Israel-Palestine live: Netanyahu rejects Hamas ceasefire proposal, vows ‘total victory’

Several Palestinian Americans have refused to meet US Secretary of State Antony Blinken for a briefing on Gaza, as community outrage over the Biden administration's ongoing support for Israel shows no signs of tempering, Middle East Eye can reveal.

In a statement sent to MEE by a group of Palestinian Americans who had turned down an off-the-record briefing with Blinken on Thursday, the group described the meeting as “political maneuvering” and an attempt at “damage control” by the Biden administration, as Israel continues to wreak havoc in Gaza with the full support of Washington.

At least five Palestinians snubbed the meeting held by Blinken, while at least two others have decided to go ahead with the meeting despite attempts to dissuade them, sources familiar with the matter told MEE.

“We do not know what more Secretary Blinken or President Biden need to hear or see to compel them to end their complicity in this genocide. They show us every day whose lives they value and whose lives they consider disposable," the group said.

MEE cannot independently verify how many Palestinian Americans were invited.

Read more: Palestinian Americans snub Blinken briefing on Gaza as protesters camp outside residence

More than 800 European and American officials have published an open letter on Friday condemning Israel’s war on Gaza as “one of the worst human catastrophes of this century.”

The statement – titled “It Is Our Duty To Speak Out When Our Governments Policies Are Wrong” – denounced policies that “weaken” their nations’ “moral standing” in the world.

“Israel has shown no boundaries in its military operations in Gaza, which has resulted in tens of thousands of preventable civilian deaths, and the deliberate blocking of aid by Israel has led to a humanitarian catastrophe, putting thousands of civilians at risk of starvation and slow death,” it said.

“Our governments have provided the Israeli military operation with public, diplomatic and military support… This support has been given without real conditions or accountability and when faced with humanitarian catastrophe our governments have failed to call for an immediate ceasefire and an end to blockages of necessary food/water/medicine in Gaza.”

"Our governments' current policies weaken their moral standing and undermine their ability to stand up for freedom, justice and human rights globally and weaken our efforts to rally international support for Ukraine and to counter malign actions by Russia, China and Iran," it added.

Israeli protesters blocked aid trucks carrying desperately needed food and medical supplies from heading to Gaza on Friday, days after ministers in Israel's war cabinet considered limiting the amount of aid reaching the besieged Palestinian enclave.

Scores of Israeli protesters, part of the Tzav 9 ("Order 9") movement, could be seen blocking trucks in the southern border town of Nitzana, which is home to an Israeli military camp and a commercial border crossing with Egypt. 

Friday's protest came a day after hundreds of Israelis blocked a convoy of trucks from leaving Ashdod seaport for Gaza. 

In one incident at Thursday's protest, an Israeli ultranationalist could be seen pushing and verbally abusing a Palestinian truck driver, audibly calling him a "slave".

Read more: Israeli protesters block aid trucks from entering the strip

At least 27,131 Palestinians in Gaza have been killed by Israeli attacks since 7 October, while another 66,287 have been wounded, the Palestinian health ministry said on Friday.

It added that 112 Palestinians have been killed and 148 wounded over the past 24 hours.

A US federal judge in Oakland has dismissed a lawsuit accusing the Biden administration of failing to prevent a genocide in Gaza, but in the same ruling said that Washington should stop its unremitting and fervent support for the Israeli siege on Gaza.

The ruling by Judge Jeffrey White, who had dismissed the case because the court did not have jurisdiction over the issue, was a legal blow to the Palestinian plaintiffs' months-long battle to halt US support for Israel's war in Gaza, with part of the lawsuit including a demand that Washington halt relevant military assistance to Israel.

The plaintiffs and their lawyers noted that the judge's inclusion of a recognition that there was evidence to support Israel was committing genocide in Gaza was a historic moment.

“As the ICJ has found, it is plausible that Israel’s conduct amounts to genocide,” Judge White said.

Katherine Gallagher, senior staff attorney with the Center for Constitutional Rights, said the Biden administration should "heed" the judge's call and said they would continue to pursue all legal avenues. 

Read more: Case against Biden dismissed but US judge says it's 'plausible' Israel is engaging in genocide

The Russian foreign ministry spokesperson, Maria Zakharova, has slammed the US administration for inflaming tensions between Israelis, Jews, and Palestinians.

