Israeli forces began withdrawing from a key Gaza corridor on Sunday, Israeli officials said, part of Israel's commitments under a tenuous ceasefire deal with Hamas that is moving ahead but faces a major test over whether the sides can negotiate its planned extension.

Israel agreed as part of the truce to remove its forces from the six kilometre Netzarim corridor, a strip of land that bisects northern Gaza from the south that Israel used as a military zone during the war.

At the start of the ceasefire last month, Israel began allowing Palestinians to cross Netzarim to head to their homes in the war-battered north, sending hundreds of thousands streaming across Gaza on foot and by car.

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The withdrawal of forces from the area will fulfill another commitment to the deal, which paused the 15-month war.

However, the sides appear to have made little progress on negotiating the deal's second phase, which is meant to extend the truce and lead to the release of more Israeli hostages held by Hamas.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was sending a delegation to Qatar, a key mediator in talks between the sides, but the mission included low-level officials, sparking speculation that it won’t lead to a breakthrough in extending the truce.

Netanyahu is also expected to convene a meeting of key Cabinet ministers this week on the second phase of the deal.

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Separately on Sunday, the Palestinian Health Ministry said that a 23-year-old Palestinian woman who was eight months pregnant was fatally shot by Israeli gunfire in the northern occupied West Bank, where Israeli troops have been carrying out a broad operation.

The ceasefire is fragile and its extension is not guaranteed

Since it began on Jan. 19, the ceasefire deal has faced repeated obstacles and disagreements between the sides, underscoring its fragility.

But it has held, raising hopes that the devastating war that led to seismic shifts in the Middle East may be headed toward an end.

On Sunday, cars heaped with belongings, including water tanks and suitcases, were seen heading north through a road that crosses Netzarim.

Under the deal, Israel is supposed to allow the cars to cross through uninspected, and there did not appear to be troops in the vicinity of the road.

Hamas spokesperson Abdel Latif Al-Qanoua said the withdrawal showed Hamas had “forced the enemy to submit to our demands" and that it thwarted “Netanyahu’s illusion of achieving total victory.”

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The Israeli officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren't authorised to discuss troop movement with the media, did not disclose how many soldiers were withdrawing.

Troops currently remain along Gaza's borders with Israel and Egypt and a full withdrawal is expected to be negotiated in a later stage of the truce.

During the first 42-day phase of the ceasefire, Hamas is gradually releasing 33 Israeli hostages captured during its Oct. 7, 2023, attack in exchange for a pause in fighting, freedom for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and a flood of humanitarian aid to war-battered Gaza.

The deal also stipulates that Israeli troops will pull back from populated areas of Gaza as well as the Netzarim corridor.

In the second phase, all remaining living hostages would be released in return for a complete Israeli withdrawal from Gaza and a “sustainable calm.”

But details beyond that are unclear and repeated stumbling blocks throughout the first phase and the deep mistrust between the sides have cast doubt on whether they can nail down the extension.

The truce faces many challenges, including Trump's Gaza proposal

Israel has said it won’t agree to a complete withdrawal from Gaza until Hamas’ military and political capabilities are eliminated.

Hamas says it won’t hand over the last hostages until Israel removes all troops from the territory.

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Netanyahu meanwhile is under heavy pressure from his far-right political allies to resume the war after the first phase so that Hamas, which carried out the deadliest attack on Israelis in their history, can be defeated.

He is also facing pressure from Israelis who are eager to see more hostages return home and want to deal to continue, especially after the gaunt appearances of the three male captives freed on Saturday stunned the nation.

Complicating things further is a proposal by US President Donald Trump to relocate the population of Gaza and take ownership of the Palestinian territory.

Israel has expressed openness to the idea while Hamas, the Palestinians and the broader Arab world have rejected it outright.

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The suggested plan is saddled with moral, legal and practical obstacles.

But it may have been proposed as a negotiation tactic by Trump, to try to ratchet up pressure on Hamas or as an opening gambit in a bargaining process aimed at securing a normalization deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia.

That grand deal appeared to be rattled on Sunday as Saudi Arabia condemned remarks by Netanyahu who said Palestinians could create their state in that territory.

Saudi Arabia said his remarks “aim to divert attention from the successive crimes committed by the Israeli occupation against our Palestinian brothers in Gaza, including the ethnic cleansing they are being subjected to.”

In an interview Thursday with Israel’s Channel 14, Netanyahu said: “The Saudis can create a Palestinian state in Saudi Arabia; they have a lot of land over there.”

Violence surges in the occupied West Bank

The war in Gaza, sparked by Hamas’ attack that killed 1,200 people and saw 250 taken hostage, has killed more than 47,000 Palestinians according to local health authorities who do not differentiate between fighters and noncombatants in their count.

