Updates: Trump threatens Hamas over Gaza truce as US envoys head to Israel

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This live page will soon close. Here are today’s main developments:

• US Vice President JD Vance is on Air Force Two heading to Israel where US envoy Steve Witkoff and Trump’s son-in-law adviser Jared Kushner held talks today with Israel’s leaders over the faltering Gaza ceasefire.
• Has has returned another body of an Israeli captive to Israel as per the truce deal, with Palestinian factions now releasing 20 living abductees and the remains of 13 others.
• The Israeli military launched an artillery attack on Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, the latest violation of the ceasefire currently in place across the Strip.
• Israeli forces shot dead four Palestinians in Gaza for approaching the so-called “yellow line” ceasefire demarcation.
• Israeli warplanes launched three air strikes on southern Lebanon in the latest infraction of the truce with Hezbollah.
• The head of the UN agency for Palestine refugees called for an independent investigation into “blatant” Israeli breaches of international humanitarian law in Gaza.

The mere fact that US Vice President JD Vance is going to Israel is pretty significant.

Vance is the person in the administration who has been advocating for an independent American foreign policy not beholden to the Israeli lobby or the neo-conservatives, but something that is purely based around America’s best interests. He’s gone on record as saying Israel’s interests may not coincide with US interests.

So, in that sense, he’s completely different to all the envoys you’ve seen over the last few years – Witkoff, Kushner, Blinken, Sullivan. They all in the end pay their fealty to Israel.

Secondly, we’ve been told in the last week that the White House feels the next 30 days are crucial and that there are three separate areas that they really want to focus on: stabilising the ceasefire, stabilising aid deliveries, and getting this interim stabilisation force together.

And that’s one of the reasons why it’s been reported, certainly in the Israeli press, that they’ve been telling the Israelis to stop bombing Gaza. Because as long as Israel is bombing, it’s going to be very difficult to convince nations to join the stabilisation force if they feel like they’re going to be in the middle of a shooting war.

Thirdly, there is all this talk about a “new Rafah” [the southern Gaza city levelled by Israeli forces], as some sort of shining city on the hill in opposition to Hamas.

Clearly, there are all sorts of questions and scepticism about that and what it means for Palestinian self-determination, but JD Vance is really gung-ho on this plan, as far as we can tell.

Vice President JD Vance, soon on his way to Israel, adds another layer of US pressure on the Netanyahu government to live up to its obligations under the Gaza ceasefire. Vance made no comments on Monday.

After heavy Israeli bombardment killed more than 40 Palestinians on Sunday, Vance told reporters that “we’re trying to figure it out” and “check on how things are going” with the Gaza truce.

He said that Muslim and Arab nations are expected to play a major role in keeping the truce going.

“Before we actually can ensure that Hamas is properly disarmed, that’s going to require … some of these Gulf Arab states to get forces in there, to actually apply some law and order and security keeping on the ground,” said Vance.

The US government’s second-in-command, along with second lady Usha Vance, boarded Air Force Two en route to Israel from Joint Base Andrews in Maryland.

The Trump administration helped broker the Gaza ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas nearly two weeks ago, but the deal has repeatedly come under threat with continuous deadly attacks and other violations.

Trump’s special envoy Steve Witkoff and adviser son-in-law Jared Kushner met Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Monday.

Al Jazeera is reporting from Jordan because it has been banned from Israel and the occupied West Bank.

Vice President JD Vance is on his way to Israel after senior US envoys Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner met with Israel’s leader today.

The Americans are having these high-level conversations in Israel this week to move forward with the Gaza ceasefire deal and to talk about what’s next.

The Israelis have said that until the remaining bodies, now 15, of hostages are brought back from Gaza, that’s when they’re going to be willing to talk about what’s next for the Palestinian territory.

But the Americans are saying that’s not going to be the case, because they knew it was going to be a difficult task to locate the bodies in the ruins of the bomb-blasted enclave after two years of war.

And there is a plan here with a lot of guarantors, a lot of people who are involved in terms of different countries and different allies that want to get this in motion.

