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Drone Strike Kills 3 in Gaza as Hamas Prepares to Transfer Governance to New Committee

A tent camp for displaced Palestinians stretches across an area in Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP)
A tent camp for displaced Palestinians stretches across an area in Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP)
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Drone Strike Kills 3 in Gaza as Hamas Prepares to Transfer Governance to New Committee

A tent camp for displaced Palestinians stretches across an area in Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP)
A tent camp for displaced Palestinians stretches across an area in Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026. (AP)

An Israeli drone strike on Monday killed three Palestinians who had crossed the ceasefire line near central Gaza’s Morag corridor, hospital officials said.

Israel’s military did not immediately respond to questions about the strike, which came as Gaza awaits an expected announcement this week of a “Board of Peace” to oversee its governance.

Hamas said it will dissolve its existing government once the new committee takes over the territory, as mandated under the US-brokered peace plan.

The Gaza Health Ministry reports that more than 440 people have been killed since Israel and Hamas agreed last October to suspend their two-year war. Since then each side has accused the other of violating the ceasefire, which remains in its initial stage as efforts continue to recover the remains of the final Israeli hostage in Gaza.

Israel’s military controls a buffer zone that covers more than half of Gaza, while the Hamas-run government retains authority over the rest.

Throughout the war, Israel has supported anti-Hamas groups, including an armed group in southern Gaza that claimed responsibility on Monday for the killing of a senior Hamas police officer in Khan Younis.

Lt. Col. Mahmoud al-Astal was gunned down in the Muwasi area, the Hamas-run Interior Ministry said in a statement.

Hamas spokesperson Hazem Kassem, in a post on Telegram on Sunday, called for a speeding up of the establishment of the Palestinian technocratic committee set to govern Gaza.

Hamas and the rival Palestinian Authority have not announced the names of who will sit on the committee and it remains unclear if they will be cleared by Israel and the US.

Officials say that Trump will announce his appointments to the Board of Peace in the coming days.

Under Trump’s plan, the board would supervise the new Palestinian government, the disarmament of Hamas, the deployment of an international security force, additional pullbacks of Israeli troops and reconstruction. The US has reported little progress on any of these fronts so far.

According to Turkish officials, Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan participated on Monday in a video conference with the US and others meeting to discuss “preparations for the second stage” of the ceasefire agreement. The talks, held as a continuation of the meeting in Miami at the end of December, also included officials from Egypt and Qatar.

Dozens of Palestinians, including medical workers, held a protest in Gaza City on Monday to demand the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners still being held in Israeli prisons. The protest was organized by the Palestinian Prisoners Committee outside the building of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza City.

Meanwhile, groups that advocate for Palestinian prisoners said that Israeli authorities have confirmed the death of a detainee from Gaza.

In a statement Sunday, the Prisoners’ Affairs Commission and the Palestinian Prisoner Society said that Hamza Abdullah Abdelhadi Adwan died in prison on Sept. 9, based on information the family received from the Israeli military.

Adwan, 67, a father of nine with serious health problems, had been detained at a checkpoint on Nov. 12, 2024. Two of his children were killed in the Gaza war.

Since the start of the war, 87 Palestinian detainees have died in Israeli prisons — including 51 from Gaza — according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Affairs Commission. They said that more than 100 detainees — some not yet identified — had died of torture, starvation, medical neglect, and abuse.

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Arab World

States Backing UN Peacekeepers in Lebanon Voice 'Deep Alarm' at Hostilities

Members of the UNIFIL peacekeeping force enter a bus at the site of an Israeli strike at the northern entrance of the southern city of Sidon, on November 7, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYAT / AFP)
Members of the UNIFIL peacekeeping force enter a bus at the site of an Israeli strike at the northern entrance of the southern city of Sidon, on November 7, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYAT / AFP)
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States Backing UN Peacekeepers in Lebanon Voice 'Deep Alarm' at Hostilities

Members of the UNIFIL peacekeeping force enter a bus at the site of an Israeli strike at the northern entrance of the southern city of Sidon, on November 7, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYAT / AFP)
Members of the UNIFIL peacekeeping force enter a bus at the site of an Israeli strike at the northern entrance of the southern city of Sidon, on November 7, 2024, amid the ongoing war between Israel and Hezbollah. (Photo by Mahmoud ZAYAT / AFP)

Around 30 countries, including those with United Nations peacekeepers in Lebanon, voiced concern Wednesday over renewed fighting after Israel launched strikes in retaliation for attacks by Hezbollah.

