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Israel Rejects Early Release of Oldest Palestinian Prisoner

File photo of oldest Palestinian prisoner Fouad Shobaki
File photo of oldest Palestinian prisoner Fouad Shobaki
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Israel Rejects Early Release of Oldest Palestinian Prisoner

File photo of oldest Palestinian prisoner Fouad Shobaki
File photo of oldest Palestinian prisoner Fouad Shobaki

An Israeli committee on Tuesday rejected an appeal to release the oldest Palestinian prisoner, Fouad Shobaki, who was sentenced to 17 years in prison, of which eight months remain, the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) reported.

The Israeli early release committee is specialized in examining requests for the release of Palestinians or Israelis detainees who have completed two-thirds of their sentences, whether the request is related to health or other reasons.

PPS said in a statement carried by Reuters that Al-Shobaki suffers from prostate cancer, a disease in his eyes and stomach, a heart disease and also from high blood pressure.

Following its refusal to release Al-Shobaki, the Israeli committee has not released a statement explaining the reason behind its decision.

Qaddura Fares, head of PPS, said that despite the age and health conditions of Al-Shobaki, the committee insists on continuing to keep him in prison.

“Again, Israel proves to be an apartheid state. At the time when it releases Israeli prisoners under the so-called two-third-term law, it refuses to release al-Shobaki, who is over 83,” Fares said.

Shobaki, from the Gaza Strip, is the eldest Palestinian political prisoner in Israeli detention, and was detained in 2006 and sentenced for 20 years in prison for his role in the failed attempt to smuggle the Karen A weapons ship from Iran into the Gaza Strip in 2002.

The sentence was then shortened to 17 years in 2015 after several appeals were made considering his current health conditions and age.

The Karen A shipment was considered one of the main reasons for the siege of the headquarters of late Palestinian President Yasser Arafat in Ramallah on March 28, 2002, for 35 days.

Secretary-General of the Popular Front, Ahmed Saadat and a group of Palestinians accused of killing Israeli Tourism Minister Rehavam Zeevi, were also present at the headquarters.

At the time, Arafat refused to hand over Al-Shobaki and his companions to the Israeli side, until an agreement was reached under the auspices of the United States and Britain.

The agreement stipulated that Al-Shobaki, Saadat, and the group accused of killing the Israeli minister would be transferred to Jericho Prison, provided that they would be under US-British guard.

However, Israel attacked the prison in 2006 after the sudden withdrawal of US and British forces from it, and arrested Al-Shobaki and the other prisoners.

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Arab World

Israel Announces Arrest of Prominent Jamaa Islamiya Member in Southern Lebanon

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a building in the southern Lebanese village of Ain Qana on February 2, 2026. (AFP)
Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a building in the southern Lebanese village of Ain Qana on February 2, 2026. (AFP)
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Israel Announces Arrest of Prominent Jamaa Islamiya Member in Southern Lebanon

Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a building in the southern Lebanese village of Ain Qana on February 2, 2026. (AFP)
Smoke rises from the site of an Israeli airstrike that targeted a building in the southern Lebanese village of Ain Qana on February 2, 2026. (AFP)

The Israeli army announced on Monday the arrest of a member of the Jamaa al-Islamiya group in Lebanon.

The military said a unit carried out a night operation in Jabal al-Rouss in southern Lebanon, arresting a “prominent” member of the group and taking him to Israel for investigation.

Israeli army spokesman Avichai Adree revealed that the operation took place based on intelligence gathered in recent weeks.

The military raided a building in the area where it discovered combat equipment, he added, while accusing the group of “encouraging terrorist attacks in Israel”.

He vowed that the Israeli army will “continue to work on removing any threat” against it.

Also on Monday, an Israeli drone struck a car in the southern Lebanese village of Yanouh, killing three people, including a child, Lebanon’s state-run National News Agency. 

Adree confirmed the strike, saying the army had targeted a Hezbollah member.

The Jamaa al-Islamiya slammed the Israeli operation, acknowledging on Monday the kidnapping of its official in the Hasbaya and Marjeyoun regions Atweh Atweh.

In a statement, the group said Israel abducted Atweh in an overnight operation where it “terrorized and beat up his family members.”

It held the Israeli army responsible for any harm that may happen to him, stressing that this was yet another daily violation committed by Israel against Lebanon.

“Was this act of piracy a response to Prime Minister Nawaf Salam’s tour of the South?” it asked, saying the operation was “aimed at terrorizing the people and encouraging them to leave their villages and land.”

The group called on the Lebanese state to pressure the sponsors of the ceasefire to work on releasing Atweh and all other Lebanese detainees held by Israel. It also called on it to protect the residents of the South.

Salam had toured the South over the weekend, pledging that the state will reimpose its authority in the South and kick off reconstruction efforts within weeks.

After the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war in October 2023, the Jamaa al-Islamiya's Fajr Forces joined forces with Hezbollah, launching rockets across the border into Israel that it said were in support of Hamas in Gaza.

