JERUSALEM: Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has withdrawn a threat to quit the government if Israel does not return to fighting in Gaza, several Israeli news sites reported on Monday.
Earlier this month, Smotrich opposed a ceasefire deal that aims to secure the release of nearly 100 hostages held by Hamas in Gaza in exchange for Palestinians held in Israeli jails, arguing it endangered Israeli security and stopped Israel from achieving its war goals.
Hard-line National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and two other ministers from his nationalist-religious party resigned from Netanyahu’s cabinet over the deal.
Smotrich stopped short of resigning but said if Israel agreed to a full end to the war before achieving its aims in Gaza — which include the complete destruction of Hamas — he and his party, Religious Zionism, would also leave the coalition.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked Smotrich to stay in the coalition to keep the right wing government intact and the finance minister agreed, Israel’s Yediot reported on Monday.
Under the multi-phase ceasefire deal, 33 Israeli hostages held in Gaza will be released before negotiations begin to agree the release of the remaining 65 and the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
Israel is due to release nearly 2,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees as part of the ceasefire deal.
Some of the families believe the second stage will not be implemented and that their relatives risk being abandoned. They have staged a series of protests against the current deal.
Israel’s far-right finance minister withdraws threat to quit coalition over ceasefire deal
https://arab.news/vze9z
Israel’s far-right finance minister withdraws threat to quit coalition over ceasefire deal
![](https://www.arabnews.pk/sites/default/files/styles/n_670_395/public/main-image/2025/01/27/4567909-601122173.jpg?itok=g6-5h7z0)
- Hard-line National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and two other ministers from his nationalist-religious party resigned from Netanyahu’s cabinet over the deal
UN appeals for $6 billion for Sudan crisis aid in 2025
![](https://www.arabnews.pk/sites/default/files/styles/n_670_395/public/main-image/2025/02/17/4574692-884169423.jpg?itok=iSGVoP0K)
- The aim is to provide assistance to nearly 26 million people this year, UN bodies say
- Civil war has displaced 12 million people, of whom around 3.5 million have fled the country
The aim is to provide assistance to nearly 26 million people this year, the United Nations’ humanitarian agency OCHA and refugee agency UNHCR said in a joint appeal.
Since April 2023, Sudan has been locked in a brutal conflict between army chief Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and his former deputy Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, who leads the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces.
The UN agencies said the civil war has displaced 12 million people, of whom around 3.5 million have fled the country.
They stressed that at the same time, nearly two-thirds of Sudan’s population needs emergency aid, as swathes of the country face famine conditions.
“Sudan is a humanitarian emergency of shocking proportions,” UN humanitarian chief Tom Fletcher said in a statement.
“Famine is taking hold. An epidemic of sexual violence rages. Children are being killed and injured. The suffering is appalling.”
Famine conditions have already been reported in at least five locations in Sudan, including in displacement camps in Darfur and in the western Nuba Mountains, the UN statement said.
And “catastrophic hunger is expected to worsen by May when the lean season begins,” it warned.
The UN said it was appealing for $4.2 billion to reach nearly 21 million people inside Sudan with life-saving aid and protection.
Fletcher said the UN plan would provide “a lifeline to millions.”
The United Nations said it would also need $1.8 billion to support 4.8 million people – both Sudanese refugees and their host communities – in the Central African Republic, Chad, Egypt, Ethiopia, Libya, South Sudan and Uganda.
“Today, one-third of Sudan’s entire population is displaced,” UNHCR chief Filippo Grandi said in the statement, highlighting that “the consequences of this horrific and senseless conflict spread far beyond Sudan’s borders.”
The UN cautioned that without immediate funding, two-thirds of refugee children would be denied access to primary education, “threatening an entire generation.”
And “up to 4.8 million refugees and host community members will continue to face severe food insecurity, with at least 1.8 million going without food assistance,” it said, warning that “already strained health systems may collapse.”
Last year, humanitarian organizations received $1.8 billion for Sudan – 66 percent of the $2.7 billion requested – and managed to reach more than 15.6 million people across the country.
They also provided life-saving food assistance to over a million people in neighboring countries, as well as medical support to half a million and protection services to over 800,000, the statement said.
Israeli strike on south Lebanon targets Hamas official, Lebanese security sources say
![](https://www.arabnews.pk/sites/default/files/styles/n_670_395/public/main-image/2025/02/17/4574686-1156273862.jpg?itok=DdMx10o3)
- Deepest strike in the country since a ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel took effect in late November
BEIRUT: An Israeli strike on a car in Lebanon’s southern port city of Sidon on Monday targeted an official in the Palestinian militant group Hamas, two Lebanese security sources said.
Lebanon’s state news agency said rescuers had extracted one body from the car but did not identify the victim.
An Israeli drone strike is the deepest strike in the country since a ceasefire between Hezbollah and Israel took effect in late November, Lebanon’s state news agency said.
The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the attack, which comes a day before the deadline for Israel’s full withdrawal from southern Lebanon under the ceasefire agreement that ended the 14-month war between Israel and Hezbollah.
Footage circulating online showed a car engulfed in flames. The strike occurred near a Lebanese army checkpoint and Sidon’s municipal sports stadium.
The original withdrawal deadline was in late January, but under pressure from Israel, Lebanon agreed to extend it to Feb. 18. It remains unclear whether Israeli troops will complete their withdrawal by Tuesday.
