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The Trump administration on Thursday imposed sanctions on two International Criminal Court (ICC) judges for their recent decision to reject an Israeli appeal against the Gaza war crimes investigation.
The two judges, Gocha Lordkipanidze of Georgia and Erdenebalsuren Damdin of Mongolia, are members of the appeals chamber that on Monday ruled by a majority to dismiss Israel’s arguments that the investigation into crimes in Gazaafter 7 October 2023 was invalid.
The appeals chamber decision has been widely viewed as a significant development in the Palestine investigation, which led to arrest warrants for Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant in November last year.
Had Israel succeeded in its appeal, the arrest warrants would have been invalid.
Read more: US sanctions two ICC judges for rejecting Israel's appeal against Gaza investigation
The UAE was the undisclosed customer of a massive defence deal with Israel’s Elbit Systems, according to a report by the France-based Intelligence Online.
Elbit Systems reported in November that it had sealed a $2.3bn arms deal with an unidentified international customer, to be spread over eight years.
"This contract provides important recognition of our unique technological capabilities and significantly enhances our efforts to equip our customers with advanced and relevant solutions,” Elbit Systems president and CEO Bezhalel Machlis said at the time.
Intelligence Online reported earlier this week that the deal was for the UAE to purchase a new electronic defence system from Elbit to protect civil and military aircraft.
Read more: UAE was secret buyer of billion dollar Israeli defence deal: Report
The advocacy group Democracy for the Arab World Now (Dawn), founded by the late Middle East Eye and Washington Post columnist Jamal Khashoggi, has published what it says are the names and faces of the individuals who run the most powerful pro-Israel lobbying group in the US.
The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) has not previously disclosed exactly who governs it.
On Thursday, Dawn unveiled its "Faces of Aipac" project, uncovering the 50 people in charge.
"As a tax-exempt nonprofit, Aipac is subject to public disclosure requirements, which is precisely why accessibly identifying the individuals who govern and direct the organisation matters," Dawn said in a statement.
"However, nowhere on Aipac’s website, not even on the 'About Us' page, do the identities of these directors and officers appear."
Dawn's advocacy director, Raed Jarrar, said that US nonprofit law makes Aipac "personally responsible for the organisation's conduct [so] its board members and officers are legally on the hook. That is why we are putting faces to the names."
Egypt said on Thursday that the gas deal inked with Israel occurred between private companies with no government intervention, and that it was "strictly commercial".
A day earlier, Israel had approved the deal with Chevron CVX.N and its partners, NewMed NWMDp.TA and Ratio, to provide up to $3b of natural gas to Egypt from the Leviathan natural gas field.
It is, on the whole, unusual for any deal of this size to take hold without Egyptian government oversight.
The International Criminal Court rejected recent US sanctions against two of its judges, describing them as “a flagrant attack against the independence of an impartial judicial institution”.
In a statement issued shortly after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced the measures, the ICC called the move an undermining of the rule of law.
“When judicial actors are threatened for applying the law, it is the international legal order itself that is placed at risk,” the court said.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio has sanctioned two International Criminal Court (ICC) judges, Gocha Lordkipanidze of Georgia and Erdenebalsuren Damdin of Mongolia, accusing them of illegitimately targeting Israel.
Rubio said the judges were directly involved in ICC efforts to “investigate, arrest, detain, or prosecute Israeli nationals without Israel’s consent”.
“I am designating these individuals pursuant to Executive Order 14203, ‘Imposing Sanctions on the International Criminal Court’,” he said in a statement.
“The ICC has continued politicized actions targeting Israel, setting a dangerous precedent. We will not tolerate abuses of power that violate US and Israeli sovereignty and subject our nationals to the Court’s jurisdiction.”
The secretary of state highlighted that neither Israel nor the United States are members of the Rome Statute, thus rejecting ICC jurisdiction. He warned there would be “significant and tangible consequences” to any ICC overreach.
Steve Witkoff, US special envoy to the Middle East, will meet Qatari, Egyptian and Turkish officials in Miami on Friday to discuss the next phase of Gaza’s ceasefire agreement, Axios reported.
Witkoff is expected to meet with Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani, Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan and Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty.
