Updates: Three buses explode near Tel Aviv in suspected ‘terror’ attack

Before you go, you can read about Friday’s meeting of Arab leaders in Riyadh here.

You can also read about the Canadian government facing a lawsuit over a delay in its Gaza visa programme here.

And you can follow all of our coverage on the situation in Gaza and the occupied West Bank here.

• Three buses exploded near Tel Aviv in what Israeli police are saying is a suspected “terror” attack.
• In response to the explosions, Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz ordered an escalation in its already intensely violent raids in the occupied West Bank, where the army has now blocked off several areas.
• The bodies of four Israeli captives whom Hamas says were killed in Israeli air raids were returned to Israel. They include Shiri Bibas and her two children.
• Israeli forces killed a Palestinian man in Gaza City’s Shujayea area.
• President Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff has defended the US leader’s “plan” to take over Gaza and relocate its Palestinian residents.

The release of the bodies of deceased captives should be carried out with “the utmost respect”, the International Committee of the Red Cross, which facilitates the exchange of prisoners and captives between Israel and Hamas, has said.

“Today we brought back the remains of those who should have been reunited with their loved ones in life, not in death,” the group wrote. “Our role today was to fulfill a vital humanitarian duty to allow families to mourn with dignity. They deserve to grieve and honour those they lost with a proper burial.”

The statement appeared to criticise Hamas’s display of the coffins of the four dead captives released today, including the two Bibas children, which were paraded by armed fighters on a stage before a large poster showing Netanyahu with vampire teeth and blood on his mouth.

“These operations should be done privately out of the utmost respect for the deceased and for those left grieving,” the group wrote. “We have been unequivocal: every release – whether of the living or the deceased – must be conducted with dignity and privacy. The ICRC remains committed to the role entrusted to us under the ceasefire agreement.”

The timing of the bus explosions, right before the start of talks on the Gaza ceasefire agreement’s phase two, is noteworthy, Colin Clarke, director at The Soufan Center, has said.

“Many have speculated that the Israelis would go right back into full combat and conflict in Gaza after phase one, and have very little intention of following through on the rest of the deal,” Clarke told Al Jazeera. “This could be a message by a Palestinian group that if that happens, they can still make it quite painful for the Israelis,” Clarke said.

On the other side, Clarke noted, there are some speculating on how this was an Israeli attempt to derail the ceasefire talks by exploding these bombs, killing nobody, and then using that as a pretext to go back to war.

“So again, we don’t know a lot of the details … but this could be the opening salvo or the returning to what’s been a very long and bloody conflict,” he said.

Palestinian families are suing the Canadian government over delays in the issuance of visas meant to allow them to escape Israel’s deadly war in Gaza and receive temporary protection in Canada.

Filed in the Federal Court of Canada this month, on behalf of 53 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip with family members in Canada, the lawsuit alleges that the country’s special visa programme has been plagued by inefficiencies.

Hana Marku, a Toronto lawyer representing the families, said all of her clients submitted a form expressing interest in the visas within the first month of the scheme’s launch in January 2024.

However, none have received the unique reference codes needed to move to the next stage of the process, which is the submission of their relatives’ Canadian visa applications.

Read the full story here.

The human rights organisation said the release of the bodies of four captives by Hamas on Thursday served as a “heartbreaking reminder of the urgent need to immediately release all civilian hostages [and] Palestinians arbitrarily detained”.

“Hostage taking is a war crime. Civilians must never be abducted. All those held captive and detained must be treated humanely and with dignity,” Amnesty wrote in a social media post.

“It also highlights this war’s devastating toll on civilians, including children. At least 36 children were killed during the 7 Oct Hamas-led attack, and at least 13,319 Palestinian children have been killed in Israeli attacks in Gaza since 7 Oct 2023, including 781 babies under the age of 1,” Amnesty added.

The move, which involves the closure of some checkpoints on roads heading into the West Bank, was announced by the Israeli military.

The army intensified “anti-terror” activity in the occupied West Bank, it added.

Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz has instructed the military to intensify its operations in the occupied West Bank in response to the attacks on buses in Bat Yam.

“In light of the serious terrorist attacks that Palestinian terrorist organisations have tried to carry out in the Dan Bloc against the civilian population of Israel, I have instructed the Israel army forces to increase the intensity of activities to thwart terrorism in the Tulkarem refugee camp and in the refugee camps in Judea and Samaria in general,” Katz said, referring to the occupied West Bank.

“We will pursue the terrorists to the end and destroy the terrorist infrastructure in the camps that form the front line of the Iranian axis of evil,” he added. “The people who sponsor and shelter terrorism will pay a heavy price.”

Israeli media reports say all five explosive devices – only three of which exploded – were intended to detonate simultaneously.

Channel 12 cited a security source saying that the blasts were meant to be a “strategic terrorist attack”.

The Times of Israel quoted Tel Aviv District police chief Haim Sargarof as saying that the devices were identical, had timers and appeared to be makeshift.

The Public Transit Authority was instructed to stop and check all buses, trains and light rail trains.

This was announced by his office on social media.

The Israeli prime minister is receiving regular updates from the military on the explosions that took place in the Tel Aviv metropolitan area, it said, adding that the meeting will be conducted “shortly”.

We reported some of Witkoff’s comments earlier, in which he defended President Trump’s “plan” to take over Gaza and relocate its Palestinian residents.

Witkoff was speaking to Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner at the FII Institute conference in Miami, Florida, where he also spoke about phase two of the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas.

“The issue with phase two is that there’s supposed to be an end to the war … and I think the Israelis have a red line, which is you can’t have Hamas in the government. And so it’s hard to sort of square that circle,” Witkoff said. “But we’re making a lot of progress in the conversations, and hopefully, it will lead to some good things, good results.”

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas spoke on Thursday at the opening of the 12th session of the Fatah Revolutionary Council, in Ramallah.

“We will continue working to establish a ceasefire, guarantee the flow of humanitarian aid, and ensure that the State of Palestine assumes responsibility in Gaza, all while preserving the territorial unity of Palestine,” he said.

Abbas noted that the vast majority of the international community has also rejected Trump’s proposal to forcibly displace Palestinians to Egypt and Jordan.

“We will continue our efforts in international forums, working with both our Arab and international allies, to push for the recognition of Palestine as a full member state of the United Nations,” Abbas said.

The Palestinian president is an increasingly unpopular figure among his own people, in part for cooperating with Israeli forces on security issues, and has been accused of being ineffective in countering Israel.