October is olive harvest season in the occupied West Bank, but Israeli settler attacks have been increasing, scaring Palestinians off their land. Here are a few figures:

• In the past month, Israeli settlers carried out at least 71 attacks against Palestinians. At least one person was killed and 99 were injured.
• Half of the assaults targeted the olive harvest, the crucial source of income for Palestinian families, affecting 27 villages.
• Israeli settlers dug up more than 1,400 fully grown olive trees and saplings.
• In the past five harvest seasons, settler attacks have surged, with more than 200 incidents reported last year. That’s almost double the number recorded in 2023, and three times higher than 2022.
• Settlers, often protected by Israeli soldiers, have become more organised and violent.

Israel says it’s returned to the Gaza ceasefire after launching a wave of air strikes on Sunday that killed more than 40 Palestinians.

It blamed Hamas for the breach saying its fighters were responsible for an attack that killed two Israeli soldiers. Hamas denied breaking the ceasefire.

The violence is a reminder for Palestinians that Israel is willing to suspend peace and unleash its firepower, whenever it sees fit.

The US insists the truce will hold and sent special envoy Steve Witkoff and presidential adviser Jared Kushner to Israel. But the renewed assault has cast doubt on whether the ceasefire will advance to the second phase, which is meant to see Hamas disarm and Israel withdraw from Gaza.

The Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) reports that a Palestinian has been injured by Israeli forces’ gunfire at the Qalandiya checkpoint between the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Eslewhere in the occupied West Bank, 10 Palestinians suffered from tear gas inhalation during an Israeli army raid in east Nablus, according to PRCS.

A fragile ceasefire is in effect and the living Israeli captives are back home, but Israel is continuing to restrict humanitarian aid into Gaza.

With decimated medical infrastructure across the Gaza Strip and famine conditions in the north, what will it take for Gaza to get the aid it needs?

Here’s a recap of the latest developments:

• Israel’s prime minister’s office confirmed the Israeli army received the body of a deceased captive from inside Gaza from Hamas via the Red Cross.
• Gaza’s Civil Defence agency said four people were killed in two separate attacks, both times “by Israeli gunfire as they were returning to check on their homes” in eastern Gaza City.
• Israel’s military said it opened fire at Palestinian fighters who allegedly crossed the “yellow line” and approached troops in the Shujayea neighbourhood.
• Hamas said it’s working to complete the handover of Israeli captives’ remains despite “major challenges because of the extensive destruction” of Gaza.
• The United Nations said it’s “concerned by all acts of violence in Gaza” after a series of deadly weekend attacks threatened to wreck the fragile ceasefire between Israel and Hamas.
• Doctors and healthcare professionals gathered in London to demand the release of more than 100 Palestinian medical workers currently being held without charge or trial in Israeli jails.

It’s been another deadly day in Gaza with Palestinians approaching the so-called “yellow line” ceasefire demarcation gunned down by Israeli troops.

Gaza City residents reported confusion over the line’s location because of a lack of a visible boundary.

“The whole area is in ruins. We saw the maps, but we can’t tell where those lines are,” said Samir, 50, who lives in Tuffah in the city’s east, where the shootings took place.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz said anyone remaining beyond the yellow line would be targeted without warning.

The “agreed-upon line” refers to a vague map shared by US President Donald Trump on October 4, showing an initial Israeli withdrawal zone marked in yellow, later dubbed the “yellow line” by Trump officials.

The head of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has called for independent investigations into “blatant” Israeli breaches of international humanitarian law in the Gaza Strip.

“The fragile ceasefire in Gaza must be upheld,” UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini said in a statement on X.

“Yesterday, four people were killed following shelling by Israeli forces of an UNRWA school-turned-shelter in Nuseirat refugee camp. More are reported injured,” he wrote.

“Since the war began, more than 800 people have been killed and nearly 2,600 injured in separate incidents affecting 300 UNRWA premises,” Lazzarini said, calling the attacks a grave violation of international law.

“I reiterate my call for independent investigations into these blatant breaches of international humanitarian law,” he said.

“The guns must fall silent, and accountability must come.”

