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9 Palestinian prisoners released by Israeli forces are transferred to Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital via International Committee of the Red Cross, in Deir al Balah, Gaza on February 03, 2026. [Screengrab/AA]
Israel released nine more Palestinians, including a woman, from the Gaza Strip after months of unlawful detention on Tuesday, Anadolu reports.
The freed captives were transported by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the central city of Deir al-Balah for medical examinations.
Speaking to reporters, ICRC spokesperson in Gaza Emani Nauk said the organization has been unable to access Palestinians held in Israeli prisons since October 2023, and called for information on the fate and whereabouts of all captives, as well as renewed access to detention facilities.
Palestinians previously released from Israeli detention have shown signs of abuse, severe malnutrition and injuries consistent with torture, according to medical staff and human rights organizations.
The releases are part of sporadic Israeli actions involving Palestinians detained from Gaza who were held for months in Israeli prisons in the absence of minimum humanitarian standards, according to documented testimonies from former detainees and rights organizations.
Former detainees have said many of those released suffer from malnutrition and injuries caused by severe physical abuse during detention.
According to the Palestinian Commission of Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner Society, Israel has killed more than 100 prisoners and detainees since the start of the Gaza genocide, with the identities of 87 announced, while dozens of detainees from Gaza who died in custody had been subjected to enforced disappearance.
Palestinian, Israeli and international reports have repeatedly warned of the torture of Palestinians in Israeli prisons, including severe beatings, medical neglect, starvation and sexual assault.
Recently released Palestinian detainees have also reported systematic torture and cases of rape, appearing emaciated, with some showing symptoms of mental illness due to abuse.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAKeir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
One-week-old Palestinian infant, Mahmoud al-Akra, died due to harsh cold weather in Deir al Balah, central Gaza on January 10, 2026. [Stringer – Anadolu Agency]
A Palestinian newborn died early Saturday after exposure to extreme cold in the Gaza Strip, as severe winter weather compounded the suffering of displaced families living in fragile tents with little protection from the elements, Anadolu reports.
The infant, Mahmoud al-Aqraa, was just seven days old when he died during a powerful storm that swept through the enclave, bringing heavy rain and strong winds.
The family had been sheltering in a makeshift tent in Deir al-Balah, where freezing temperatures and violent gusts left residents struggling to keep warm through the night.
“He started shaking badly,” al-Aqraa said. “We tried everything we could, but there was no heat, no safe shelter, nothing to protect him from the cold.”
Emergency crews were unable to reach the family due to the weather, forcing the father to wrap the baby in a blanket and rush him to the nearest field hospital. Medical staff said the infant’s body temperature had dropped to dangerously low levels.
Despite attempts to stabilize and warm him, Mahmoud was later transferred to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital, where he died several hours later from hypothermia.
Inside the hospital morgue, his father said goodbye to his son, whose small body showed visible signs of cold exposure, including stiffness and discoloration.
Mahmoud’s older brother, Yusuf, stood nearby in tears. “He died from the cold,” the boy said softly. “We don’t have heaters. We only have a few blankets, and even those aren’t enough.”
Gaza’s Civil Defense said earlier Saturday that the ongoing storm had damaged or blown away thousands of tents for displaced families, particularly along the coastline, leaving them exposed as winds reached speeds of up to 60 kilometers (37 miles) per hour.
Civil Defense spokesperson Mahmoud Basal linked the crisis to Israel’s continued blocking of humanitarian and reconstruction aid from entering Gaza.
Basal said the crisis was not simply the result of harsh weather, but a consequence of continued restrictions on the entry of shelter materials and construction supplies.
“This is not a natural disaster,” he said. “It is a man-made humanitarian emergency.”
The Israeli army has killed more than 71,000 people, most of them women and children, and injured over 171,000 others in a brutal offensive since October 2023 that left the Gaza Strip in ruins.
Despite a ceasefire that began last Oct. 10, the Israeli army has continued its attacks, killing 424 Palestinians and wounding 1,189 others, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.