Hezbollah started attacking Israel on Oct. 8, 2023, a day after Hamas attacked southern Israel, triggering the latest Israel-Hamas war. Israel later launched a widespread bombardment of Lebanon that severely weakened Hezbollah, followed by a ground invasion.

The conflict ended with a US-brokered ceasefire in 2024, and since then, Israel has carried out almost daily airstrikes and ground incursions into Lebanon. Israel says it is carrying out the operations to remove Hezbollah strongholds and threats against Israel.

The Israel-Hezbollah war killed more than 4,000 people in Lebanon, including hundreds of civilians, and caused an estimated $11 billion in damage and destruction, according to the World Bank. In Israel, 127 people died, including 80 soldiers. 

Arab World

Israel Says Killed Four Militants Exiting Tunnel in Gaza’s Rafah

Boys walk past the rubble of destroyed buildings in the Jabalia camp for Palestinian refugees in the northern Gaza Strip on February 8, 2026. (AFP)
Boys walk past the rubble of destroyed buildings in the Jabalia camp for Palestinian refugees in the northern Gaza Strip on February 8, 2026. (AFP)
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Israel Says Killed Four Militants Exiting Tunnel in Gaza’s Rafah

Boys walk past the rubble of destroyed buildings in the Jabalia camp for Palestinian refugees in the northern Gaza Strip on February 8, 2026. (AFP)
Boys walk past the rubble of destroyed buildings in the Jabalia camp for Palestinian refugees in the northern Gaza Strip on February 8, 2026. (AFP)

Israel's military said it killed four suspected militants who attacked its troops as the armed men emerged from a tunnel in southern Gaza on Monday, calling the group's actions a "blatant violation" of the ceasefire.

Despite a US-brokered truce entering its second phase last month, violence has continued in the Gaza Strip, with Israel and Hamas accusing each other of breaching the agreement.

"A short while ago, four armed terrorists exited an underground tunnel shaft and fired towards soldiers in the Rafah area in the southern Gaza Strip.... Following identification, the troops eliminated the terrorists," the military said in a statement.

It said none of its troops had been injured in the attack, which it called a "blatant violation of the ceasefire agreement" between Israel and Hamas.

Israeli troops "are continuing to operate in the area to locate and eliminate all the terrorists within the underground tunnel route", the military added.

Gaza health officials have said Israeli air strikes last Wednesday killed 24 people, with Israel's military saying the attacks were in response to one of its officers being wounded by enemy gunfire.

That wave of strikes came after Israel partly reopened the Rafah border crossing between Gaza and Egypt on February 2, the only gateway to the Palestinian territory that does not pass through Israel.

Israeli forces seized control of the crossing in May 2024 during the war with Hamas, and it had remained largely closed since.

Around 180 Palestinians have left the Gaza Strip since Rafah's limited reopening, according to officials in the territory.

Israel has so far restricted passage to patients and their accompanying relatives.

The second phase of the Gaza ceasefire foresees a demilitarization of the territory -- including the disarmament of Hamas -- along with a gradual withdrawal of Israeli forces.

Hamas has repeatedly said that disarmament is a red line, although it has indicated it could consider handing over its weapons to a future Palestinian governing authority.

Israeli officials say Hamas still has around 20,000 fighters and about 60,000 Kalashnikovs in Gaza.

A Palestinian technocratic committee has been set up with a goal of taking over day-to-day governance in the strip, but it remains unclear whether, or how, it will address the issue of demilitarization.

Arab World

Building Collapse in Lebanon's Tripoli Kills 13, Search for Missing Continues

Rescue workers and residents search for survivors in the rubble of a building that collapsed in the northern city of Tripoli, Lebanon, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo)
Rescue workers and residents search for survivors in the rubble of a building that collapsed in the northern city of Tripoli, Lebanon, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo)
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Building Collapse in Lebanon's Tripoli Kills 13, Search for Missing Continues

Rescue workers and residents search for survivors in the rubble of a building that collapsed in the northern city of Tripoli, Lebanon, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo)
Rescue workers and residents search for survivors in the rubble of a building that collapsed in the northern city of Tripoli, Lebanon, Sunday, Feb. 8, 2026. (AP Photo)

The death toll from the collapse of a residential building in the Lebanese city of Tripoli rose to 13, as rescue teams continued to search for missing people beneath the rubble, Lebanon's National News ‌Agency reported ‌on Monday. 

Rescue ‌workers ⁠in the ‌northern city's Bab al-Tabbaneh neighborhood have also assisted nine survivors, while the search continued for others still believed to be trapped under the ⁠debris, NNA said. 

Officials said on ‌Sunday that two ‍adjoining ‍buildings had collapsed. 

Abdel Hamid Karameh, ‍head of Tripoli's municipal council, said he could not confirm how many people remained missing. Earlier, the head of Lebanon's civil defense rescue ⁠service said the two buildings were home to 22 residents, reported Reuters. 

A number of aging residential buildings have collapsed in Tripoli, Lebanon's second-largest city, in recent weeks, highlighting deteriorating infrastructure and years of neglect, state media reported, ‌citing municipal officials.