Gaza live: Israel to build 'different government' in Gaza, says defence minister

The EU Foreign Affairs chief Josep Borrell called on Israel “not to intimidate” or “threaten” the judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC), following the news that its chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, is seeking arrest warrants for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as for three of Hamas’s senior leaders.

“I ask everyone, starting with the Israeli government, but also certain European governments, not to intimidate the judges, not to threaten them,” Borrell said during an interview with Spanish public television TVE, calling for “respect for the International Criminal Court”.

Human rights groups in the Netherlands have filed a criminal complaint against the hotel broker site Booking.com for possible war crimes, alleging it benefited from listing accommodation in Israeli settlements within occupied Palestinian territories.

Dutch prosecutors confirmed they received the complaint filed by the European Legal Support Centre (ELSC), Al Haq, Somo and the Rights Forum on Thursday.

The collective accused Booking.com of laundering money in the Netherlands from its business operations in the occupied West Bank.

Israeli settlements built on stolen Palestinian land are considered illegal under international law.

Booking.com has denied the claims and said there are no laws prohibiting listings in Israeli settlements, adding that various US state laws would prohibit divesting from the region. 

Read more: Rights groups file complaint against Booking.com for listing Israeli settlements

CIA Director Bill Burns is expected to meet with his Mossad counterpart David Barnea in Europe over the weekend in an attempt to restart negotiations for a Gaza ceasefire deal, according to The New York Times.

The talks are being held at an undisclosed location in Europe over the next few days. It's not clear if Egyptian and Qatari negotiators will take part. 

A hospital spokesperson, Khalil al-Deqran, told Al Jazeera that doctors are unable to use many of the facilities at Al-Aqsa Hospital because of power outages, which have forced the shutdown of the generators. 

“This will lead to the death of so many sick and wounded people,” said Deqran, who said that some of the patients are being treated on the floor.

“We appeal to the international community and all international and UN organisations to supply 50,000 litres of fuel to the hospital within the coming hours to prevent a health catastrophe affecting hundreds of patients and injured individuals. Any delay in supplying the fuel would effectively be a death sentence for these patients and injured individuals," said a statement from the hospital reported by the Quds News Network. 

The Media Freedom Coalition has published a statement signed by the governments of 27 states criticising the shutdown of Al Jazeera’s operations in Israel.

The members of the coalition, which is a partnership working to advocate for media freedom, said: “A free and diverse media landscape is crucial for democracies to function, especially in times of conflict, as people rely on independent information from multiple, reliable sources to stay informed and make their decisions.

“It is essential that all journalists be given unhindered access to cover events and developments as they unfold, so that they have the possibility to report and inform transparently and factually.”

It was signed by Australia, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Kosovo, Lithuania, Luxembourg, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, South Korea, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, the Netherlands, the UK and the US.

A European Union border assistance mission is under consideration to be put in charge of administering the Rafah crossing, according to a Politico report citing senior Biden administration officials.

The European Union border assistance mission to the Rafah crossing point, EUBAM Rafah, in short, has reportedly been in talks with US officials to take over the administration of the Rafah crossing, which has been closed since Israel invaded Rafah on 7 May.

"EUBAM Rafah is mandated to provide a Third-Party Presence at the Rafah Crossing Point (RCP). In its current stand-by mode, EUBAM Rafah supports enhanced capacity of Palestinian Authority border agencies," its mission statement reads. 

EUBAM Rafah was previously in charge of monitoring the crossing from 2005 to June 2007, when it announced a temporary suspension of operations after Egypt closed the crossing following Hamas's takeover of the Gaza Strip. 

The US proposition of reinstalling EUBAM Rafah comes amid an ongoing impasse between Egyptian and Israeli officials on who should be put in charge

Read more: US seeking to revive EU group’s role in monitoring Rafah crossing

The Israeli army recovered the bodies of three Israeli captives in the Gaza Strip in an overnight operation, the military announced on Friday. 

The three were named as Orion Hernandez Radoux, 30, Hanan Yablonka, 42, and Michel Nisenbaum, 59. 

Israel claims all three were killed on 7 October, but this claim could not be independently verified. 

An Israeli military attack on az-Zawayda in central Gaza has killed at least two people, Al-Jazeera is reporting.

Israel will stop the Spanish embassy from providing consular services to Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz said on Friday.

The move follows Spain's decision to recognise Palestine as a state earlier this week, and comments made by the country's deputy prime minister, who said "from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free".

"Following Spain's recognition of a Palestinian state and the Spanish deputy prime minister's antisemitic call... I have decided to... prohibit the Spanish embassy from providing services to Palestinians from Judea and Samaria," the foreign minister wrote on Friday in a post on X, formerly Twitter, using the Biblical name for the occupied territory.

"If this ignorant, hate-filled individual wants to understand what radical Islam truly seeks, she should study the 700 years of Islamic rule in Al-Andalus – today's Spain," Katz added.

A wide-scale Israeli military assault on Jenin in the occupied West Bank entered its second day on Wednesday. 

The ongoing raid started Tuesday morning, with Israeli forces shooting at moving cars and civilians in the city’s refugee camp. 

Eight Palestinians were killed by Israeli fire in the first 24 hours, with 24 more people wounded and many others detained. 

Israeli armoured vehicles and bulldozers demolished homes, shops and roads in the assault, as clashes with local fighters continued. 

Read more: Student, teacher, doctor, and a playful brother: The Palestinians Israel killed in Jenin

The Biden administration is making preparations for the formation of what it calls peacekeeping force which would be composed by vetted Palestinians or Arabs in postwar Gaza with a US official serving as its top civilian advisor, Politico reports, citing four US officials with knowledge on the matter.

The US expects to play a prominent role in rebuilding and rehabilitating the Gaza Strip following the Israeli destruction aided by US weaponry. 

One option on the table is to appoint a US official to serve as a civilian adviser to the force. According to the report, the US is also working to persuade Egypt, Morocco and the United Arab Emirates to join the force, should it be formed.

A document obtained by Politico suggests that the peacekeeping force should not be “a US-commanded mission” as it would likely “encounter fierce resistance by the Palestinian people given US support for Israel’s military campaign in Gaza”.

The document suggests that the force would be composed of some 2,000 Palestinian members and an additional 1,000 members from Arab countries, with an “appropriately senior officer” from either Israel, Egypt of a reformed Palestinian Authority at its helm.

The US currently favours Egypt as the contender to lead the force, according to the report. 

Israeli air strikes have hit several homes in northern Gaza, killing at least seven people, reports the Palestinian news agency Wafa.

One house was hit in the Sheikh Radwan neighbourhood, north of Gaza City, killing two members of the family sheltering there, the report added. Another house was struck in al-Fakhoura neighbourhood near the Jabalia refugee camp, killing at least five people and wounding several others

Three US troops suffered non-combat injuries in the effort to make a temporary pier off the coast of Gaza, with one in critical condition at an Israeli hospital, US officials said on Thursday Reuters reported.

American comedian Dave Chappelle said on Thursday that a “genocide” is taking place in Gaza. 

Chappelle’s made the comments while performing in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates which has maintained its diplomatic relations with Israel. 

Before coming on stage, the full crowd at Abu Dhabi’s Etihad Arena cheered as DJ Trauma, who accompanied Chappelle on the trip, played the song “My Blood is Palestinian” by the Palestinian singer Mohammed Assaf.

Chappelle also noted that making Jews safer in America amid rising cases of anti-Semitism would make them realise they do not need Israel as an ultimate protector.