Live blog: Gaza’s Rafah crossing to reopen within days — Egyptian governor
The truce in Israel's war on Gaza — which has reportedly killed over 47,306 Palestinians — enters its eleventh day as Tel Aviv raids several villages west of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.
![In June 2024, the Israeli army destroyed the Palestinian side of Rafah crossing in southern Gaza. / Photo: Reuters In June 2024, the Israeli army destroyed the Palestinian side of Rafah crossing in southern Gaza. / Photo: Reuters](https://images-cdn.trtworld.com/trtworld/w664/h374/q70/20165680_4-0-5099-2872.jpeg)
In June 2024, the Israeli army destroyed the Palestinian side of Rafah crossing in southern Gaza. / Photo: Reuters
Wednesday, January 29, 2025
1450 GMT — The Rafah border crossing with Gaza will reopen within days in the presence of European and Palestinian observers, an Egyptian governor said.
“The Egyptian side of the Rafah crossing is fully ready for operation,” North Sinai Governor Khaled Mojawer told Anadolu Agency.
“The problem lies with the Palestinian side due to damage caused by the Israeli military operations,” he added.
The governor stressed that the terminal will open “on both directions within days after the repair, with a European-Palestinian presence.”
Mojawer underlined the importance of abidance by Hamas and Israel of a Gaza ceasefire deal that took effect on January 19 “to maintain the delivery of humanitarian aid.”
The Rafah crossing, a vital route for humanitarian aid into Gaza, has been closed since May 2024 after Israel’s ground offensive in the southern city of Rafah.
More updates 👇
1500 GMT — US Middle East envoy arrives in Israel for talks on Gaza ceasefire
The US envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff arrived in Israel to meet with top Israeli officials to discuss developments of the Gaza ceasefire that took effect on January 19.
According to the Israeli Channel 14, Witkoff is scheduled to meet with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other top officials.
Shortly after arriving in Israel, Witkoff made a short visit to Gaza to check on progress in implementing the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas.
1445 GMT — Germany mulls to send border guards to Rafah
Germany announced that it is planning to deploy border guards to help monitor the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt as part of a civilian European Union mission.
Interior Ministry spokesman Maximilian Kall confirmed the plans but provided limited details.
“All I can say is that we are coordinating it with the Foreign Office.
1430 GMT — Israel says army to stay in Jenin after ongoing West Bank raids
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz said that the army will maintain a presence in Jenin refugee camp in the northern occupied West Bank after its ongoing military raids there.
“The camp will not return to what it was. Even after the operation ends, Israeli forces will stay to ensure that ‘terrorism’ does not return,” Katz said in a video statement from Jenin.
He, however, did not specify the date of ending the operation in the camp.
Katz also called the Palestinian Authority to stop funding what he called “the killing of Jews.”
At least 16 Palestinians have been killed and over 50 others injured in an ongoing Israeli military raids in the Jenin refugee camp since January 21.
1305 GMT — 2 more Palestinian prisoners from Gaza die in Israeli prisons: Rights groups
Two more Palestinian detainees from Gaza died in Israeli prisons, prisoners’ rights groups unveiled.
The Israeli army confirmed the death of Mohammed Al-Asali, 35, and Ibrahim Ashour, 25, in detention, the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs, the Palestinian Prisoner Society, and the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association said in a joint statement.
According to the statement, Asali died in prison on May 17, 2024, while Ashour breathed his last on June 23, 2024.
1222 GMT — Israeli drone strike injures 5 people in southern Lebanon, health ministry says
Five people were injured in an Israeli drone strike targeting the southern Lebanese town of Majdal Selm, the Lebanese health ministry said.
On Tuesday, Israeli air strikes injured 36 people in Nabatieh, a major town in south Lebanon, according to the health ministry. The Israeli military said it had struck Hezbollah vehicles that were transporting weapons on the edge of Nabatieh.
The Israeli army also detained three people on Wednesday in southern border town of Maroun al-Ras, Lebanese state news agency NNA reported.
Here is timeline of ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hezbollah 👇 pic.twitter.com/KmHSKgwPDs
— TRT World Now (@TRTWorldNow) January 29, 2025
1130 GMT — UNRWA Lebanon says not impacted by US aid freeze or new Israeli law
The director of the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees in Lebanon said that the agency had not been affected by US President Donald Trump's halt to US foreign aid funding or by an Israeli ban on its operations.