This work by Middle East Monitor is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.
Genocide denier and Current UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer is quoted that he supports Zionism without qualification. He also confirms that UK air force support has been essential in Israel’s mass-murdering genocide. Includes URLs https://www.declassifieduk.org/keir-starmers-100-spy-flights-over-gaza-in-support-of-israel/ and https://youtu.be/O74hZCKKdpAKeir Starmer objects to criticism of the IDF. He asks how could anyone object to them starving people to death, forced marches like the Nazis did, bombing Gaza’s hospitals and universities, mass-murdering journalists, healthworkers and starving people queuing for food, killing and raping prisoners and murdering children. He calls for people to stop obstructing his genocide for Israel.Orcas discuss Genocide-supporting and complicit Zionists. Donald Trump, Keith Starmer, David Lammy, Rachel Reeves, Angela Rayner and Wes Streeting are acknowledged as evil genocide-complicit and supporting cnuts.
FORCED STARVATION: Israel is preventing much-needed aid getting to Gaza
Barely 100 trucks enter as bombs kill another 60
ISRAELI bombing killed at least 60 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip yesterday as Tel Aviv continued to block aid deliveries that would help to stave off the region’s mounting humanitarian crisis.
The dead included 10 people in the southern city of Khan Younis, four in the central town of Deir al-Balah and nine in Jabaliya refugee camp in the north, according to the Nasser, Al-Aqsa and Al-Ahli hospitals where the bodies were brought.
Israel has continued to ignore growing international condemnation of its invasion of Gaza.
The Strip has been under an Israeli food and aid blockade for nearly three months. Experts have warned that many of Gaza’s two million residents are at high risk of famine.
Amid mounting pressure, Israel has started letting in small amounts of aid. Israeli officials claimed yesterday they let in more than 100 trucks of flour, food, medical equipment and drugs through the Kerem Shalom crossing.
But United Nations agencies say the amount is woefully insufficient, compared with around 600 trucks a day that entered during a recent ceasefire to meet basic needs.
Islington North Independent MP Jeremy Corbyn told the Star: “Let’s be clear: Palestinians are not ‘facing’ starvation. Israel is starving Palestinians to death, and it is beyond unconscionable that our government is still providing military support.”
The former Labour leader added: “Enough! The world has got to wake up and stop this genocide.”
UK Labour Party government ministers Keir Starmer, Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves explain that they are partners complicit in Israel’s Gaza genocide. The UK has provided Israel with arms, military and air force support. They explain that they don’t do gas chambers but do do forced marches, starvation, destroy hospitals, mass-murders of journalists and healthcare workers.Vote For Genocide Vote Labour.
A father cries while carrying the body of his child wrapped in a blood-stained shroud west of Deir al-Balah, central Gaza Strip, on January 14, 2025. (Photo: Youssef Alzanoun/Middle East Images via AFP via Getty Images)
“As a cease-fire in Gaza is near, Israel is expanding its assault on the West Bank,” said one expert. “It was always a war on Palestinian existence.”
As negotiators in Qatar navigated the “final stage” of a cease-fire agreement to end the U.S.-backed Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip, Israel’s forces on Tuesday continued to kill Palestinians in the besieged coastal enclave and the illegally occupied West Bank.
Since the Hamas-led October 7, 2023 attack, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) have killed at least 46,645 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded 110,012, with over 10,000 others missing, health officials said Tuesday. The true death toll could be much higher. A peer-reviewed analysis published last week in The Lancetfound that the official tally through last June was likely a 41% undercount.
The Palestinian National Authority’s news agency WAFA reported Tuesday that IDF shelling killed at least two civilians at the Nuseirat refugee camp and a correspondent in Gaza City “said that Israeli warplanes fired missiles at a house in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, north of Gaza City, and another house in the Manara neighborhood, south of Khan Younis City, killing several civilians and injuring others.”
According to multiple media outlets, Israeli forces also killed at least 13 people in an attack on a home in Deir al-Balah.
