Israel-Palestine live: Israel’s response to South Africa’s genocide case at the ICJ ends

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has said that when he visits Israel this week he will tell Israeli officials that it is imperative they do more to prevent civilian casualties in Gaza.

Speaking at a news conference in Doha, Blinken said Palestinian civilians must be allowed to return home and must not be pressed to leave Gaza.

Three Palestinians, including a four-year-old girl and a woman, were shot dead by Israeli soldiers on Sunday at a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank, according to the Arabs48 news website.

Eyewitnesses said that Israeli security personnel opened fire on two vehicles as they passed through the Beit Iksa checkpoint, north of Jerusalem, wounding a man and a woman in the same vehicle, reported Arabs48.

Israeli media confirmed that they had died of their wounds.

A child who was in the other vehicle was also shot and died of her injuries, according to Israeli ambulance staff.

The Palestinian news agency Wafa, quoting local sources, named the four-year-old as Ruqaya Ahmed Odeh Abu Dahuk Jahalin and the man as Muhammad Mazid Abu Eid from the town of Bedouin. The dead woman had not yet been identified.

According to Arabs48, the Israeli military closed the checkpoint following the incident, preventing Palestinian ambulances from reaching the injured.

Israeli police claimed that the first car had attempted to ram the checkpoint and that the young girl in the other vehicle had been “accidentally” shot during their response.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken assured Jordan's King Abdullah during a meeting in Amman on Sunday that Washington opposes the forcible displacement of Palestinians from Gaza or the occupied West Bank.

The king had raised Jordan's concerns over displacement in the meeting, according to a palace statement, as Israel pushes on with its military campaign that has turned much of Gaza to rubble and left its 2.3 million residents on the verge of starvation, according to aid workers.

In the meeting, Blinken "stressed US opposition to forcible displacement of Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza and the critical need to protect Palestinian civilians in the West Bank from extremist settler violence", State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said in a statement.

The Committee to Protect Journalists has called for an investigation into the Israeli killing of two journalists in southern Gaza on Sunday. 

"The killings of journalists Hamza al-Dahdouh and Mustafa Thuraya must be independently investigated to determine whether they were targeted, and those behind their deaths must be held accountable. The continuous killings of journalists and their family members by Israeli army fire must end," said CPJ's Middle East and North Africa program coordinator Sherif Mansour.

"The al-Dahdouh family and their journalist colleagues in Gaza are rewriting what it means to be a journalist today with immensely brave and never-seen-before sacrifices."

Israel's cabinet will approve a 2024 wartime budget on Thursday, according to far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich.

As part of the budget, Israeli ministers approved 9bn shekels ($2.5bn) in financial support for military reservists.

"The state of Israel puts the reservists and their families at the centre and this is the anchor of the budget for 2024 that we will deliver," Smotrich said in a joint statement with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant on Sunday.

Israel last year approved a two-year budget for 2023 and 2024, but the war in Gaza has prompted changes in budget and additional spending.

In December, Israel's parliament approved a special war budget for 2023 of around 30bn shekels.

The finance ministry said the war was likely to cost at least another 50bn shekels this year, and result in a near-tripling of its budget deficit to around 6 percent of GDP.

Al Jazeera has strongly condemned Israel for an air strike which killed two journalists in Gaza. 

Hamza al-Dahdouh, the son of Al Jazeera Gaza bureau chief Wael al-Dahdouh, and his colleague Mustafa Thuraya, a video stringer for AFP, were killed on Sunday when an Israeli missile hit their vehicle in Khan Younis.

"The assassination of Mustafa and Hamza... whilst they were on their way to carry out their duty in the Gaza Strip, reaffirms the need to take immediate necessary legal measures against the occupation forces to ensure that there is no impunity," the media network said.

"Al Jazeera condemns, in the strongest terms, the ongoing crimes committed by Israeli occupation forces against journalists and media professionals in Gaza," it added.

"This alarming trend requires immediate attention and action from the international community. We urge the International Criminal Court, the governments and human rights organisations, and the United Nations to hold Israel accountable for its heinous crimes and demand an end to the targeting and killing of journalists."

Al Jazeera added that it would take all legal measures to prosecute the perpetrators, and reaffirmed its commitment to "achieving justice for more than 100 journalists killed, and to continuing to cover these grave violations". 

Heba Labbad, a 27-year-old mother of three, describes to Middle East Eye's correspondent Aseel Mousa the terrorising experience of being a pregnant woman having to quit her home, of giving birth amid the paralysing sounds of Israeli bombing and being separated from her husband after he was detained by the Israeli military.

When the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip started, I was nine months pregnant, suffering through pregnancy pains, fatigue and exhaustion. 

The relentless bombing only intensified my distress, adding fear and tension to my already difficult pregnancy. My thoughts were consumed by concern for the well-being of my two young children, Leen, five, and Hassan, three, as well as for the unborn child in my womb.

On 7 October, my husband, our children, and I were forced to flee our home in al-Nasr neighbourhood in northern Gaza, seeking refuge in Beit Lahia. The sound of explosions from the Israeli bombing was relentless. In addition to the continual threat of death, we also faced severe shortages of food, drinkable water, and cooking gas, exacerbating the challenges we were already enduring.