"UNRWA currently is not receiving any US funding so there is no direct impact of the more recent decisions related to the UN system for UNRWA," Dorothee Klaus told reporters at UNRWA's field office in Lebanon.
US funding to UNRWA was suspended last year until March 2025 under a deal reached by US lawmakers and after Israel accused 12 of the agency's 13,000 employees in Gaza of participating in the October 7, 2023 attacks.
1155 GMT — Gaza aid delay by Israel may affect captives' release - Hamas
Two Hamas officials accused Israel of delaying the delivery of vital humanitarian aid to Gaza, as agreed in the ceasefire deal, and warned that it could impact the release of captives.
"We warn that continued delays and failure to address these points (delivery of key aid) will affect the natural progression of the agreement, including the prisoner exchange," a senior Hamas official told AFP, while another official said the group had asked mediators to intervene in the issue.
Both spoke on condition of anonymity due to the sensitivity of the matter.
1023 GMT — Palestinians say Israeli forces kill two in West Bank raids
The Palestinian health ministry has said that Israeli forces killed two people in separate overnight raids in the occupied West Bank, including one in Jenin, where the Israeli military is conducting a major offensive.
The ministry said in a statement that a 25-year-old man it identified as Osama Abu al-Hija was killed late on Tuesday in Jenin "as a result of an Israeli air strike".
Shortly after midnight on Wednesday, the ministry of health also announced that a 23-year-old Palestinian man it identified as Ayman Naji was killed in the northern city of Tulkarem "after being shot" by Israeli forces.
1003 GMT — UNRWA ban in Israel, East Jerusalem puts 2.5 M refugees at risk: chief
The UNRWA chief for the Palestinian territories has expressed deep concerns over Israeli legislation that prohibits UNRWA’s activities in Israel and restricts any communication or coordination between Tel Aviv authorities and the agency, set to take full effect at the end of January.
Speaking to AA, Senior Communications Manager Jonathan Fowler expressed deep concern over the unfolding situation.
"There is a very high probability that something bad will happen here on Thursday (January 30)," Fowler stated.
Reports indicate that Israeli groups will gather for celebrations outside the UNRWA headquarters.
"We can't risk our personnel, facilities, documents and everything we own."
The agency, which operates from its headquarters in occupied East Jerusalem and helps around 2.5 million Palestinian refugees, is set to be banned after 74 years due to a law passed by the Israeli Parliament on October 28, 2024.
0840 GMT — US envoy, Palestinian official meet in Saudi Arabia
The US envoy to the Middle East, Steve Witkoff, has met with a senior adviser to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the Saudi capital Riyadh, according to a media report.
"This was the first meeting between a Trump administration official and a Palestinian official since November's election," Axios news portal reported on Tuesday.
Citing sources, Axios said the meeting followed weeks of back-channel talks between the Trump administration officials and Palestinian leadership.
0815 GMT — Israel continues to demolish Palestinian homes in West Bank
The Israeli army has demolished another Palestinian home, marking the ninth consecutive day of its military incursion into the northern occupied West Bank cities of Jenin and Tulkarem.
Eyewitnesses told Anadolu that the Israeli army has escalated its offensive against Tulkarem, which began on Monday.
The Israeli army arrived with a D10 bulldozer, raided the Shweika neighbourhood in northern Tulkarem city, and demolished the home of Palestinian Tamer Fuqaha, who was killed by the Israeli army in May last year.
UNRWA is the backbone of humanitarian aid response in Gaza, which has been decimated by Israel's 15-month war. Here's a look at its operations👇 pic.twitter.com/PyUI6RCsRz
— TRT World Now (@TRTWorldNow) January 29, 2025
0623 GMT — Israel has no right to ban UNRWA in Palestinian territories: UN
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has called on the Israeli government to withdraw its decision requiring UNRWA to stop providing its services in the occupied West Bank and vacate all buildings it runs in the city by January 30.
Guterres called on Israel, in a letter, to withdraw this decision based on the legal framework that regulates UNRWA’s activities and its irreplaceable nature, referring to Israel’s obligations towards the agency according to an agreement concluded between Israel and the United Nations in 1967, and under the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations that applies to UNRWA.
He stressed that international law stipulates that Israel has no right to impose its sovereignty over the occupied Palestinian territories and that "Israel cannot invoke the provisions of its national law," including the law passed to ban UNRWA, "to justify its failure to fulfil its obligations under international law ."