"We troop contributing countries to the UN peacekeeping force in Lebanon, joined by several other member states, express our deep alarm at the escalation of hostilities in Lebanon," Jerome Bonnafont, the French ambassador to the United Nations, told reporters in New York, Reuters reported.

"Faced with war, Lebanon must be supported. Its sovereignty and territorial integrity must be preserved. We express our full solidarity with Lebanon and the Lebanese people," he added in the joint statement.

Bonnafont said the countries he represented, including France, Britain, Germany, India and Korea, "condemn in the strongest terms" Hezbollah's attacks.

He spoke as the Security Council was to meet at the UN headquarters to discuss the uptick in fighting in Lebanon, which has left 570 people dead, according to the country's health ministry.

Israel's UN envoy Danny Danon said Wednesday that Israeli forces will continue to operate in Lebanon "as long (as) there will be a threat against us."

"Israel does not want to be operating, but Israel will not accept rockets fired at our people, and we will do whatever is necessary to stop them," Danon told reporters.

Arab World

Shrapnel from Bombing Kills Woman in Iraq

Members of Kataeb Hezbollah attend the funeral in Baghdad of comrades killed in a strike on the Syrian border (file photo – Reuters)
Members of Kataeb Hezbollah attend the funeral in Baghdad of comrades killed in a strike on the Syrian border (file photo – Reuters)
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Shrapnel from Bombing Kills Woman in Iraq

Members of Kataeb Hezbollah attend the funeral in Baghdad of comrades killed in a strike on the Syrian border (file photo – Reuters)
Members of Kataeb Hezbollah attend the funeral in Baghdad of comrades killed in a strike on the Syrian border (file photo – Reuters)

Shrapnel killed a woman following a strike on an arms depot belonging to an Iran-backed armed group in Iraq, health and security officials told AFP.

A security source said "a bombing targeted an arms depot at a military base", which mainly hosts the powerful Asaib Ahl al-Haq group, near the town of Al-Suwaira, southeast of Baghdad.

He added that "a woman was martyred when shrapnel from a rocket fell near her after the strike" in the town in Wasit province.

A local health official confirmed her death and said another person was seriously wounded.

The military base belongs to the Hashed al-Shaabi, or the Popular Mobilization Forces, a former paramilitary coalition now integrated into Iraq's regular army.

It also encompasses brigades from Iran-backed groups, including the US-blacklisted Asaib Ahl al-Haq.

Since the start of the Middle East war, bases belonging to the Hashed al-Shaabi have been hit several times by strikes blamed on the US and Israel.

At least 20 fighters have been killed so far, according to an AFP tally based on figures from the armed groups.

Arab World

Israeli Settler Violence Rises in West Bank Under Iran War Curbs

Mourners carry the bodies of three Palestinians killed in a reported attack by Israeli settlers in the town of Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, during the funeral on March 8, 2026. (Photo by Zain JAAFAR / AFP)
Mourners carry the bodies of three Palestinians killed in a reported attack by Israeli settlers in the town of Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, during the funeral on March 8, 2026. (Photo by Zain JAAFAR / AFP)
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Israeli Settler Violence Rises in West Bank Under Iran War Curbs

Mourners carry the bodies of three Palestinians killed in a reported attack by Israeli settlers in the town of Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, during the funeral on March 8, 2026. (Photo by Zain JAAFAR / AFP)
Mourners carry the bodies of three Palestinians killed in a reported attack by Israeli settlers in the town of Abu Falah, northeast of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, during the funeral on March 8, 2026. (Photo by Zain JAAFAR / AFP)

Israeli settlers in the occupied West Bank are taking advantage of curbs on movement imposed during the war on Iran to attack Palestinians, with military roadblocks preventing ambulances reaching victims quickly, rights groups and medics say.