Israel faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice over its assault on Gaza and in November the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defense minister, Yoav Gallant, as well as Hamas leader Mohammed Diab Ibrahim Al-Masri.
In addition to waging war on Gaza over the past 15 months, Israel has stepped up its military activity in the West Bank—where a Tuesday strike on the Jenin refugee camp killed at least six Palestinians and wounded several others. The Times of Israel reported that “the IDF said it carried out the strike in a joint operation with the Shin Bet, without immediately providing further information.”
The Israeli newspaper also noted that “on Tuesday evening, as on many previous Tuesday nights, thousands gather for a unity rally of prayer and song held in Tel Aviv’s Hostages Square,” while hundreds of right-wing demonstrators blocked “an intersection in central Jerusalem, in protest of the ongoing hostage negotiations between Israel and Hamas.”
According to a draft obtained by The Associated Press, the first part of the three-stage deal would involve a halt to the fighting, both sides releasing captives, displaced Palestinians in Gaza returning home, and more humanitarian aid entering the strip.
Phase two would feature a declaration of “sustainable calm” and Hamas freeing more hostages in exchange for additional Palestinian prisoners and the full withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, AP reported. The third part would include an exchange of bodies, a reconstruction plan for the strip—where civilian infrastructure is in ruins—and the reopening of border crossings.
“The terms of the deal being negotiated are largely consistent with what was on the table last May when outgoing President Joe Biden first announced it. Biden allowed Netanyahu to steamroll him for months—rewarding Israel with billions of dollars in arms transfers and political support after rejecting that cease-fire deal,” Jeremy Scahill detailed at Drop Site News.
The latest cease-fire talks come as U.S. President-elect Donald Trump prepares for his inauguration next Monday. The Republican has been pushing for a resolution to Israel’s assault on Gaza—or at least an appearance of one—before he returns to office.
“The fact that Trump emerged as the decisive player in pushing a potential cease-fire forward is evidence that Biden never used the full powers available to a sitting U.S. president to seal the deal in the summer,” wrote Scahill. “While Trump has publicly repeated his threat that he will ‘unleash hell’ on Hamas if the Israeli hostages are not freed, his pressure has not been solely focused on Hamas; Trump and his aides have made clear to Netanyahu that the president-elect expects Israel to comply with his demands, too.”
Netanyahu on Tuesday told hostages’ families that “he is willing to agree to a prolonged cease-fire Gaza in exchange for their return,” according toHaaretz. Later Tuesday, The Times of Israel reported that the prime minister was meeting with “Israel’s hostage negotiation team and with members of Israel’s security establishment,” and expected negotiations to go through the night.
Even if a deal is reached regarding Gaza, some experts fear the bloodshed will continue there and in the West Bank
“There will possibly be an end to the Gaza war, but there will be now another war in the West Bank,” Sami Al-Arian, a Palestinian analyst and director of the Center for Islam and Global Affairs at Istanbul Zaim University, told Scahill. “It may not be on the same scale, but it would be as vicious from the settlers, from the Netanyahu government.”
Gazan writer and analyst Muhammad Shehada wrote for the U.S.-based Center for International Policy last week that a senior Arab official told him the U.S. president-elect asked the Qataris and Egyptians to finalize a deal before he takes office but the Israeli prime minister “is not budging while at the same time issuing false positive statements of a breakthrough and progress to buy time and pretend to seek a deal until Trump is in office, where Netanyahu can trade the Gaza war for something big in the West Bank.”
Sharing on social media a video of the Tuesday strike on Jenin, Middle East expert Assal Rad said that “as a cease-fire in Gaza is near, Israel is expanding its assault on the West Bank. The Gaza genocide is only the most recent atrocity Israel—with the help of the U.S.—has carried out against Palestinians. The same story for 77+ years. It was always a war on Palestinian existence.”
FORCED STARVATION: Israel is preventing much-needed aid getting to Gaza
