Israeli forces have begun pulling back from a key corridor through Gaza as part of its ceasefire deal with Hamas.
As part of the deal, Israel agreed to withdraw its military from the four-mile-long Netzarim corridor, which separates northern Gaza from the south.
When the ceasefire began last month Israel began allowing Palestinians to cross the corridor and return to their homes, many of which are little more than rubble after 15 months of war.
Hamas has celebrated the withdrawal as a victory and said the Hamas-run police force had deployed to the area to supervise the flow of Palestinians passing through.
Separately on Sunday, the Palestinian health ministry said two women in their 20s – including one who was pregnant – were fatally shot by Israeli gunfire in the northern occupied West Bank, where troops have been carrying out a broad operation.
And five Thai workers who were held hostage for more than a year have arrived back in Bangkok. They were embraced by family members, some of whom cried, in the arrivals hall at the city’s airport.
They were the second group of Thai hostages released since the war broke out. During an earlier ceasefire, in November 2023, 23 Thai nationals were released in exchange for assistance from Qatar and Iran.
Little progress in negotiating second phase of deal
Little progress has emerged in negotiating the second phase of the deal, which is supposed to see all Israeli hostages released in return for a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.
A delegation from Israel has arrived in Doha for further talks, amid concern the deal might collapse before all 76 remaining hostages are freed.
Israel has previously said it will not agree to a complete withdrawal until Hamas’s military and political capabilities are eliminated – while Hamas has countered that it will not hand over the final hostages until Israel removes all its troops from Gaza.
During the first 42-day phase of the deal, which began on 19 January, Hamas has been gradually releasing 33 Israeli hostages captured during its rampage into Israel on 7 October 2023 in exchange for the return of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners.
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Trump: ‘We’ll own Gaza’
Trump to meet leaders of Saudi Arabia and Egypt
The issue has been further complicated in recent weeks by Donald Trump’s proposal to relocate Palestinians so the US can take over Gaza.
The US president said his country would then develop the land and turn it into the “Riviera of the Middle East,” while the enclave’s population of two million are resettled in nearby countries such as Egypt and Jordan.
Israel welcomed the idea, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu saying a Palestinian state should be created in Saudi Arabia because “they have a lot of land over there”.
But the Arab world has rejected Mr Trump’s idea, with Saudi Arabia saying Mr Netanyau’s remarks “aim to divert attention from the successive crimes committed by the Israeli occupation against our Palestinian brothers in Gaza, including the ethnic cleansing they are being subjected to”.
Now Mr Trump is set to meet Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi and possibly Saudi Arabian Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, the Israeli president Isaac Herzog has said, although he gave no exact dates for the talks.
Israel’s war with Hamas, which has left much of Gaza devastated, was sparked when Hamas crossed into Israel on 7 October 2023, killing around 1,200 Israelis and taking around 250 hostages.
The war has killed more than 47,000 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry, which does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.
