Middle East latest: Hamas official says no further talks with Israel until prisoners are freed

A Hamas official says Israel's delay in the release of some 600 Palestinian prisoners is a "serious violation" of the ceasefire agreement and talks on a second phase of the accord are not possible until they are returned.

As part of the agreement, Israel was supposed to release the prisoners last weekend after Hamas freed hostages from its Oct. 7, 2023, attack. But Israel delayed the release over the treatment of the captives, who were paraded before crowds.

In a written statement, Bassem Naim, a senior Hamas official, said the militant group had “fully adhered to all provisions of the agreements” and that Israel’s delay “puts the agreement at risk of collapse, potentially leading to a resumption of war.”

Here's the latest:

Hamas official says Israel's delay in releasing prisoners puts ceasefire at risk

A Hamas official says Israel's delay in the release of some 600 Palestinian prisoners constitutes a "serious violation" of the ceasefire agreement, and suggested that talks on a second phase of the accord are not possible until they are returned.

The first phase of the ceasefire is due to end Saturday, and while negotiations on a second phase were to have started weeks ago, they have not yet begun.

A U.S. diplomat is returning to the region this week with the hope of extending the first phase to buy time for further negotiations, but Naim suggested Hamas was unwilling to talk until the prisoners were released.

At least 6 infants have died from hypothermia in the Gaza Strip

Palestinian medics say at least six infants have died from hypothermia in the last two weeks in the Gaza Strip.

A fragile ceasefire that took hold last month paused 15 months of war between Israel and the Hamas militant group. But hundreds of thousands of people are still living in squalid tent camps or bombed-out buildings with little shelter from the cold, and temperatures have plunged in recent days.

Dr. Ahmed al-Farah, head of the pediatric department at the Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, told The Associated Press that it received the body of a 2-month-old girl on Tuesday. He said another two infants were treated for frostbite, with one of them discharged.

Saeed Saleh, of the Patient’s Friends Hospital in Gaza City, said five infants aged one month or younger have died from the cold over the last two weeks.

Zaher al-Wahedi, head of the Gaza Health Ministry’s records department, said it has recorded 15 deaths from hypothermia this winter.

The territory on the Mediterranean coast experiences cold and wet winters, with temperatures dropping below 10 degrees Celsius (50 degrees Fahrenheit) at night.

Freed Israeli hostage says faith kept her going through Gaza captivity

Agam Berger, a former hostage released by Hamas, said it was her Jewish faith that sustained her during her 16-month ordeal in the Gaza Strip.

Berger was a military spotter who was captured during Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023, attack that ignited the war.

Berger told Israeli public radio Reshet Bet on Tuesday that she was held in tunnels and apartments with other female captives. She was given two meals a day, pita and rice, and had some access to media.

In January 2024, Berger said her captors brought her and other hostages two Jewish prayer books, as well as other objects left behind by Israeli soldiers, such as a newspaper and military maps. She said around the first Hanukkah she spent in captivity in December 2023, in a tunnel with four other hostages, they asked their captors for candles to mark the holiday, and they brought them one.

Lebanon's prime minister says only armed forces can defend the nation

Lebanon’s new prime minister has read his government policy statement stating that only the country’s armed forces should defend the nation in case of war.

Nawaf Salam was picked to form a new government last month after a devastating war between Israel and Hezbollah that killed over 4,000 people and caused widespread destruction.

Hezbollah has kept its weapons over the past decades saying it is necessary to defend Lebanon against Israel. But many in Lebanon have been calling on the group to disarm, and such calls intensified during the latest war that stopped when a U.S.-brokered ceasefire went into effect on Nov. 27.

Salam said Tuesday that the government asserts that Lebanon has the right to defend itself in case of “aggression” and only the state has the right to have weapons. He also said that the government takes measures to liberate land occupied by Israel “through its forces only.”

Trump administration's suspension of funds to WHO freezes $46 million for Gaza

A Trump administration move to suspend funding to the World Health Organization has frozen $46 million for its operations in Gaza, a top WHO official in the region said Tuesday.

Dr. Rik Peeperkorn, the WHO representative for Occupied Palestinian Territories, said the “freezing” would leave six areas underfunded, including EMT operations, rehabilitation of health facilities, coordination with partner organizations, and medical evacuation operations.

Speaking from Gaza to reporters a U.N. briefing in Geneva, Peeperkorn said money for such operations remained in WHO’s funding pipeline and “we’re still going full steam ahead” with activities.

Tarik Jasarevic, a WHO spokesman, said he did not have figures about how the U.S. funding cuts affected the entirety of its operations worldwide.