This comes days after US President Donald Trump 'scolded’ Netanyahu over Israel’s non-compliance with the Gaza ceasefire deal terms, following its assassination of a Hamas commander.
A child was killed by the explosion of an ordnance left behind from Israeli military operations in Nuseirat camp in Gaza, Al Jazeera reported.
This comes a week after the UN issued an official warning on remnants of war and unexploded ordnance in Gaza posing a threat to civilians, with children being most at risk.
Several Israeli members of a far-right settler group entered the Gaza Strip on Thursday from various access points, the Israeli army reported.
Israeli forces subsequently prevented them from progressing further into the besieged territory, the army said.
The Israelis involved are affiliated with the Nachala Movement, an Orthodox settler movement led by Daniella Weiss, and had convened for an event titled "Raising the flag in Gaza".
Weiss said: "It is precisely in these days [of Hannukkah] that we need to say in a clear voice 'Gaza belongs to the people of Israel', and we must start settling there right now."
The Nachala movement has been building illegal settlements on land in the occupied West Bank for decades.
According to its plan, some 300,000 housing units will be built in Gaza, the vast majority of which are in two main residential areas in the northern and southern parts of the strip. It calls for the Gaza Strip to be populated by about 1.2 million Jews, who are expected to enjoy green spaces, transportation, industrial zones, hotels, a university and even a port.
"The right of the people of Israel to the Gaza Strip is the same as to Jerusalem, Hebron and Tel Aviv," the plan states.
Around 55,000 families across the Gaza Strip have been impacted by heavy rains, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha).
Farhan Haq, deputy spokesperson for the UN secretary-general, said Ocha estimates that the families have seen their properties and shelters damaged or destroyed by recent storms that have worsened the humanitarian crisis in the besieged territory.
The storms have also affected child protection activities by damaging infant-friendly spaces across the Strip.
Dozens of Palestinians have died due to a combination of severe weather conditions and the humanitarian plight caused by Israeli restrictions, with buildings collapsing and tents flooding.
Three Palestinians have been shot by Israeli forces in Khan Younis and Gaza City, according to Wafa.
In separate incidents, two Palestinians were wounded east of Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, while a teenage boy was injured by Israeli fire in eastern Gaza City.
Israeli authorities have designated Palestinian waste incineration in the occupied West Bank as a national security issue following an emergency meeting held on Thursday, according to the Israeli daily Haaretz.
Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, and finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, chaired the discussions, which included leaders of West Bank settlements and mayors from central Israel.
Under the proposed measures, Israeli authorities would be able to confiscate Palestinian-owned waste trucks through military orders issued by the Israeli army. The plan also provides for unlimited budgets to recruit contractors and secure equipment for firefighting and waste removal.
Lebanon’s Health Ministry said an Israeli airstrike wounded four people in the town of Taybeh, in the country’s south.
Earlier on Thursday, the Israeli military said it carried out a strike near Taybeh, claiming it targeted a “Hezbollah terrorist,” without offering any evidence.
Gaza hospitals recorded one new fatality and 13 injuries over the past 24 hours as Israel’s assault on the enclave continues, the Palestinian health ministry reported on Thursday.
Hospitals confirmed the death of one-month-old Saeed Asaad Abdeen due to extreme cold, raising the number of weather-related deaths to 13.
Rescue teams say several victims remain buried under rubble or stranded on roads, with ambulances and civil defence crews still unable to reach them.
Since the ceasefire on 11 October 2025, health authorities report 395 Palestinians have been killed, 1,088 wounded, and 634 bodies have been recovered from under the rubble.
Palestinian health officials say Israel’s genocide has killed 70,669 people and wounded 171,165 others in Gaza since 7 October 2023.
Israeli settlers stormed the courtyards of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem on Thursday, escorted by Israeli forces.
Eyewitnesses said hundreds of settlers arrived in organised groups, toured the mosque’s courtyards and carried out Talmudic rituals under the protection of Israeli forces, Wafa reported.
Israeli authorities continued to enforce tight restrictions on Palestinian access to the site, limiting entry to the sanctuary as settlers carried out the visits.
The measures coincided with the fifth day of the Jewish holiday of Hanukkah, during which Palestinian worshippers say Israeli forces have intensified restrictions around Al-Aqsa Mosque.
