Middle East latest: Hamas will next free 6 Israeli hostages and the remains of 4 others

Hamas said Tuesday it will release six living Israeli hostages on Saturday instead of three, as well as the bodies of four others on Thursday. It's a surprise increase that apparently comes in return for Israel allowing mobile homes and construction equipment into the devastated Gaza Strip.

Palestinians and Arab countries have universally rejected U.S. President Donald Trump’s proposal to remove the Palestinian population from Gaza and take over the territory.

Israel is expected to continue releasing hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, including many serving life sentences for deadly attacks, in exchange for hostages. The warring sides have yet to negotiate the second and more difficult phase of the ceasefire.

Since the war in Gaza was sparked by Hamas' attack on Oct. 7, 2023, more than 50,000 people have died in Gaza and Lebanon and nearly 70% of the buildings in Gaza have been devastated, according to health ministries in Gaza and Lebanon. Around 1,200 people were killed in Israel during the Oct. 7 attack.

Here's the latest:

Israel starts letting heavy equipment into Gaza

Israel started to allow rubble-removing equipment like bulldozers into the Gaza Strip on Tuesday as part of the ceasefire deal, according to an Associated Press journalist and Egypt’s state-run media.

The AP journalist in southern Gaza saw two bulldozers clearing rubble in an area not far from the Palestinian side of Rafah border crossing.

The bulldozers entered the city of Rafah earlier Tuesday through the Kerem Shalom crossing after undergoing inspection by the Israeli military, one Egyptian driver, Mohamed Attia, told AP.

The driver, who is from the city of el-Arish in the Sinai Peninsula, said dozens of bulldozers and tractors were waiting at Kerem Shalom crossing for Israeli permission to enter Gaza.

Egypt’s state-run Al-Qahera News TV reported that heavy equipment crossed the Egyptian gate of Rafah crossing on Tuesday, on their way to the inspection area before being allowed into Gaza. The broadcaster aired video of at least four bulldozers and many trucks driving on a road after crossing the gate.

As Israel uses US-made AI models in war, concerns arise about tech’s role in who lives and who dies

U.S. tech giants have quietly empowered Israel to track and kill many more alleged militants more quickly in Gaza and Lebanon through a sharp spike in artificial intelligence and computing services. But the number of civilians killed has also soared, along with fears that these tools are contributing to the deaths of innocent people.

Israel’s recent wars mark a leading instance in which commercial AI models made in the United States have been used in active warfare, despite concerns that they were not originally developed to help decide who lives and who dies.

The Israeli military uses AI to sift through vast troves of intelligence, intercepted communications and surveillance to find suspicious speech or behavior and learn the movements of its enemies. After a surprise attack by Hamas militants on Oct. 7, 2023, its use of Microsoft and OpenAI technology skyrocketed, an Associated Press investigation found.

The AP investigation also revealed new details of how AI systems select targets and ways they can go wrong, including faulty data or flawed algorithms. It was based on internal documents, data and exclusive interviews with current and former Israeli officials and company employees.

Israel says the goal of its war in Gaza is to eradicate Hamas, and its military has called AI a “game changer” in yielding targets more swiftly.

▶Read more about how US tech giants supplied Israel with AI models

Israeli troops partially withdraw from southern Lebanon

Israeli forces withdrew Tuesday from border villages in southern Lebanon under a deadline spelled out in a U.S.-brokered ceasefire agreement that ended the latest Israel-Hezbollah war.

Lebanese soldiers have moved into the areas from where the Israeli troops pulled out and began clearing roadblocks set up by Israeli forces and checking for unexploded ordnance.

Israeli forces, however, have remained in five strategic overlook points inside Lebanon along the border with Israel — a sore point with Lebanese officials and the militant group Hezbollah. They have maintained that Israel was required to make a full withdrawal by Tuesday.

▶Read more about Israel’s withdrawal from southern Lebanon

Villagers in Lebanon return home to widespread destruction

Many villagers' homes and businesses in southern Lebanon were demolished during the yearlong conflict between Israel and Hezbollah or in the two months after November’s ceasefire agreement when Israeli forces were still occupying the area.

In the border village of Kfar Kila, people were stunned by the amount of destruction. Some knelt on the ground and prayed Tuesday in the village’s main square.

