Updates: Trump says Gaza will be ‘turned over’ to US by Israel after war

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To learn more about the situation of Palestinians returning home in Gaza following 15 months of war, go here.

To find out how stormy and windy conditions are affecting life in the war-ravaged coastal enclave, read this.

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

• US President Donald Trump has said that Israel would hand Gaza over to the US once fighting in the besieged enclave ends and that no US soldiers would be needed during the process.
• Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz announced he had ordered the army to prepare a plan to allow Gaza residents who wished to leave to exit the enclave “voluntarily”.
• Trump signed an executive order authorising economic and travel sanctions targeting people who work on International Criminal Court investigations of US citizens or US allies, such as Israel, repeating action he took during his first term.
• Strong winds, rain and winter are adding to the suffering of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza, with thousands of families living in worn-out tents after their homes were destroyed in Israel’s bombardment of the coastal enclave.
• The United Nations World Food Programme urged the international community and “all donors” to help feed millions of people in Gaza and rebuild the war-ravaged territory.

Palestinians returning to northern Gaza are hoping to rebuild, both their homes and their lives.

But first, many must find and recover the bodies of family members in places made unrecognisable by war.

Watch our video report below:

Israeli forces have stormed the town of al-Khader, south of Bethlehem, the Wafa news agency is reporting.

Wafa said Israeli forces fired “sound bombs” during the raids. However, no injuries were reported, it added.

Why is Donald Trump so obsessed with Gaza? The US president has proposed taking over the strip and relocating Palestinians.

It would be a violation of international law and seemingly a call for ethnic cleansing.

But who can stop Trump’s plan?

The US will impose “tangible” and “significant” sanctions on people working on ICC investigations of US citizens or allies, such as Israel, according to Trump’s executive order.

The measures include freezing the US assets of those sanctioned and banning them or their families from entering the country.

US President Donald Trump has signed an executive order Thursday authorising sanctions against the International Criminal Court, the White House has confirmed, after the tribunal issued an arrest warrant for Israel’s Benjamin Netanyahu.

Trump’s order comes two days after he hosted Prime Minister Netanyahu for talks.

Trump’s first administration slapped sanctions on the Hague-based ICC for probing alleged US war crimes in Afghanistan, which Joe Biden later lifted.

During a visit to the coastal enclave, the United Nations chief of humanitarian affairs, Tom Fletcher, says the scale of destruction in Gaza was “beyond my worst fears”.

“But since Gaza Ceasefire took hold, humanitarians are mobilising massive lifesaving aid – food, water, tents, medicine – for the survivors. We must be supported to continue,” he posted on X.

Residents of Gaza continue to condemn Trump’s plan of removing Palestinians from the coastal enclave.

“We will not sell our land for you, real estate developer. We are hungry, homeless, and desperate but we are not collaborators,” said Abdel Ghani, a father of four living with his family in the ruins of their Gaza City home, told the Reuters news agency.

“If [Trump] wants to help, let him come and rebuild for us here.”

Trump’s comments sparked outrage in the Middle East as countries like Saudi Arabia rebuffed the proposal outright and Jordan’s King Abdullah said he rejected any attempts to annex land and displace Palestinians.

The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees says that while an Israeli ban has not yet forced the agency to cease operations, it faces an “existential threat” in the long run.

“I have been very clear that despite all the obstacles and the pressure the agency is under, our objective is to stay and deliver until we are prevented to do so,” Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner general of the UN Relief and Works Agency, also known as UNRWA, said in an interview with The Associated Press during a visit to Beirut.

Israel last week formally banned UNRWA from operating on its territory. As a result, Lazzarini said, international staff have had to leave occupied East Jerusalem because their visas expired, but in Gaza and the occupied West Bank there has been no immediate impact on operations.

Even in occupied East Jerusalem, he said, health care and other services provided by UNRWA “are continuing, though not necessarily at the same scope it used to be”.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio also said that Gaza currently is “not habitable” due to dangers such as unexploded weapons, and that people would have to live elsewhere while the area is rebuilt.

Rubio, answering a reporter’s question during a visit to the Dominican Republic, encouraged other countries to step forward and offer to help rebuild Gaza, but did not say whether Palestinians would be able to return to the area under a proposal by US President Donald Trump to take over and develop the Gaza Strip.

“I think that’s just a realistic reality, that in order to fix a place like that, people are going to have to live somewhere else in the interim,” Rubio said.

The US secretary of state is planning to visit the Middle East in mid-February, Axios has reported, citing two Israeli officials and two other unidentified sources.

Rubio is planning to travel to the region after the Munich security conference, which begins on February 14, and visit Israel, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and possibly more countries, according to Axios.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said countries denouncing President Trump’s recent comments on Gaza should “provide a solution”.

“There are countries in the region who express a lot of concern,” Rubio told reporters in the Dominican Republic.

“We encourage them to step forward and provide a solution and answer to that problem.”

The United Nations World Food Programme urged the international community and “all donors” to help feed millions of people in Gaza and rebuild the war-ravaged territory.

“We call on the international community and all donors to continue supporting WFP’s life-saving assistance at this pivotal moment,” said Deputy Executive Director Carl Skau following a visit.

“The scale of the needs is enormous and progress must be maintained. The ceasefire must hold,” he said in a statement.

The UN agency said it had provided more than 15,000 tonnes of food since a fragile January 19 ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect, feeding more than 525,000 people, but that much more needed to be done.

“In critical sectors beyond food – water, sanitation, shelter, even getting children back into school – we need to work together,” he said, insisting that “this requires funding”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was at a photo-op with US senators at the Capitol when a reporter asked the question: “Mr Netanyahu, do you think US troops are needed in Gaza to make President Trump’s plan peaceful?”

“No,” he replied, and then press aides shooed journalists from the room.

Trump had earlier this week proposed moving Palestinians out of Gaza, sparking uproar from leaders in the Middle East and beyond.

Netanyahu called Trump’s proposal “remarkable” as Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz announced he had ordered the army to prepare a plan to allow Gaza residents who wished to leave to exit the enclave “voluntarily”.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has urged expediting medical evacuations from the Gaza Strip amid the ceasefire, citing a large number of critically ill patients.

Describing the destruction in Gaza as “beyond belief”, Richard Peeperkorn, WHO representative for the West Bank and Gaza, said 18 out of 36 hospitals in the enclave are partially operational.

“The functional health facilities at service are so scarce,” Peeperkorn said during a virtual news conference from Gaza.

He said that anxiety disorders and depression are prevalent in Gaza, yet there are only two psychiatrists available.

Peeperkorn noted that some hospitals rendered totally unable to function due to Israeli attacks have been able to resume some operations following the ceasefire agreement, calling it “something positive”.

Palestinians are trying to survive among the ruins in Gaza as the Strip is being hit by strong winds, heavy rain and falling temperatures.

Authorities there are pleading for temporary shelters to be allowed in, as about two million Palestinians endure wet winter conditions, and say it’s the most pressing humanitarian need in the Strip.

Displaced Palestinians spoke to Al Jazeera about the hardships they are facing.

“Despite the tragedy we are living, despite the rain and the very bad weather, people are staying under no roof,” Qassem Abu Hassoun told Al Jazeera.

“Which means that people are hanging on to their country, their land, people are hanging on to even one grain of sand of their country.”

Anwar Hellis said the situation was “more difficult for us than displacement”.

“We woke up at night and found our tents destroyed above us due to the wind and our clothes and food were filled with sand,” he said.