"First the US president recognises the settlements and encourages the Israelis to take control of Palestinian territories, then they issue a decree allowing sanctions against Jewish settlers," said Zakharova. 

"This incessant manipulation is an expression of nationalism and xenophobia, when the American administration plays with the feelings of Palestinians and Israelis, Jews and Muslims, accordingly for political gain.

"This is Washington's bloody hypocrisy!" she added.

Shin Bet, Israel's security service, has circulated images of undercover soldiers dressing up ahead of the raid targeting Jenin Hospital in the occupied West Bank.

Three Palestinians were killed in Tuesday's operation.

“You have already seen the end of this movie,” the post on the agency’s Instagram account said.

The United Nations humanitarian office has expressed "deep concern" about the influx of displaced Palestinians to Rafah in the south of Gaza, driven by an escalation of hostilities in Khan Younis.

Jens Laerke, spokesperson for the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, warned that the border town has become "a pressure cooker of despair".

"We fear for what comes next," Laerke added.

Israeli jets launched aerial attacks on the towns of Naqoura, Yarin and Al-Jebbine in southern Lebanon on Friday.

The attacks follow a wave of air strikes on Thursday evening targeting the towns of Tayr Harfa, Chihine, and Al-Jibbin.

UNICEF estimates that almost all the children in the Gaza Strip require mental health support.

Prior to 7 October, the agency estimated that 50,000 children were in need of help.

“They present symptoms like extremely high levels of persistent anxiety, loss of appetite. They can’t sleep, they have emotional outbursts, or they panic every time they hear a bombing,” said Jonathan Crickx, UNICEF’s chief of communication for the occupied Palestinian territories.

Three pro-Iranian fighters, including an Iranian and Iraqi national, were killed in Israeli strikes south of the Syrian capital on Friday, according to the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights monitoring group.

“We do not comment on reports in the foreign media,” the Israeli military said after the latest strikes.

Israeli strikes targeting Iran-backed forces in Syria have intensified since 7 October.

Israeli forces will continue their Gaza military campaign to Rafah, the Israeli defence minister, Yoav Gallant, has said, despite the huge numbers of Palestinian civilians there who have nowhere else to go.

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Gallant said: "The Khan Younis Brigade of the Hamas organisation is disbanded, we will complete the mission there and continue to Rafah.

"The great pressure that our forces exert on Hamas targets brings us closer to the return of the abductees, more than anything else [we can do].

"We will continue until the end, there is no other way."

Turkish police arrested seven people on Friday on suspicion of selling information to the Israeli intelligence service Mossad, the Turkish Anadolu news agency said.

The suspects were detained in a joint operation with Turkey's National Intelligence Organization, or MIT.

Raids were carried out in Istanbul and the west coast city of Izmir, Anadolu reported.

Last month, 34 people were detained by Turkish police on suspicion of spying for Israel. They were accused of planning to carry out activities that included reconnaissance and "pursuing, assaulting and kidnapping" foreign nationals living in Turkey.

The head of Israel's domestic Shin Bet security agency said in December that his organisation was prepared to target Hamas anywhere, including in Lebanon, Turkey and Qatar.

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan warned Israel of "serious consequences" if Israel pressed ahead with its threat to attack Hamas officials on Turkish soil.

US President Joe Biden issued an executive order on Thursday that imposes targeted sanctions on Israeli settlers who attack Palestinians in the occupied West Bank.

Based on the order, the administration will also specifically sanction four Israeli settlers who engaged in violent activity against Palestinians, including an incident where settlers set fire to cars in an attack that killed one Palestinian civilian.

In a press call with reporters on Thursday, a senior US official said the move is being taken to curb the surge in violence in the occupied West Bank since the war in Gaza began on 7 October.

"All property and interest in property in the United States of those individuals will be blocked," one US official said during the call.

The official added that the executive order will also bar Americans from "making any contribution or provision of funds" to the sanctioned individuals.

Read more: Biden issues sanctions on Israeli settlers that attack Palestinians in West Bank
 

The Unicef Executive Director Catherine Russell said on Friday  “the situation for children in Gaza grows bleaker every day”.

She called on the international community not to let the children of the war-torn enclave down.

“The world cannot abandon them,” she wrote on X, sharing a Unicef statement from earlier in the week.