Category World News

Israel killed at least 10 Palestinians across Gaza, just as the United States announced that the two sides had progressed to the second phase of a 20-point ceasefire deal with Hamas to end the conflict.

The Wafa news agency reported that the Israeli military bombed two houses belonging to the al-Hawli and the al-Jarou families in the central town of Deir el-Balah on Thursday evening, with health officials confirming a 16-year-old minor was among six killed.

The Israeli military announced that one of the victims, Muhammad al-Hawli, was a commander in the Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas.

Reporting from Gaza City, Al Jazeera’s Ibrahim al-Khalili confirmed that a “senior figure of the Qassam Brigades” had been killed and that the attack underscored Israel’s message that it would be defining phase two of the ceasefire “on its terms”.

Israel, he said, had set the terms of the next phase of the ceasefire, which will see the establishment of a Palestinian technocratic administration overseen by an international “Board of Peace”, with the option of “escalation” remaining very much “on the table”.

Elsewhere in the war-torn enclave, at least one person was shot dead by Israeli forces near Al-Alam roundabout, west of Rafah city, another person was killed in an Israeli attack on a police post near Al-Nablusi Junction, southwest of Gaza City and two more people were killed in an Israeli air attack on the Al-Khatib family home in the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza.

‘Despicable crime’

Hamas condemned the targeting of the al-Hawli home as a “despicable crime”, saying that it revealed the “contempt” of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the October ceasefire, but did not confirm the death of one of its commanders.

At least 451 Palestinians, including more than 100 children, have been reported killed since the ceasefire took effect, with Israel ordering residents out of more than half of Gaza, where its troops remain behind an apparently mobile “yellow line“.

Three Israeli soldiers have been killed over the same period.

US special envoy Steve Witkoff announced in a post on X on Wednesday that the second phase of Trump’s 20-point plan to end the conflict had been launched, “moving from ceasefire to demilitarization, technocratic governance, and reconstruction”.

The next phase would bring “the full demilitarization and reconstruction of Gaza, primarily the disarmament of all unauthorized personnel”, he said, with reference to Hamas, which has so far refused to publicly commit to full disarmament.

The plan also calls for the deployment of an International Stabilisation Force to help secure Gaza and train vetted Palestinian police units.

The 15-member technocratic committee, named the National Committee for the Administration of Gaza, will manage day-to-day governance, but leaves unresolved broader political and security issues, including the question of Israel’s post-war withdrawal from the enclave.

Ali Shaath, a former deputy minister in the Ramallah-based Palestinian Authority, has been appointed to lead the committee, which is now meeting in Egypt to begin preparations for entering the territory, according to the AFP news agency report citing Egyptian state television.

In a recent interview, Shaath said the committee would rely on “brains rather than weapons” and would not coordinate with armed groups.

‘A step in the right direction’

Nevertheless, senior Hamas official Bassem Naim welcomed the establishment of the committee on Thursday, calling it “a step in the right direction” and signalling the armed group was ready to hand over administration of Gaza.

“This is crucial for consolidating the ceasefire, preventing a return to war, addressing the catastrophic humanitarian crisis and preparing for comprehensive reconstruction,” he said.

“The ball is now in the court of the mediators, the American guarantor and the international community to empower the committee,” he added.

The US-proposed Board of Peace is expected to be led on the ground by Bulgarian diplomat and politician Nickolay Mladenov.

The Reuters news agency reported that invitations were sent out on Wednesday to potential Board of Peace members personally selected by Trump.

‘Human remains’ in the rubble

The first phase of Trump’s plan began on October 10 and included a complete ceasefire, the exchange of Israeli captives for Palestinian prisoners, and a surge of humanitarian aid into Gaza.

However, with Israel having maintained a chokehold on supplies entering the enclave, nearly all of the territory’s more than 2 million people are now struggling to survive winter in makeshift homes or damaged buildings.

As Al Jazeera’s al-Khalili put it, “the situation is going from bad to worse for hundreds of thousands of displaced Palestinians who heard about the announcement of the second phase of the ceasefire, [with] nothing implemented on the ground”.

