Israel-Palestine live: Biden urges Egypt, Qatar to press Hamas for hostage deal

For the sixth consecutive night, thousands of Jordanians are demonstrating on the streets of Amman in solidarity with the people of Gaza.

Similar protests have been taking place in other countries in the region, including in Egypt and Morocco.

Israeli defence minister Yoav Gallant proposed the idea of establishing a multinational military force of troops from Arab countries to escort humanitarian aid into Gaza, Axios is reporting citing senior Israeli officials.

“Such a move will build a governing body in the enclave that is not Hamas and will address Israel’s growing problem with the U.S. when it comes to the humanitarian situation in Gaza,” a senior Israeli official said.

The proposal is for an Arab force to stay in Gaza and be responsible for securing the temporary floating dock the US will build off the enclave’s coast, which will then be used to secure and get humanitarian assistance into Gaza.

An Arab official told Axios that Arab countries are not ready to send troops, but may consider doing so to contribute to a peacekeeping force after the war is over.

A US official told Axios that Egypt is the main country considering the idea.

The report comes after another report from Politico, which stated that the US was in early discussions to fund a multinational peacekeeping force in Gaza after the war is over.

The Washington Post reported that in recent days, the Biden administration has approved the transfer of billions of dollars in bombs and fighter jets to Israel, despite growing concerns from lawmakers about the use of these weapons in Israel's war on Gaza.

The Post reported that the new authorisations include "more than 1,800 MK84 2,000-pound bombs and 500 MK82 500-pound bombs".

“We have continued to support Israel’s right to defend itself,” a White House official told the newspaper. “Conditioning aid has not been our policy.”

Some Democrats have been calling for the administration to condition arms sales to Israel because Israel is blocking aid to the enclave and because of its conduct in the war, which rights groups and legal experts have said has crossed the threshold of genocide.

“The Biden administration needs to use their leverage effectively and, in my view, they should receive these basic commitments before greenlighting more bombs for Gaza,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen told the Post. “We need to back up what we say with what we do.”

Read more by clicking here.

Earlier this month, the Biden administration issued an executive order that imposed sanctions on Israeli settlers in the West Bank who engaged in violence against Palestinians.

The move was seen as a message to the far-right elements of Israeli society, which have been pushing to increase settlements in the occupied West Bank — those settlements are deemed illegal under international law.

The US Treasury Department has now sent a letter telling the Bank of Israel that it would not be exposed to sanctions risks if it provides blocked individuals or entities with "basic human needs", does not involve the US financial institutions, and does not involve any other individuals facing American sanctions other than the ones listed under the executive order.

"The guidance applies only to basic transactions involving basic sustenance and does not include large payments or expenses beyond basic living expenses or the kind of crowdfunding support that we have seen extremists use to raise funds internationally," the letter said, as reported by Haaretz.

US Central Command said on Friday it conducted another airdrop of humanitarian aid into northern Gaza.

Military planes dropped in 46,000 "US meal equivalents" into the area, according to Gaza.

It added that 26 bundles landed in the sea. Earlier this week, 12 Palestinians drowned trying to access aid that was airdropped into the sea.

The Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, said on Telegram that it destroyed a Merkava 4 Israeli tank in Tal al-Hawa in Gaza City.

Russia's foreign ministry spokesperson said that Moscow condemns the Israeli strikes on Syria and considers them a flagrant violation of the country's sovereignty.

Israel carried out air strikes in Syria's Aleppo province earlier on Friday, killing more than 42 people. Israel also said that it killed a senior Hezbollah commander in Lebanon.

The spokesperson said the actions were "fraught with extremely dangerous consequences" in the light of an escalation in the wider conflict arising from Israel's war on Gaza.

Human rights groups have questioned the credibility of an Israeli forces interrogation video, in which an alleged member of Islamic Jihad confesses to raping an Israeli woman during the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on 7 October.

The video, posted online by the Israeli forces on Thursday, shows the man, named as Manar Mahmoud Muhammad Qasem, allegedly a member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s naval force, appearing to admit to the rape during an interrogation by the Israei Intelligence Division.

But human rights groups and commentators have questioned the credibility of the confession, saying it was likely produced under torture. They cited the surge in arbitary arrests and "inhuman and degrading treatment" of Palestinian detainees by Israeli forces since 7 October.