Vast parts of the territory have been obliterated in the fighting, leaving many Palestinians returning to damaged or destroyed homes.

Violence has surged in the West Bank throughout the war and has intensified in recent days with an Israeli military operation in the north of the territory.

The shooting of the pregnant woman, Sundus Shalabi, happened in the Nur Shams urban refugee camp, a focal point of Israeli operations against Palestinian militants in the territory.

The Palestinian Health Ministry also said that Shalabi’s husband was critically wounded by the gunfire.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Israel’s Defence Minister Israel Katz announced on Sunday the expansion of the Israeli military operation, which started in the city of Jenin several weeks ago.

He said the operation was meant to prevent Iran from establishing a foothold in the occupied West Bank.

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un said an elevated US security partnership with South Korea and Japan poses a grave threat to his country and vowed to further bolster his nuclear weapons program, state media reported on Sunday.

Kim has previously made similar warnings, but his latest statement implies again that the North Korean leader won’t likely embrace President Donald Trump’s overture to meet him and revive diplomacy anytime soon.

In a speech marking the 77th founding anniversary of the Korean People’s Army on Saturday, Kim said the US-Japan-South Korea trilateral security partnership established under a US plot to form a NATO-like regional military bloc is inviting military imbalance on the Korean Peninsula and “raising a grave challenge to the security environment of our state,” according to the official Korean Central News Agency.

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“Referring to a series of new plans for rapidly bolstering all deterrence including nuclear forces, he clarified once again the unshakable policy of more highly developing the nuclear forces,” KCNA said.

Amid stalled diplomacy with the US and South Korea in recent years, Kim has focused on enlarging and modernising his arsenal of nuclear weapons.

In response, the United States and South Korea have expanded their bilateral military exercises and trilateral training involving Japan.

North Korea has lashed out at those drills, calling them rehearsals to invade the country.

Since his Jan. 20 inauguration, Trump has said he would reach out to Kim again as he boasted of his high-stakes summit with him during his first term.

During a joint news conference with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba on Friday, Trump said that “We will have relations with North Korea, with Kim Jong Un. I got along with him very well, as you know. I think I stopped the war."

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During a Fox News interview broadcast on Jan. 23, Trump called Kim “a smart guy” and “not a religious zealot.”

Asked whether he will reach out to Kim again, Trump replied, “I will, yeah.”

Trump met Kim three times in 2018-19 to discuss how to end North Korea’s nuclear program in what was the first-ever summitry between the leaders of the US and North Korea.

The high-stakes diplomacy eventually collapsed because Trump rejected Kim’s offer to dismantle his main nuclear complex, a partial denuclearisation step, in return for broad sanctions relief.

North Korea hasn’t directly responded to Trump's recent overture, as it continues weapons testing activities and hostile rhetoric against the US.

Many experts say Kim is now preoccupied with his dispatch of troops to Russia to support its war efforts against Ukraine.

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They say Kim would still eventually consider returning to diplomacy with Trump if he determines he would fail to maintain the current solid cooperation with Russia after the war ends.

In his Saturday speech, Kim reaffirmed that North Korea “will invariably support and encourage the just cause of the Russian army and people to defend their sovereignty, security and territorial integrity.”

Kim accused the US of being behind “the war machine which is stirring up the tragic situation of Ukraine.”

In South Korea, some worry that Trump might abandon the international community’s long-running goal of achieving a complete denuclearisation of North Korea to produce a diplomatic achievement.

But a joint statement issued by Trump and Ishiba after their summit stated the two leaders reaffirmed “their resolute commitment to the complete denuclearisation of the DPRK,” the acronym of North Korea’s official name, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

The statement said the US and Japan also affirmed the importance of the Japan-US-South Korean trilateral partnership in responding to North Korea.

Townsville has received almost an entire year's worth of rain in just over a week.

The flood-hit area was hit with its highest February rainfall total- 1033mm – in just the first week of this month.

As the clean-up from the record-breaking rain continues across North Queensland locals are getting in while they can, while being warned more could be on the way.

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The area continues to battle relentless rain and flooding, with more severe downpours expected.

Major flood warnings remain in effect for several catchments and rivers, with one river likely to reach major levels, potentially cutting off the Bruce Highway, near Ayr.

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Meanwhile in the rural town of Ingham, near Townsville, the scale of destruction is becoming clear.

A temporary bridge had to be built by the ADF after the community was inundated with water.

Streets are lined with stacks of what folks here couldn't save, from water-logged whitegoods to muddied mattresses.

Cleaning up is a slow and harrowing task.

While supplies are being flown in, to get freight to far flung communities cut off by flood water is a bigger challenge.

