Israel-Hamas war: ICJ rejects request for Rafah intervention

Israeli President Isaac Herzog said he met Qatar's Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman bis Jassim Al Thani, who has been trying to mediate a cease-fire in the Gaza war.

"I met with the Prime Minister of Qatar yesterday," Herzog said at the Munich Security Conference, according to a statement from his office.

"It was a good discussion. And I think he's making major efforts. He's made major efforts and devoted an enormous focus on this issue."

The presidency in Israel is largely ceremonial without a direct impact on policymaking.

The latest round of peace talks between Israel and Hamas in Cairo, Egypt, broke down on Tuesday without progress.

Thousands of people protested in several cities against the policies of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government. 

At a large rally in Tel Aviv, a central street was blocked off and protesters lit flares, the news website Ynet reported. 

Many demonstrators called for new elections.

Others spoke out in favor of a cease-fire in the Gaza war and a swift deal with the Palestinian militant organization Hamas for the release of further hostages. 

Protests also took place near Netanyahu's villa in Caesarea. 

Netanyahu again dismissed the idea of holding early elections.

"The last thing we need right now are elections and dealing with elections, since it will immediately divide us," he said. "We need unity right now."

Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said demands by the Palestinian militant group Hamas during talks in Cairo were "delusional."

Those demands included ending the war and leaving Hamas as it is, freeing "thousands of murderers" from Israeli jails, and even demands regarding a flashpoint holy site in Jerusalem, he said.

Netanyahu told a news conference that he had sent a team to the Egyptian capital following a request by US President Joe Biden, but they did not return for further talks as there was "not a nanometer of change" from the Hamas side.

The Egyptian and Qatari-mediated talks to try to reach a cease-fire in Gaza and secure the release of Israeli hostages broke up on Tuesday.

Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, meanwhile, blamed Israel for a lack of progress.

In a statement, Haniyeh said that Hamas would not accept anything less than a complete cessation of hostilities, the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, and "lifting of the unjust siege," as well as a release of Palestinian prisoners serving long sentences in Israeli jails.

Leaders attending an African Union (AU) summit in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa on Saturday condemned Israel's ongoing offensive in Gaza, calling for an immediate ceasefire.

The chair of the African Union Commission, Chadian politician Moussa Faki, called Israel's offensive a "most flagrant" violation of international law, accusing Israel of "exterminating" Palestinian civilians.

"The international community cannot close its eyes to the atrocities that are committed, that have not only created chaos in Palestine but also have disastrous consequences in the rest of the world," outgoing AU Chairman and President of the Comoros Azali Assoumani said.

Israel began its military offensive in Gaza after a surprise attack by the militant Hamas group on October 7 that resulted in the deaths of around 1,200 people in southern Israel and saw around 250 taken hostage. Israel's campaign in Gaza has drawn international criticism as the death toll in Gaza approaches 30,000.

Ismail Haniyeh, the leader of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, blamed the current lack of progress in reaching a cease-fire in the Gaza Strip on Israel.

In a statement on Saturday, Haniyeh said that Hamas "will not accept anything less than a complete cessation of the aggression, withdrawal of the occupation army from Gaza, and lifting of the unjust siege."

The Hamas leader also called for providing safe shelter for displaced people, as well as allowing those displaced amid the fighting and the Israeli ground offensive to return to their homes, especially those displaced in the north. 

Haniyeh also called for a commitment to the reconstruction of Gaza.

The Egyptian capital Cairo this week hosted high-level negotiations to pause the conflict, though a clear outcome has yet to emerge. On Friday, US President Joe Biden called for a "temporary truce" to secure the release of hostages.

Hamas is designated as a terrorist group by Israel, the US, Germany and the EU, among others.

The Gaza death toll has now reached 28,858, according to the territory's Ministry of Health, an agency in the Hamas-controlled government.

Ministry officials also said a total of 68,667 Palestinians were injured in the Israeli campaign that has now been going on for over four months.

The UN and multiple humanitarian organizations consider the death toll and casualty numbers to be broadly reliable.

Around half of Gaza's 2.3 million inhabitants are children and the United Nations says the majority of civilians killed have been women and children. 

The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) says some 100 "suspects of terrorist activity" were arrested in a raid on southern Gaza's Nasser Hospital, based on "intelligence indicating terrorist activity at the hospital."

Gaza's Hamas-controlled health ministry also reported the arrests at the hospital in Khan Younis. It, however, described those arrested as medical staff.

The hospital was stormed by Israeli forces on Thursday, with the IDF saying it had "credible intelligence" that hostages were being held at the medical facility and that the remains of hostages may still be inside.

Five patients died due to a lack of oxygen at Nasser Hospital, the main hospital in southern Gaza, the health ministry said on Friday.

 

Palestinians are reportedly moving out of Gaza's southern city of Rafah toward central areas as intensified Israeli airstrikes continue, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.

Dujarric told reporters Friday about the reported movement toward Deir al-Balah, roughly 16 kilometers (10 miles) north of Rafah.

He also described the humanitarian condition in Rafah as having become "increasingly severe," adding there were "continued reports of people stopping aid trucks to take food."

The delivery of aid has been repeatedly hindered by frequent border closures,  longstanding import restrictions of goods into Gaza, damage to critical infrastructure, and the security situation, he said.  

An estimated 1.4 million Palestinians, more than half of Gaza's population, have crammed into Rafah, most of them displaced by fighting elsewhere in the territory. 

US Vice President Kamala Harris met Israeli President Isaac Herzog at the Munich Security Conference.

During their conversation, Harris "reaffirmed our commitment to bringing home the hostages held by Hamas and ensuring Israel is secure," the vice president wrote on X, formerly Twitter.

She also said they discussed American commitment to ensure Israel's security and "efforts to achieve a prolonged pause in fighting, the importance of increasing humanitarian assistance, and the continued planning for post-conflict Gaza."

On Saturday, Herzog and Qatar's Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al-Thani are expected to lay out their visions for establishing peace in the region at the conference.

The UN's top court, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), has rejected a South African request to issue additional emergency measures ahead of a planned Israeli operation in Rafah.

In January, the ICJ ordered Israel to take all measures within its power to prevent its troops from committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, in a case brought by South Africa. It also instructed Israel to take action to protect Palestinian civilians from further harm and allow humanitarian aid to enter the territory.

On Tuesday, South Africa filed an additional petition, asking the ICJ, also known as the World Court, to review the legality of Israel's planned military offensive in Rafah.

Israel had asked the ICJ to dismiss South Africa's "urgent request" calling it an "unjustifiable" appeal.

On Friday, the ICJ acknowledged that the operation "'would exponentially increase what is already a humanitarian nightmare with untold regional consequences," but they did not require "the indication of additional provisional measures."

The ruling said that Israel was still "bound to fully comply with its obligations under the Genocide Convention and with the said order."