“What I’m seeing is beyond belief. I am in a state of shock,” said Khodor Suleiman, a construction contractor, pointing to his destroyed home on a hilltop.

Kfar Kila’s mayor, Hassan Sheet, told The Associated Press that 90% of the village's homes are completely destroyed while the remaining 10% are damaged.

Ayman Jaber entered his hometown of Mhaibib, perched on a hill close to the Israeli border, that was leveled by a series of explosions on Oct. 16.

“Not a single house in the village is still standing,” Jaber said. “It is like an earthquake wiped out the village.”

“The situation breaks my heart,” Jaber said, as he stood inside the village’s cemetery. “They dug up the graves and opened the vaults. I don’t understand what security threat the dead posed to them.”

Hamas says it will free 6 Israeli hostages on Saturday

A top Hamas leader says the militant group will release six Israeli hostages on Saturday.

The six are the last living hostages set to be freed under the first phase of the ceasefire in the Gaza Strip. Three hostages had been expected to be freed on Saturday.

The warring sides have yet to negotiate the second and more difficult phase, in which Hamas would release dozens more hostages in exchange for a lasting ceasefire and an Israeli withdrawal.

Hamas leader Khalil al-Hayya announced the decision in prerecorded remarks on Tuesday.

The releases have come in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.

▶Read more about the next hostage release in Gaza

Palestinian President Abbas fires official who criticized him for ending ‘martyrs' fund'

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has fired an official who criticized his decision to end a system that paid stipends to the families of prisoners, including those convicted of deadly attacks against Israelis.

Abbas announced the replacement of Qadoura Fares as head of a prisoner affairs body on Tuesday, without providing an explanation.

Last week, Abbas put an end to what was known as the “martyrs’ fund,” acquiescing to longstanding demands by the United States and Israel. Many Palestinians viewed the payments as compensation for people harmed in the course of their struggle against Israeli military rule.

The United States and Israel had long criticized the practice, saying it incentivized violence.

Abbas is deeply unpopular among Palestinians, many of whom view his Palestinian Authority as corrupt and autocratic.

The Hamas militant group, which drove Abbas’ forces from Gaza in 2007, criticized Fares’ firing, saying it reflected the “oppression and exclusion” practiced by the authority and its “submission to Zionist and American dictates.”

▶Read more about the conflict in the West Bank

UN agency says Israel shuts 4 schools in east Jerusalem

The U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees says Israeli forces raided four of its schools in east Jerusalem, ordering their closure.

Israel has severed all ties with the agency, known as UNRWA, and bars it from operating in its territory. It says the agency allowed itself to be infiltrated by Hamas in the Gaza Strip, allegations denied by U.N. officials.

UNRWA said police entered a training center by force on Tuesday, firing tear gas and sound grenades and ordering its evacuation. It said 350 students and 30 staff were present during the raid on the Qalandiya Training Center.

It said police and city officials ordered the closure of three other schools in east Jerusalem, two of which proceeded with the school day.

Israeli police spokesman Dean Elsdunne said police did not enter the U.N. buildings and that Jerusalem municipal authorities carried out the closures. He said police were deployed to protect the city workers, using “riot dispersal” means in one case where a crowd threw stones at them outside a U.N. facility.

Roland Friedrich, UNRWA director for the occupied West Bank, including east Jerusalem, said the raids were an “unacceptable violation of United Nations privileges and immunities,” and a “denial of the right to education for children and trainees.”

▶Read more about Israel's ban on UNRWA

Egypt postpones Arab summit on Gaza

Egypt has postponed an emergency Arab summit to counter President Donald Trump’s proposal to remove the Palestinian population from the Gaza Strip and take over the territory.

Egypt’s Foreign Ministry said in a terse statement on Tuesday that the summit would be held in Cairo on March 4 allow for further “logistical and objective preparations,” without elaborating.

The summit, which had been scheduled for Feb. 27, came after Trump’s proposal sent shockwaves across the region.

Palestinians and Arab countries have universally rejected any displacement of the territory’s population. Israel has welcomed the proposal, which human rights groups say could amount to forced displacement in violation of international law.

▶Read more about Trump's plan to empty Gaza