Full story: A mother's traumatic journey through childbirth under Israeli bombing

A Palestinian man died from his wounds on Sunday, making it seven killed by an Israeli operation in Jenin, Wafa news agency reported.

Wadia Yaser Asous, 18, was pronounced dead at al-Razi hospital in Jenin, according to medical sources cited by Wafa. 

Wadia's brother Mohammad was also killed, when an Israeli drone strike targeted Palestinians at one of the entrances of Jenin. 

During the operation, an Israeli police officer was killed and others were wounded when their vehicle was hit by an explosive device, Israeli authorities said.

The Jenin Brigade, a local armed resistance group, claimed responsibility for the attack on Israeli forces.

At least 113 Palestinians were killed and 250 wounded by Israeli bombardment over the past 24 hours in Gaza, the Palestinian health ministry said on Sunday. 

That brought the death toll in the territory since 7 October to 22,835, it said, adding that 58,416 others had been wounded during that time.

Jordan's King Abdullah has warned US Secretary of State Antony Blinken of the "catastrophic repercussions" of Israel continuing its war on Gaza, a palace statement said on Sunday.

The king also told Blinken during a meeting that Washington had a major role to play in putting pressure on Israel to agree to an immediate ceasefire in the besieged enclave.

The US official arrived in Jordan late on Saturday as part of his Middle East tour, before heading for Qatar and the United Arab Emirates. 

A senior US state department official told Reuters that Blinken was using the trip to press countries in the region to play a role in the reconstruction, governance and security of Gaza after the end of the war. 

In Doha, the Biden administration's top diplomat is expected to discuss efforts to release around 100 Israeli captives held in Gaza by Palestinian groups. 

Israeli forces killed six Palestinians during an operation in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, during which an Israeli police officer was killed by Palestinian fighters. 

Confrontations broke out after an Israeli incursion at the city's entrance early on Sunday. 

The Palestinian health ministry said an Israeli drone strike targeted people who had gathered at the scene. Eyewitnesses told Reuters the attack happened as Israeli forces were withdrawing from the area.

The health ministry said four brothers were amongst those killed: Hazza, 27, Rami, 22, Ahmed, 24, and Alaa Najeh Darwish. Razqallah Nabil Sleiman, 18, and Mohammad Yasser Asous were also killed. 

Another Palestinian man was critically wounded by the Israeli strike.  

"The air strike happened at the entrance of Jenin in an area called Martyr's Triangle. You can see the effects of the missile. Blood and body parts scattered everywhere," witness Ahmed Suleiman told Reuters. 

During the operation, an Israeli police officer was killed and others were wounded after their vehicle was hit by an explosive device, the Israeli military and police said.

The military said that its aircraft targeted a "terrorist squad that hurled explosives and endangered our forces", adding that "a number of terrorists were killed".

The Jenin Brigade, a local armed resistance group, claimed responsibility for the attack on Israeli forces.

Good evening Middle East Eye readers.

Here are the main developments of the day.

In the besieged Gaza enclave, the Palestinian health ministry announced on Saturday that at least 122 people had been killed by Israeli bombardment over the past 24 hours, and 256 others wounded. 

Seven Palestinians including women and children were killed and dozens wounded in an Israeli air strike on a house in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip belonging to the al-Nabris family, Palestinian health officials said.

That brought the total death toll in Gaza since 7 October to 22,722 Palestinians, with 58,166 others wounded.

Elsewhere, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken met with Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan in Istanbul, kicking off a week-long trip aimed at calming tensions across the region. Blinken travelled to Jordan on Saturday evening.

Earlier on Saturday, Blinken and Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan met to discuss the situation in Gaza as well as Turkey's process to ratify Sweden's membership of Nato, Ankara's foreign ministry said in a statement.

Blinken also said the US was working with its allies to see what could be done to protect civilians in Gaza from Israel's bombardment.

In Beirut, the EU's foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, met a political official of Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, Mohammad Raad, as part of a push to avoid Lebanon being dragged into the Israel-Hamas war.

Earlier, at a press conference, Borrell had said that the only way to peace was a Palestinian state, adding that the prospect of a state would offer a “horizon of hope” to the Palestinians.

Other key events on Saturday included:

• France's foreign minister said that she had told her Iranian counterpart that the risk of a Middle East regional conflagration had never been greater and that Tehran and its proxies needed to end their destabilising activities.
   
• Bereaved Palestinians reburied bodies exhumed from a cemetery in Gaza City. Hamas accused the Israeli military of "destroying 1,100 graves" at the cemetery and "stealing 150 bodies of recently buried martyrs".
   
• Lebanese group Jama'a Islamiya said in a statement that it had fired two volleys of rockets at Kiryat Shmona in northern Israel. The attack came after Hezbollah said it had fired at least 62 rockets towards Israel.
   
• Pro-Palestinian protesters blocked roads outside the British parliament in London, demanding an immediate ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas conflict and clashing with police who prevented them from marching across Westminster Bridge.

We're pausing our coverage for now, but we will be back soon. To stay up to date on the latest news, follow us on Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok, Telegram and YouTube.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has arrived in Jordan on the next leg of his tour of the region aimed at preventing Israel's war in Gaza from escalating.

 “Jordan is a vital partner in helping to prevent the conflict in the region from spreading, and we are grateful for their leadership in facilitating aid to civilians in Gaza,” US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller announced.