Jorge Moreira da Silva, head of the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) said that conditions were “inhumane” and called for an acceleration of reconstruction work. “We can’t wait, we can’t procrastinate,” he said on Thursday after a visit to the territory.

Da Silva said the launch of phase two of the Gaza truce plan marked a “historical” opportunity to kick-start reconstruction efforts, which he said would require $52bn, according to an assessment conducted by the World Bank, the UN and the European Commission.

In phase two, Shaath said that the committee would focus on providing urgent relief for Gaza, announcing that he would bring in bulldozers to “push the rubble into the sea, and make new islands, new land”.

According to Shaath, Israel’s full-scale onslaught on Gaza has left about 60 million tonnes of rubble scattered across the enclave, “with unexploded ordnance in the rubble, dangerous waste, and unfortunately also human remains”.

United States President Donald Trump announced a healthcare plan that would replace government subsidies for insurance with direct payments into health savings accounts for consumers, an idea that some experts have said would hurt lower-income Americans.

The Trump administration on Thursday called on Congress to pass legislation to codify Trump’s most-favoured-nation drug price deals and to make more medicines available for over-the-counter purchase.

“This will lower healthcare costs and increase consumer choice by strengthening price transparency, increasing competition, and reducing the need for costly and time-consuming doctor’s visits,” the White House said in a release outlining the order.

Trump’s framework, dubbed “The Great Healthcare Plan” and outlined in a White House fact sheet, includes an insurance cost-sharing reduction programme that could reduce the most common Obamacare plan premiums by more than 10 percent and replaces government subsidies for insurance with direct payments to Americans.

The White House did not provide details on how much money it planned to send to consumers to buy insurance, or whether the funds would be available to all “Obamacare” enrollees or only those with lower-tier bronze and catastrophic plans.

The idea mirrors one floated among Republican senators last year. Democrats largely rejected it, saying the accounts would not be enough to cover costs for most consumers. Currently, such accounts are used disproportionately by the wealthiest Americans, who have more income to fund them and a bigger incentive to lower their tax rate.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt was asked at her briefing on Thursday whether the president could guarantee that, under his plan, people would be able to cover their healthcare costs.

“If this plan is put in place, every single American who has healthcare in the United States will see lower costs as a result,” she said without elaborating.

“These are common-sense actions that make up President Trump’s great healthcare plan, and they represent the most comprehensive and bold agenda to lower healthcare costs to have ever been considered by the federal government,” Leavitt also said.

The White House said that the plan would not affect people with pre-existing conditions.

The plan also targets pharmacy benefit managers and requires insurance companies to disclose the profits they take from premiums and the frequency of denials.

Companies would publish their rate and coverage comparisons on their websites in “plain English” as well as the percentage of revenues paid out to claims compared with overhead costs and profits. They would also be required to publish the percentage of claims they reject and the average wait times for routine care.

“Instead of just papering over the problems, we have gotten into this great healthcare plan, a framework that we believe will help Congress create legislation that will address the challenges that the American people have been craving,” US Centres for Medicare & Medicaid Services Administrator Mehmet Oz told reporters on a White House briefing call.

The White House also did not provide a timeline for implementation, and a deeply divided Congress is unlikely to pass major healthcare legislation quickly.

Providers and insurers who accept Medicare or Medicaid money would also have to post their pricing and fees.

Obamacare looms

The announcement comes as millions of Americans face higher healthcare costs this year, with open enrolment for most federally subsidised Obamacare plans closing on Thursday.

On average, premium costs will increase to $1,904 in 2026 from $888 in 2025, according to health policy firm KFF, a far greater jump than the savings promised in the Trump plan.

Congress remains divided on whether and how to reinstate generous COVID-era tax credits that expired at the end of last year.

Retroactive expanded federal subsidies are still possible, and there is a group of bipartisan lawmakers negotiating a potential extension, but Republicans remain divided on whether they should do so.

The Trump administration wants funding to go directly to consumers using health savings accounts, Oz said, rather than to insurers, a position also adopted by Congressional Republicans who oppose extending the Obamacare subsidies.