Since the ceasefire, Israel has continued airstrikes in southern and eastern Lebanon, saying it is targeting military sites containing missiles and combat equipment. Israel and Lebanon have exchanged accusations of violating the ceasefire agreement.
Lebanon urges ceasefire sponsors to pressure Israel to withdraw by deadline
![](https://www.arabnews.pk/sites/default/files/styles/n_670_395/public/main-image/2025/02/17/4574679-1384548431.jpg?itok=ikDeohkE)
- Israeli gunfire killed a woman in the border town of Hula on Sunday as people tried to go home
- A fragile ceasefire between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group has been in effect since November 27
BEIRUT: Lebanese President Joseph Aoun on Monday urged sponsors of a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hezbollah to help pressure Israel to withdraw troops by a deadline the following day.
“We are continuing contacts on several levels to push Israel to respect the agreement and to withdraw on the scheduled date, and return the prisoners,” Aoun said, according to a presidency statement.
“The sponsors of the deal should bear their responsibility to assist us,” he added.
A fragile ceasefire between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group has been in effect since November 27 after more than a year of hostilities including two months of all-out war during which Israel launched ground operations.
Under the deal, Lebanon’s military was to deploy in the south alongside United Nations peacekeepers as the Israeli army withdrew over a 60-day period that was later extended to February 18.
Hezbollah was to pull back north of the Litani River — about 30 kilometers (20 miles) from the border — and dismantle any remaining military infrastructure in the south.
A committee involving the United States, France, Lebanon, Israel and UN peacekeepers is tasked with ensuring any ceasefire violations are identified and dealt with.
Hezbollah chief Naim Qassem on Sunday said it was the government’s responsibility to ensure the Israeli army fully withdraws by Tuesday’s deadline.
Last week, Lebanon’s parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri, a Hezbollah ally, said Washington had told him that while Israel would withdraw on February 18, “it will remain in five locations.”
Lebanon has rejected the demand.
On Sunday, Israel said it carried out strikes in Lebanon targeting Hezbollah military sites, as official media reported three raids in the country’s east.
The official National News Agency also said Israeli gunfire killed a woman in the border town of Hula on Sunday as people tried to go home.
On Saturday, Israel said it targeted a senior militant from Hezbollah’s aerial unit, as Lebanese official media reported two dead in an Israeli strike in the south.
Karim Bitar, lecturer in Middle East studies at Sciences-Po university in Paris, said “it appears that there is a tacit if not an explicit US agreement to extend the withdrawal period.”
“The most likely scenario is that Israel would maintain control over four or five hills that basically oversee most of south Lebanon’s villages,” he said.
Ramzi Kaiss from Human Rights Watch said Monday that “Israel’s deliberate demolition of civilian homes and infrastructure” was making it “impossible for many residents to return.”
Cairo building collapse kills 10: state media
![](https://www.arabnews.pk/sites/default/files/styles/n_670_395/public/main-image/2025/02/17/4574662-1870889951.jpg?itok=jEaWJ2xC)
- Eyewitnesses told the state-owned outlet that “a gas cylinder explosion” caused the collapse
CAIRO: A building collapse in the Egyptian capital killed 10 people and injured eight more on Monday, with several others believed to be missing under the rubble, state media reported.
Ambulances were dispatched to the scene in the working class neighborhood of Kerdasa, where civil defense teams searched for people thought to be missing under the rubble, according to the Al-Akhbar Al-Youm newspaper.
Eyewitnesses told the state-owned outlet that “a gas cylinder explosion” caused the collapse, and a police investigation was under way.
Building regulations are unevenly enforced in the sprawling metropolis of Cairo, home to over 26 million people.
The city has seen a number of deadly building collapses in recent years, both due to the dilapidated state of some and, at times, failure to comply with building regulations.
500 days of the Israel-Hamas war, by the numbers
![](https://www.arabnews.pk/sites/default/files/styles/n_670_395/public/main-image/2025/02/17/4574648-903183450.jpg?itok=4nOrI9NJ)
- The current phase of the truce is set to expire in early March and it is unclear if the sides will extend it
A tenuous ceasefire in the Gaza Strip has held for nearly a month. But the current phase of the truce is set to expire in early March and it is unclear if the sides will extend it, begin negotiations for a more lasting ceasefire or resume fighting.
Here are some numbers that show the scale of death and devastation. Sources include the Israeli government, the Gaza Health Ministry and UN agencies.
People killed in Israel on Oct. 7, 2023: Around 1,200
Hostages taken into Gaza: 251
Hostages remaining in Gaza: 73, including 3 taken before Oct. 7, 2023
Hostages in Gaza believed to be dead: 36, including one from before Oct. 7, 2023
Palestinians killed in Gaza: Over 48,200 (This figure from the Gaza Health Ministry does not distinguish between combatants and civilians, but the ministry says more than half of the dead were women and children)
Palestinians wounded in Gaza: Over 111,600
Israeli soldiers killed since Oct. 7, 2023: 846
Rockets fired at Israel from Gaza since Oct. 7, 2023: Over 10,000
Percentage of Gaza’s population displaced: Around 90 percent
Palestinians who have crossed into northern Gaza since the ceasefire began: 586,000
Israelis displaced by attacks from Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon at their peak: Over 75,500
Housing units damaged or destroyed in Gaza: Over 245,000
Primary roads damaged or destroyed in Gaza: Over 92 percent
Health facilities damaged or destroyed in Gaza: Over 84 percent