Updates: Israel threatens to ‘open the gates of hell’ on Gaza

For more about US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s visit to Israel, read here.

To see how Israel continues to destroy homes and breach the Gaza ceasefire, look at these satellite images.

Here is a photo gallery that shows how Israel is blocking essential supplies to rebuild destroyed homes and worsening Gaza’s humanitarian crisis.

We will be closing this live page soon. Here is a recap of today’s main events:

• An Israeli air strike on Rafah killed three Palestinian policemen after they were deployed to secure the entry of aid trucks into Gaza.
• Asked about the latest on the precarious Gaza ceasefire, US President Donald Trump said that “it will be up to Israel what the next step will be, in consultation with me”.
• Steve Witkoff, Trump’s Middle East envoy, said that discussions on transitioning to phase two of Gaza’s ceasefire are under way with mediators and Israel.
• In a joint news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio reiterated that “Hamas cannot continue as a military or government force” in Gaza.
• Israel is working in “full” cooperation with the United States when it comes to its policy towards Gaza, Netanyahu said.
• Israel’s army says fighter jets struck military sites with rocket launchers and weapons “where Hezbollah activity was detected” – two days ahead of a troop withdrawal deadline in a fragile ceasefire in Lebanon.

The number of Palestinians being detained without charge in Israeli prisons has risen sharply since the war on Gaza began, says Milena Ansari, an Israel and Palestine researcher at Human Rights Watch (HRW).

“We’re talking about 9,846 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, and from this number, there are 3,369 under administrative detention, which means 3,000 are in detention without charge, without trial, and for an indefinite time,” Ansari told Al Jazeera.

Ansari said the number of Palestinians held under the “combat law” rose from 10 to 1,800 since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023.

“This type of detention is unlawful because you’re not submitting any charges against a person, and there’s no trial happening for the person unless it is for renewal of their administrative detention,” she added.

Türkiye’s foreign minister, Hakan Fidan, has firmly rejected Trump’s suggestion of relocating 2 million Palestinians to rebuild the territory destroyed by Israel.

“We are strongly opposing those suggestions, those proposals,” he said in an interview with TRT World in Munich.

Ankara is working closely with Arab partners on a regional plan for Gaza’s future, he added.

Fidan criticised Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for failing to commit to the second phase of the ceasefire, stressing that only US pressure could prevent further escalation.

Demonstrators in cities across the globe are protesting US President Donald Trump’s suggestion that Palestinians should, effectively, be ethnically cleansed from Gaza and resettled elsewhere.

Watch the video below:

Al Jazeera is reporting from Amman because it is banned from Israel and the occupied West Bank by the Israeli government and Palestinian Authority.

I thought it was very interesting to hear Donald Trump surmise in less than 30 seconds what US policy towards Gaza and Israel is, which is basically that Prime Minister Netanyahu can do whatever he wants so long as he consults with me.

So it’s about Donald Trump, but really Israel has the green light to proceed as it pleases. He talked about the shipment of 2,000-pound (907kg) bombs that Trump released to Israel, which the former administration had withheld.

Of course, this all resulted from accusations of crimes against humanity that Israel has committed in Gaza, and because of public pressure in the US, other weapon shipments were flowing in on time.

But, really, Trump’s comments put into perspective what US Secretary of State Marco Rubio was saying and what Netanyahu was echoing – that the US and Israel are in complete agreement on how to proceed – and not just on Gaza but Syria, Lebanon and Iran.

Lebanese media reported that Israeli gunfire killed a woman as Washington pressed Beirut to disarm Hezbollah two days before a troop withdrawal deadline in the ceasefire.

Lebanon’s National News Agency said Israeli forces opened fire towards the southern border town of Hula “after residents entered”, killing a woman.

Prime Minister Netanyahu said Israel would do what it must to “enforce” the ceasefire.

“Hezbollah must be disarmed. And Israel would prefer that the Lebanese army do that job, but no one should doubt that Israel will do what it has to do to enforce the understandings of the ceasefire and defend our security,” he said.

Lebanon has faced unrest after a government decision to block Iranian flights from landing in Beirut, with a UN peacekeeper convoy attacked during protests by Hezbollah supporters.

Top US diplomat Marco Rubio says that Hamas revealed its “sick depravity” by holding the bodies of dead captives in Gaza, warning that the group’s leaders are “playing with fire”.

The US secretary of state urged the immediate return of all abductees held in the Palestinian territory.

He specifically called for the release of Israeli-American Edan Alexander and the remains of four Israeli-Americans held in Gaza, previously identified as Judy and Gad Hagai-Weinstein, Itay Chen and Omer Neutra.

“The fact that these terrorists continue to hold hostages and even dead bodies reflects their sick depravity. I call on our partners to help impress upon Hamas leaders that they are playing with fire,” Rubio said in a statement.

Israel has repeatedly held the bodies of Palestinians it has killed and later dropped off dozens at a time without full data of the victims’ names, time of death and the location they were taken from.

Israeli soldiers arrested several Palestinian men and subjected them to interrogation in the centre of Jenin in the occupied West Bank, sources told Al Jazeera.