Trump has said he may veto any legislation to extend the subsidies, and the plan makes no mention of them.

“This does not specifically address those bipartisan congressional negotiations that are going on. It does say that we have a preference that money goes to people, as opposed to insurance companies,” the White House official said.

Trump has long been dogged by his lack of a comprehensive healthcare plan as he and Republicans have sought to unwind former President Barack Obama’s signature legislation, the Affordable Care Act. Trump was thwarted during his first term in trying to repeal and replace the law.

When he ran for president in 2024, Trump said he had only “concepts of a plan” to address healthcare. His new proposal, short on many specifics, appeared to be the concept of a plan.

On Wall Street, healthcare insurance provider stocks surged on the news of the looming plan. UnitedHealthcare is up 0.8 percent in midday trading. Humana is up higher at 3.5 percent than the market open, and Oscar Health is up 6.4 percent.

The White House says “all options remain on the table” for the United States to take military action against Iran, reiterating that Tehran would face “grave consequences” if the killings of antigovernment protesters continue.

During a news conference on Thursday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said US President Donald Trump and his team had communicated to Iran that “if the killing continues, there will be grave consequences”.

“The president understands today that 800 executions that were scheduled and supposed to take place yesterday were halted,” Leavitt told reporters, without providing any evidence to back up the claim that the executions were stopped.

“The president and his team are closely monitoring this situation, and all options remain on the table for the president,” she added.

Her comments come just hours after Trump appeared to soften his tone after several days of threats against Iran, with the US president saying his administration would take military action against Tehran if more killings were carried out.

Thousands of Iranians have taken to the streets since late December last year in mass demonstrations that were sparked by soaring inflation and the steep devaluation of the local currency.

The protests have spread to cities and towns across Iran, and activist groups say more than 1,000 demonstrators have been killed in the unrest.

The Iranian government, which describes the protesters as armed rioters backed by the US and its major regional ally, Israel, has said more than 100 security officers have been killed in attacks during the demonstrations.

Al Jazeera is not able to independently verify these figures.

Softened rhetoric

After days of heightened tensions and fears of a US military attack on Iran, Trump on Wednesday dialled down the rhetoric, saying he had received assurances that the killings of demonstrators had stopped.

Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi also denied that Tehran planned to execute any protesters. “Hanging is ‌out of the ‌question,” he ⁠told the Fox News broadcaster.

The foreign minister had earlier this week said Iran is ready for war if the US wants to “test” it.

“If Washington wants to test the military option it has tested before, we are ready for it,” Araghchi said in an interview with our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic on Monday.

‘Great deal of uncertainty’

It remained difficult on Thursday to get information about what was happening on the ground in Iran as a nationwide internet blackout hit the one-week mark, according to online monitor NetBlocks.

But a resident of the Iranian capital, Tehran, said that security had been heavily reinforced amid continued uncertainty.

“There is a big military presence on the streets of the capital and elsewhere,” said the resident, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

“There is a great deal of uncertainty. A lot of people are worried,” they said. “There is a lot of death, sadness and anger.”

A commander in Iran’s elite Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) also said the country’s armed forces remained on high alert.

IRGC Ground Force Commander Brigadier General Mohammad Karami said the military was “ready at the highest possible level”, Iran’s state-run Press TV reported.

Separately, Iranian Defence Minister Aziz Nasirzadeh warned that the government would use all its capabilities to “suppress the savage armed terrorists” it claims are behind the unrest.

In comments broadcast on Iranian state television, Nasirzadeh reiterated previous claims by the government that the demonstrations were orchestrated by the US and Israel.

The “designers and executors of the riots should know that we are monitoring them”, he added.

Meanwhile, despite Trump’s softening tone, Washington issued fresh sanctions against Iran on Thursday morning over the protest crackdown.

Palestinians in Gaza have told Al Jazeera the second phase of the ceasefire won’t improve their lives. They say little will change until Israel stops bombing the Strip and allows in more aid. On Wednesday, the US announced it was launching phase two of the ceasefire.