Iran has condemned Donald Trump’s widely criticised proposal to relocate Palestinian people from the Gaza Strip to neighbouring countries, warning it would amount to “ethnic cleansing”.

Foreign ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei has been quoted by the Agence France-Presse (AFP) news agency saying that the international community should help Palestinians “secure their right to self-determination… rather than pushing for other ideas that would be tantamount to ethnic cleansing”.

As a reminder, Trump caused outrage last weekend when he proposed that large numbers of Palestinian people should leave Gaza in order to “just clean out” the whole strip, saying neighbouring countries such as Jordan and Egypt should take in more Palestinians, either temporarily or for the long term.

Jordan is already home to several million Palestinians, while tens of thousands live in Egypt. Both countries and other Arab nations reject the idea of Palestinians in Gaza being moved to their countries.

Palestinian news agency Wafa is reporting that the Israeli military is continuing its raid on the West Bank city of Jenin for the 14th consecutive day, which the outlet says has killed at least 25 Palestinian people, injured dozens of others and has involved the demolition of dozens of homes. A spokesperson for the Israeli army said 23 buildings were destroyed on Sunday in Jenin “to prevent terrorist infrastructure from being established there”.

The city’s mayor, Mohammad Jarar, was quoted as saying that about 15,000 people were displaced from the Jenin camp and the al-Hadaf neighbourhood, while Israeli soldiers driving bulldozers are, according to Wafa, “destroying homes” in the al-Damj neighbourhood.

A 73-year-old man was killed by Israeli gunfire in Jenin’s refugee camp, the Palestinian health ministry said yesterday, the latest casualty in Israel’s military operation on the city, which Benjamin Netanyahu says was launched to “eradicate terrorism” in the area.

Jenin’s refugee camp, one of 19 across the West Bank built in the aftermath of Israel’s creation in 1948 to house displaced Palestinians, is a centre of armed Palestinian resistance to the Israeli occupation.

Since the start of the war in October 2023, which has sparked a wave of violence in the West Bank, Israel has raided or carried out airstrikes in Jenin multiple times, killing dozens and leaving a trial of heavy destruction there.

The UN has expressed concern that the ceasefire in Gaza could be endangered by Israel’s military tactics in the West Bank, which have involved what the UN human rights spokesperson labelled “unnecessary or disproportionate use of force”.

Hello and welcome to our live coverage of the Middle East.

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu is expected to begin talks today on brokering a second phase of the ceasefire with Hamas, his office said, as he visits the new Trump administration in Washington.

Ahead of his departure, Netanyahu told reporters he would discuss “victory over Hamas”, without defining what this would mean in practical terms, contending with Iran and freeing all hostages when he meets with the US President on Tuesday.

It will be Trump’s first meeting with a foreign leader since returning to the White House in January, a prioritisation Netanyahu called “telling”.

“I think it’s a testimony to the strength of the Israeli-American alliance,” he said before boarding his flight.

He was welcomed to the US capital on Sunday night by Israel’s ambassador to the UN Danny Danon, who stressed the coming Trump-Netanyahu meeting would strengthen “the deep alliance between Israel and the United States and will enhance our cooperation”.

Netanyahu’s office said he would begin discussions with Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff on Monday over terms for the second phase of the truce.

The initial, 42-day phase of the deal is due to end next month. The next stage is expected to cover the release of the remaining captives and to include discussions on a more permanent end to Israel’s war on Gaza.