "take over" the territory and turn it into the "Riviera of the Middle East".
0724 GMT — Israel withdraws from West Bank town Qabatiya, leaving it destroyed
The Israeli army withdrew from Qabatiya, a town near Jenin city in the northern occupied West Bank, leaving homes and shops destroyed and infrastructure damaged in their wake.
Eyewitnesses told Anadolu that the army forces completely evacuated Qabatiya after arresting several people and destroying shops and infrastructure.
The Qabatiya municipality reported that the Israeli army destroyed wastewater, electricity, water, and communication networks before leaving town.
04:41 GMT — Red Cross warns about results of Israeli attacks on West Bank
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) expressed concern over the situation in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
"The International Committee of the Red Cross is deeply concerned with the impact of ongoing security operations on the civilian population in Jenin and Tulkarem, Tubas and other locations in northern West Bank," it said in a statement.
Thousands of civilians have been displaced due to ongoing military raids, it said.
People are struggling to access basic needs such as clean water, food, medical care and shelter, the ICRC added.
The Israeli army has been conducting military attacks in the northern occupied West Bank since last month, killing at least 60 people and displacing thousands.
01:10 GMT — US senator files new set of resolutions to block arms sales to Israel
Senator Bernie Sanders last week filed four Joint Resolutions of Disapproval (JRDs) that would block the sale of $8.56 billion in offensive US weaponry to Israel, his office said Monday.
Sanders said that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's "extremist government" has waged an "all-out war" against the entire Palestinian people.
"Tragically, much of this carnage has been carried out with American bombs and weapons," he said in the statement.
Netanyahu has used the US bombs to damage or destroy almost 70 percent of the structures in besieged Gaza, Sanders said, adding all of this has been done in "clear violation" of US and international law.
2254 GMT — Palestine calls for UN probe into alleged executions of prisoners in Israeli jails
Palestine called for a UN investigation into the alleged execution of prisoners in Israeli jails.
The statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs followed announcements from Palestinian institutions that the number of known Palestinian deaths in Israeli prisons had risen to 59 since the start of Israel's genocidal war on October 7, 2023, after the death of a detainee from Gaza.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry expressed grave concern over the rising number of deaths among prisoners.
The ministry condemned the situation in the jails as a "serious escalation in the (Israeli) occupation's aggression and unprecedented torture and abuse against the prisoners," particularly affecting the thousands of detainees whose whereabouts and fates have not been disclosed.
It called for the UN Human Rights Council's investigative committee to perform its duties and investigate the execution of detainees in Israeli prisons, which it described as a flagrant violation of the Geneva Conventions.
For our live updates from Monday, February 24, 2025, click here.