Settlers have killed at least five Palestinians in the West Bank since the United States and Israel began airstrikes against Iran on February 28, according to the Palestinian health ministry. A sixth man died after inhaling teargas fired during an attack, according to Israeli rights group B'Tselem.

Israel's military blocked many West Bank roads with iron gates and mounds of earth on the first day of the war, and has largely shut crossings with Israel.

The Israeli military says the curbs are preemptive measures while it is carrying out airstrikes on Iran and against Lebanese group Hezbollah, which has fired missiles at Israel in solidarity with Tehran.

Palestinians in remote West Bank villages say the roadblocks have left them increasingly exposed to settler violence.

The Israeli military has also continued to carry out the raids it frequently conducts in Palestinian cities and towns during peacetime to arrest Palestinians, often without charge, they say.

A spokesperson for the Yesha Council, which represents Jewish settlements, did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment on the attacks.

Malak ⁠Beirat's husband, Thaer, ⁠was one of two Palestinians who residents and the Palestinian health ministry say were shot dead by settlers before dawn on Sunday in Abu Falah, north of the city of Ramallah.

"Thaer loved life. I never expected he would die," said Beirat, fighting back tears as she sat with her two children.

Witnesses told Reuters that when over 100 settlers gathered on the outskirts of Abu Falah, a local WhatsApp group rallied men to protect the small village. The initial confrontation involved stone throwing, but armed settlers arrived later and began shooting, they said.

Beirat's husband was shot dead while trying to protect a house from attack, a man who helped defend the village said.

Blood could still be seen on Monday in olive groves at the scene of the attack, where villagers have erected ⁠two Palestinian flags at the spots where the two men were killed - one for each victim.

A third Palestinian died after the attack. B'Tselem said his death was probably caused by the effect of teargas fired by Israeli troops deployed to the village during the attack.

The Israeli military says an investigation has been launched into the incident and that it condemns "violence of any kind".

Medics say the new roadblocks have led to delays in reaching injured Palestinians.

"There are obstacles - and even attacks by settlers and the military on the (medical) crews," said Ahmed Jibril, spokesman for the Palestinian Red Crescent ambulance service.

There have been over 109 reports of settler violence against Palestinians in the West Bank since the start of the war with Iran including shootings, physical assaults, property damage, and threats, said Israeli monitoring group Yesh Din.

All the reported killings of Palestinians by settlers this year were in the last week, B'Tselem said.

Settlers shot dead Amir Muhammad Shanaran in a village near the city of Hebron on Saturday, and brothers Muhammad and Fahim ‘Azem were shot dead in Qaryut southeast of the city of Nablus last Monday, the Palestinian health ministry said.

"Taking advantage of the war, armed settler ⁠militias, often operating with support from the ⁠army, continue to attack and harass Palestinian communities across the West Bank in an effort to force them out," B'Tselem said.

In three of the settler shootings, the settlers were wearing Israeli army uniform, Yesh Din said. The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Palestinians accuse the military of protecting settlers rather than villagers. Israel's military denies this.

Israeli indictments of settler violence are rare. At the end of 2025, Yesh Din said that of the hundreds of cases of settler violence it had documented since the Hamas-led attacks on Israel in October 2023 that led to the Gaza war, only 2% resulted in indictments.

The United Nations says nearly 700 Palestinians were displaced by settler violence from the start of 2025 through early February 2026.

Israel's government has expanded settlements in a construction push that Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says is aimed at burying the idea of a Palestinian state.

Right-wing Israeli minister Yossi Dagan announced on Wednesday the establishment of a new settlement in a strategic position in the mountain overlooking Nablus, one of 22 new settlements announced by the Israeli government last May.

Palestinians have long sought an independent state in the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, territories Israel captured and occupied in the 1967 Middle East war.

Over 700,000 settlers live in East Jerusalem and the West Bank among more than 3 million Palestinians, according to a European Union report in 2024.
Most of the world considers Israel's settlement activity in the West Bank illegal under international law relating to military occupations. Israel disputes this view.