Hamas has called on the international community to demand that Israel to carry through with its ceasefire commitments in Gaza.

The Palestinian group also said it’s working to complete the handover of Israeli captives’ remains despite “major challenges because of the extensive destruction” of Gaza. Hamas has already released 20 living Israeli abductees and the remains of 13 others.

Hamas “abides by all details of the ceasefire in Gaza, especially in the first phase by handing over all living captives at once”, spokesman Hazem Qassem said in a statement on the group’s Telegram channel.

“One of the main obstacles we face in delivering the remains is the absence of heavy machinery needed to remove the rubble. We have made this clear to the mediators,” said Qassem.

“All parties that want calm in the region must pressure the [Israeli] occupation to ensure it fulfills its commitments.”

Israel “has not abandoned its policy of starvation against our Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip”, he added.

Jasper Nathaniel, an independent journalist and writer, captured footage of settlers beating Palestinian olive farmers in the occupied West Bank village of Turmus Aya on Sunday, including 53-year-old Afaf Abu Alia, who suffered a brain haemorrhage from the assault.

Nathaniel said the settlers carrying out the attack were “a lynch mob” and that while he did not expect the Israeli authorities to take action, it was still vital to demand justice.

“A couple of months ago, a famously violent settler, Yinon Levi, shot [activist and journalist] Awdah Hathaleen to death in the [Palestinian] village of Umm al-Khair. Nineteen of the villagers were arrested, but Yinon Levi was back in the village doing illegal construction the next week,” he told Al Jazeera from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.

“The impulse is to think that no one will be arrested for what happened yesterday, but I’m actually not willing to accept that, and the people that I’ve spoken to in the village today agree. So there’s not a good history of settlers being held accountable, but it should not be so hard to identify the man who clubbed that woman and I know that I and a lot of other people will not leave it alone.”

Nathaniel said he faces “constant” harassment and intimidation from settlers while trying to report. Three days ago, he was threatened when visiting the town of where Palestinian-American Sayfollah Musallet was beaten to death by settlers in July.

“It was just a few minutes before a group of Hilltop Youth settlers emerged from the hills carrying huge metal rods and surrounded our car and tried to block us from being able to get out,” he said.

The week before that he was in Umm al-Khair, where settlers walk through the village carrying machine guns.

“They are not actively menacing you the way settlers around here are, but they have a constant presence; they are constantly building [illegally],” Nathaniel said. “It’s a different form of threat – you know that they are capable of violence, and they will kill you if they want to.”

“Yesterday it was about as plain as it gets – within the first five minutes, there was a man holding a gun standing in the middle of the street and staring at us. It’s a pretty direct threat, I think.”

Journalist Mohamed al-Astal speaks in front of the ruins of his home after it was destroyed by Israel’s relentless bombing campaigns.

“This pile used to be my home – not only destroyed, our lives and memories smashed as well, and nothing left for our children’s futures,” says al-Astal.

Israel has damaged or destroyed more than 92 percent of Gaza’s housing infrastructure. At least 90 percent of Palestinians in Gaza were displaced during two years of war.

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Al Jazeera is reporting from Jordan because it has been banned from Israel and the occupied West Bank.

Earlier in the year, when the United States spoke directly to Hamas for the first time in nearly 30 years, the Israelis were outraged.

They were incredibly angry, but the Americans fired back, saying the United States doesn’t need anyone’s permission to negotiate with any sort of entity around the world, especially when the lives of Americans are at play.

This related to the former captive Edan Alexander, who holds dual Israeli-US citizenship, and the Americans negotiated directly with Hamas to try and get him out, which ultimately was successful.

So the Israelis had to understand that the Americans were going to do things their way in these negotiations, and Benjamin Netanyahu cannot really say “no” to the American president because this is his biggest ally.

The Israeli Broadcasting Authority reports that Israel has asked the United States not to begin rebuilding Gaza until Hamas demonstrated its willingness to disarm.

The state broadcaster added that neutralising the tunnels in Gaza is one of the issues being discussed with the US.

It reported that the US wants to begin a pilot project regarding tunnels in Rafah, and that Israel has agreed to this.