"In light of Israel's decades-long track record of mistreating and torturing Palestinian detainees and resulting well-founded concerns that the interrogations could have involved the use of torture or other forms of ill-treatment, Human Rights Watch does not rely on, nor consider credible, accounts recorded in videos of interrogations of detained Palestinians they say participated in the 7 October assault," Israel and Palestine director at Human Rights Watch, Omar Shakir, told Middle East Eye.

Meanwhile, Amnesty International's researcher on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian territories, Budour Hassan, said that "any public 'confession' made by the defendants should be excluded from the evidence considered by court".

"Amnesty International reiterates its call on the Israeli authorities to end the practice of filming alleged confessions by detained individuals and broadcasting them on social media in advance of their trial," she told MEE.

Read more: Israel likely tortured Palestinian to record rape confession, say rights groups 

Forensic Architecture has analysed satellite imagery and found that Israel had destroyed more than 2,000 agricultural sites, including farms, and greenhouses since October 2023 in Gaza. 

"In the early weeks of the Israeli ground invasion, satellite imagery shows extensive destruction of greenhouses where, between October 2023 and March 2024, nearly one-third of Gaza’s greenhouses have been destroyed," said Forensic Architecture. 

"In total, Forensic Architecture has identified more than 2,000 agricultural sites, including farms and greenhouses, which have been destroyed since October 2023, often to be replaced with Israeli military earthworks.

"This destruction has been most intense in the northern part of Gaza, where 90 percent of greenhouses were destroyed in the early stages of the ground invasion." 

Mayar al-Jakhbir, from northern Gaza, lost almost her entire family in an Israeli bombardment that left her severely injured. 

Then the 20-year-old journeyed south, hoping to meet her father. Here's what happened next: 

READ MORE: One Palestinian woman's journey through death and destruction

A senior US State Department official acknowledged on Friday that famine in Gaza is both a risk and "quite possibly" present in some areas of northern Gaza. 

Speaking to Reuters on the condition of anonymity, the official added that the lack of trucks was a key obstacle to delivering more aid into Gaza. 

"While we can say with confidence, that famine is a significant risk in the south and center but not present, in the north, it is both a risk and quite possibly is present in at least some areas, which accounts for the urgency with which we need to move goods, food at scale into the north," the senior State Department official said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has agreed to send delegations to Egypt and Qatar, where negotiators have been trying to secure the release of Israeli captives as part of a possible Gaza ceasefire deal, his office said on Friday.

Netanyahu's office said he spoke with the heads of Israeli intelligence agencies Shin Bet and Mossad and "approved that delegations on their behalf go in the coming days to Doha and Cairo," with a mandate to push forward with negotiations.

Reporting by Reuters

A British charity has launched a nationwide billboard campaign calling on the UK government to end its arms sales and trade agreements with Israel if it continues its bombardment of Gaza.

Human Aid and Advocacy, which works worldwide, launched its "No to Genocide" campaign on Thursday in dozens of locations across the country. 

Using quotes from Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant declaring a "complete siege on Gaza" and pictures of starvation unfolding in the Palestinian enclave, the charity said it aims to mobilise communities to stand up for Palestine. 

Nur Chowdhury, who founded Human Aid in 2010, said the group had been organising the campaign for nearly a month but faced delays due to some advertising agencies cancelling at the last minute. 

READ MORE: UK charity calls for end to arms trade with Israel in new billboard campaign

The Israeli army said that Ali Abdel Hassan Naim, the man it killed in a strike near Tyre, south Lebanon on Friday was the deputy commander of Hezbollah’s rocket and missiles unit.

The Israeli army said Naim was “considered to be a significant source of knowledge" in the group, and "one of the leaders for heavy-warhead rocket fire and responsible for conducting and planning attacks against Israeli civilians".

Hezbollah announced Naim's death earlier on Friday, without specifying his position in the group, making him the sixth member the group has mourned today.

Gaza's government media office said in a statement that two Israeli attacks in Gaza City's Shujaiya neighbourhood killed several members of the local police force in charge of securing aid convoys to the area.

In two separate incidents, the media office says that at least 17 people were killed in Shujaiya.

Ten people were killed in the neighbourhood's sports centre, including several members of the police force, while seven others were killed in the area's Sanafour roundabout, including one police officer, members of his family and some bystanders.