0623 GMT — Israel kills Palestinian in Tulkarem
A Palestinian youth has been shot and killed by Israeli forces as they besieged a house in the Artah suburb, south of Tulkarem.
Ayman Fadi Qasim Naji, 23, was killed by the Israeli army, the Palestinian news agency WAFA reported.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said that its crews received the body of a slain youth who had been wounded in the Artah suburb and detained by Israel. He was transferred to the Martyr Thabet Thabet Governmental Hospital.
2140 GMT — UK 'actively complicit' in Israel's genocide in Gaza: report
The British government has not been directly perpetrating violence in Gaza but has played an "influential role," not only through the validation of arms licenses but also through "wider and deeper military collaboration" with Israel, according to a newly published report.
The study, published by the British Palestinian Committee (BPC), sets out the depth of British military collaboration with Israel in the context of the UK's obligations regarding Israel's "egregious violations" of international humanitarian and human rights law.
It said the UK has not simply failed to meet its third-party responsibilities to uphold international law, including its duty to prevent genocide, but has been "actively complicit in genocidal acts" perpetrated against the Palestinian people for the last 15 months.
2236 GMT — Destruction at Gaza's Shifa Hospital exceeds 95%: Health official
Destruction at the Al Shifa Medical Complex, the largest medical facility in besieged Gaza, has exceeded 95 percent due to the Israeli genocidal war, a Palestinian health official said.
Munir al Bursh, director general of the Ministry of Health in Gaza, told Anadolu Agency that the Israeli army "destroyed over 95 percent of the buildings and equipment at Al Shifa Medical Complex during the months of the genocide."
Despite the destruction, the complex continues to provide partial services to residents in the 5 percent of its buildings that have been rehabilitated, said al Bursh.
2056 GMT — Israeli worker 'accidentally' killed by army in Gaza: reports
The Israeli army "accidentally" killed an Israeli worker from a construction company in central Gaza, according to media reports.
"Earlier today, a worker from a construction company carrying out engineering tasks for the Israeli army, commissioned by the Ministry of Defense, was killed in central Gaza," the army said in a statement.
"A military police investigation has been opened into the incident under the direction of the military prosecution," it added without providing details about the circumstances of the death.
2015 GMT — US stands alone with UNRWA ban stance at UNSC
The US was left isolated in support of Israel's decision to ban UNRWA at the UN Security Council, while many member states voiced strong backing for the agency's continued operations.
Dorothy Shea, US charge d'affairs ad interim for UN, told the Council that the US "supports the implementation" of Israeli Knesset's decision to ban the UN agency for Palestinian refugees' operations in areas under Israeli occupation.
While UNRWA was mandated by the UN General Assembly, Shea claimed that "it is Israel's sovereign decision to close UNRWA offices in Jerusalem on January 30."
Shea also claimed that UNRWA is not "the only option for providing humanitarian assistance in Gaza" and accused the UN agency of "terrorist ties."
2011 GMT — Germany's Scholz calls Trump's Gaza relocation plans 'unacceptable'
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has called US President Donald Trump's suggestion to relocate Palestinians from besieged Gaza to Jordan and Egypt "unacceptable."
"Any resettlement plans, the idea that the citizens of Gaza will be expelled from there to Egypt or Jordan, is unacceptable," Scholz said, referring at a campaign event in Berlin to Trump's comments.
2010 GMT — Netanyahu to meet Trump on February 4 in White House
US President Donald Trump has invited Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to a meeting at the White House on February 4, the Israeli premier's office said.
"Prime Minister Netanyahu is the first foreign leader to be invited to the White House during US President Trump's second term," the statement said.
A White House official confirmed an invitation had been extended to the Israeli prime minister to meet at the White House "early next week".
2005 GMT — Israel wounds 24 in its strikes in southern Lebanon
Israel has wounded 24 people in its strikes in south Lebanon despite a ceasefire in force for more than six weeks, the Lebanese Health Ministry said.
The first strike hit the southern town of Nabatiyeh al-Fawqa, wounding 20 people, the ministry said, updating a previous toll of 14 wounded.
It added that another strike in the neighbouring town of Zawtar wounded four people.
1900 GMT — Israel raids several villages west of Ramallah
Israeli soldiers have stormed several villages to the west of the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, WAFA news agency said, citing security sources.
The agency said that Israeli soldiers erected checkpoints in downtown parts of Deir Ibzi while firing barrages of concussion grenades without casualties.
Israel carried out another raid in Deir Ammar.
For our live updates from Tuesday January 28, 2025, click here.