West of Ingham near Greenvale there's a b-double graveyard of trucks, which are stuck in limbo waiting for water to go down.

Hundreds of roads across the north remain cut off.

Heading west from Charters Towers is impossible if you don't have a chopper.

Driving east there's not a chance.

The temporary bridge at Ollera Creek shut overnight, before the build of a permanent more durable bridge gets underway.

While there's been a brief pause in the downpours, North Queenslanders' real chance to dry out could be days away.

More rain on way

Senior Meteorologist Miriam Bradbury warned there was no relief in sight for parts of the state, as extensive rain and storms were forecast into Monday.

Herbert River, Haughton River, Cape River, Upper Burdekin and Lower Burdekin Rivers and Flinders River are facing major flooding.

The Cape River at Taemas is currently at 8.76m and continues to rise.

A severe weather warning remains in place for the North Tropical Coast and Tablelands, as well as the Herbert and Lower Burdekin forecast districts.

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Heavy rainfall is expected between Tully and Ayr into the early part of the week.

"Heavy rainfall which may to dangerous and life-threatening flash flooding is forecast for parts of the Herbert and Lower Burdekin and the North Tropical Coast this weekend," Bureau of Meteorology said.

"The six-hourly rainfall totals between 120 to 180 mm are possible. Isolated 24-hourly rainfall totals up to 250mm are possible.

"Conditions are expected to temporarily ease from early this morning, with the potential for isolated heavy falls to return by this evening or early Monday morning.

"Heavy rainfall increases the potential for landslides and debris across roads."

The heaviest rainfall totals recorded include 274mm at Halifax, 236mm at Gairloch and 150mm at Ingham.

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State prepares for possible tropical cyclone

Communities in Western Australia remain on watch for a possible tropical cyclone, according to Bradbury.

"Tropical low 18U is not yet a tropical cyclone but may strengthen to tropical cyclone intensity in the next 24 hours. If and when it reaches tropical cyclone strength, the system would be called Tropical Cyclone Zelia," she said.

The tropical low is currently located near the Kimberley coast, with communities between Cockatoo Island, Bidjuanga and Broome all under a cyclone watch.

"In this watch area, we may see gales developing as early as Monday morning," Bradbury said.

"We're also likely to see rain increasing as well, likely from later on (today), with large waves also a risk as winds increase."

The tropical low could reach tropical cyclone intensity later today or tomorrow.

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Ngāhinapōuri has a popluation of

A 13 year-old boy remains in police custody following an alleged crime spree at Beaudesert yesterday morning.

9News has obtained extraordinary security video of the moment the teenager pulls out what appears to be a handgun in broad daylight, in the Scenic Rim town south of Brisbane.

As he allegedly tried to steal a T-shirt from a local business he was confronted by Harley Osgood, a former cage fighter and martial arts instructor.

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"I snatched the shirt back, he pulled the gun out which after a few seconds looked to be fake. He kept walking back, put the gun away," Osgood told 9News.

"My concern at first was that he was stealing from a local business in my town. We're a small community. I don't like that stuff."

Confronting the teenager caused him to flee the scene.

Osgood trains at the Black Dragon Kai Martial Arts Centre and says he never wanted to have to use his training but yesterday he was glad he could step in.

"The concern immediately became for the people in the shop," he said.

"There were still a few people inside who didn't know what was happening, the lady that was working in the store didn't know what was going on outside."

The teenager took off down the street.

Police believe he approached several other people while armed.

The alleged offender is likely to face multiple charges including being armed to cause fear in a public place.

Northern Beaches Hospital in Sydney is under fire, accused of selling out to one of Australia's biggest stars.

The hospital shut down maternity ward 2C so Russell Crowe can film his mixed martial arts Netflix drama The Beast In Me.

Hospital operator Healthscope said that because of lower birth numbers it was able to consolidate the maternity beds into another maternity ward and filming will see a film crew onsite for a day.

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They also said there is no impact to patient care.

The space has been used for filming before.

Staff claim they have been asked to prepare props, hospital gowns, IV fluid and coffee.

A new report has found it's getting harder to find a GP who bulk bills.

Healthcare directory Cleanbill found 10 per cent of federal electorates no longer bulk bill

The survey focused on 151 federal electorates checking in on nearly 7000 GP clinics.

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It found there are now 15 electorates where GPs no longer bulk bill, which means you have to part pay for your visit.

That figure is up from just four electorates two years ago.

The president of the Australian Medical Association, Dr Danielle McMullen, said the Cleanbill report provided a "limited" snapshot  and said more patients are delaying GP visits due to cost.

The crash occurred about 4.15pm.

Police were alerted after the trio didn’t arrive at a designated pick-up point.

The Invictus Games have kicked off in Vancouver Canada, with many celebrities and even royals making an appearance.