Last month, Israel’s army launched a major assault in the Jenin area, dubbed the “Iron Wall”, almost immediately after a ceasefire was declared in Gaza.

Asked by a reporter about the latest on the Gaza ceasefire, US President Donald Trump said that “it will be up to Israel what the next step will be, in consultation with me”.

Trump, while speaking to reporters in Daytona, Florida, was also asked about sending more big bombs to Israel despite the truce being under way and Gaza largely destroyed.

“Peace through strength. You understand that, right? You know, they contracted for those weapons a long time ago in the Biden administration, and then Biden wouldn’t deliver the weapons. But I look at it differently. I say peace through strength,” said Trump.

Earlier, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio during his visit to Israel fully endorsed the country’s war aims in the Gaza Strip, saying that Hamas “must be eradicated”.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) denounced Israel’s military after a news report said troops used an 80-year-old Palestinian man as a human shield in Gaza and later killed him and his wife.

In a statement, CAIR described the incident as “further evidence of the uncounted war crimes” by Israel’s army during the war.

“The revelation of this monstrous use of an 80-year-old man as a human shield and the subsequent murder of that man and his wife is further evidence of the uncounted war crimes committed in Gaza by the forces of the far-right government of indicted war criminal Benjamin Netanyahu. Our nation’s complicity with Israel’s genocide must end,” CAIR said.

Earlier this month, the organisation called on the administration of US President Donald Trump “to stop wasting taxpayer dollars” on the Israeli war on Gaza after the announcement of a new $7bn arms sale to Israel.

Israeli forces have stormed the town of Azzun, east of Qalqilya, the Wafa news agency reports.

Citing local sources, Wafa said Israeli soldiers entered the town, raided several shops and shot into the air.

No arrests have been reported so far. Israeli forces and settlers continue their attacks on Palestinian civilians throughout the occupied West Bank.

The Israeli army sent reinforcements to Tulkarem’s Nur Shams refugee camp, where it has been conducting a deadly, large-scale military assault against its residents.

The Hind Rajab Foundation has filed a complaint with the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar ahead of his visit to the Belgian capital Brussels on Tuesday.

The foundation accused Saar, along with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, of being responsible for the “mass displacement, starvation, and persecution of Palestinians”, it posted on X.

“Belgium must act under international law. No impunity for war criminals!” the group said.

The Belgium-based human rights group has been pursuing legal cases against Israeli soldiers across the globe, putting pressure on countries to seek justice for abuses committed in Gaza.

The foundation is named after six-year-old Hind Rajab, a Palestinian girl who was killed in Israeli shelling as her family fled Gaza City last year.

The head of Hezbollah says Israel’s troops must pull out of Lebanese territory in full by a February 18 deadline, adding it has “no pretext” to maintain a military presence in the south.

“Everyone knows how an occupation is dealt with,” said Hezbollah Secretary-General Naim Qassem, without explicitly threatening that his group would resume attacks against Israel.

Under a truce brokered by the US in November, Israeli troops were granted 60 days to withdraw from southern Lebanon, where they waged a ground assault against Hezbollah fighters. That deadline was later extended to February 18, but Israel’s military requested it keep troops in five posts in the south.

In a recorded televised speech, Qassem said: “Israel must withdraw completely on February 18. It has no pretext, no five points or other details … This is the agreement.”

Israel’s public broadcaster said on Wednesday that the United States has authorised a “long-term” Israeli troop presence in southern Lebanon.

The Israeli military forced an 80-year-old Palestinian man to act as a human shield in Gaza by tying an explosive cord around his neck and threatening to have his head blown off.

A senior officer from the army’s Nahal Brigade tied the explosive cord around the man’s neck before he was ordered to scout houses.

After eight hours, soldiers ordered the man to flee with his wife from their home in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighbourhood in May, said +972 magazine, which reported the piece in partnership with The Hottest Place in Hell.

Read the full story here.

Western ideals of morality and international law have been dealt a fatal blow by Israel’s war on Gaza, argues author Pankaj Mishra.

Watch the video below:

Qatar’s Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bin Jassim Al Thani has reiterated Qatar’s “firm rejection of attempts to displace the Palestinian people from the Gaza Strip”.

He said “such actions would only reignite confrontations in the occupied Palestinian territories and exacerbate the suffering of the Palestinian people”, according to a statement.

China’s Foreign Minister Wang Yi says the fundamental solution to halting violence in the Middle East lies in implementing the two-state solution between Palestine and Israel.

Wang made the remarks during a meeting with Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference in Germany, Beijing’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“The humanitarian disaster in Gaza must be brought to an end as soon as possible,” Wang told his Israeli counterpart.

Pointing out the status of Palestine is the “core of the Middle East issue”, Wang said implementation of the two-state solution can enable “peaceful coexistence” between Palestinians and Israelis, while fostering “friendly exchanges” between Arabs and Jews.

Beijing is “committed to upholding justice” and will play a “constructive role” in finding a “comprehensive and lasting resolution to the Palestinian issue”, Wang added.