Live: Major clashes break out near Bethlehem after Israeli raid

Qatar and Egypt, the states serving as guarantors of the Gaza ceasefire, on Saturday called on Israel to withdraw from Gaza and for an international stabilisation force be deployed, steps they say are essential to fully carry out the fragile agreement.

Mediators are now working to advance the next phase of the ceasefire, which outlines these measures, Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said during a panel discussion at the Doha Forum conference in Qatar's capital on Saturday. 

Israel and Hamas have not yet settled on how to proceed beyond the ceasefire agreement’s initial phase.

During that first phase, Israeli forces moved back behind a designated "yellow line" inside Gaza, while Hamas freed the remaining living hostages in its custody and returned the bodies of all but one of the deceased captives.

"Now we are at the critical moment. It's not yet there. So what we have just done is a pause," Al Thani told the annual diplomatic gathering.

Read more: Qatar and Egypt call for Israeli withdrawal from Gaza

Israeli forces killed five people in Beit Lahia and Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, Palestinian health officials said on Saturday. 

Earlier on Saturday, the Israeli army claimed it killed three "terrorists who crossed the yellow line" in Gaza, which demarcates the area in which Israeli troops can remain according to the ceasefire plan. 

Good afternoon,

Here are the latest updates from Israel's war on Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank:

• Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said the negotiations on the war in Gaza have reached a "critical" point. 
• Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said talks on the make-up of the Gaza stabilisation force remain ongoing. 
• German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is set to depart on Saturday for his first visits to Israel and Jordan since taking office in May. 
• Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates warned Israel against partially opening Gaza's crossing to Egypt. 
• US President Donald Trump will name two Gaza authorities under his peace plan during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's visit to Washington this month. 

German Chancellor Friedrich Merz is set to depart on Saturday for his first visits to Israel and Jordan since taking office in May.

Merz's first stop will be the Jordanian capital Amman, where he is scheduled to meet King Abdullah II. Later in the evening, the chancellor is to be received by Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Jerusalem. A meeting with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is planned for Sunday.

Merz is also scheduled to visit the Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial to lay a wreath, a customary element of every inaugural visit by a German chancellor to Israel.

The trip is expected to focus on the recently strained relations between the two countries and on further stabilising the ceasefire in Gaza.

Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani said on Saturday that negotiations on the war in Gaza were at a "critical" moment.

Mediators are working together to force the next phase of ceasefire forward, he said during a panel at the Doha Forum conference in Qatar.

Reporting from Reuters 

Turkey's Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said at the Doha Forum conference in Qatar on Saturday that negotiations over the Gaza stabilisation force remain ongoing, including its mandate and rules of engagement, and that its main objective should be to separate Israelis and Palestinians along a border.

Fidan said there is a "big question" over the formation of an international security force for Gaza. The foreign minister said it's unclear which countries will be joining the force, what the command structure would look like and what its "first mission" will be.

Turkey is one of the "guarantors" of the ceasefire, but Israel, which has rocky relations with the Ankara government, has rejected any Turkish participation in the force. "Thousands of details, questions are in place," Fidan said. "I think once we deploy [an international stabilisation force], the rest will come."

The UN General Assembly adopted a resolution to renew the mandate of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) on Friday for three years.

The resolution received 151 votes in favour, 10 against, and 14 abstentions during the vote held in New York. 

Unrwa chief Philippe Lazzarini X welcomed the overwhelming vote in a post on X. He said it "reflects the broad solidarity of people across the world with Palestine Refugees".

"It is also an acknowledgement of the international community's responsibility to support the humanitarian + human development needs of Palestinian refugees pending a just & lasting solution to their decades-long plight," he said.

"It is also an acknowledgement of the international community’s responsibility to support the humanitarian + human development needs of Palestine Refugees pending a just & lasting solution to their decades-long plight. The vote needs now to be translated into a genuine commitment & matching resources to ensure the mandate is fulfilled," he added.

The deputy prosecutor of the International Criminal Court on Friday condemned ongoing US sanctions, arguing they effectively put top court officials on a par with "terrorists and drug traffickers", AFP reported.

"You can disagree with what we're doing. That happens all the time," Mame Mandiaye Niang told AFP.

"But even if we upset you, you should never put us on the same list as terrorists or drug traffickers. That is the message to Trump."

Niang, 65, said the sanctions affected his personal, family, and financial life.

He found himself unable to charge his hybrid car because it required a credit card that had been blocked due to the sanctions.

"I have a subscription that has absolutely nothing to do with the US, but I need a credit card. And my credit card was American Express," he said.

"I found that all of a sudden, I couldn't even charge up my car."

Niang said he was unable to transfer money to family members for fear their accounts would also be blocked.

Sanctions have a place in international relations, the prosecutor told AFP, but attacking the ICC - the world's only permanent court to try war crimes suspects - risks "de-legitimising" the instrument.

Niang said it would be "conceivable" to hold an in-absentia hearing against high-level ICC targets such as Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Mediators for the US-mediated Gaza peace plan on Friday expressed concern that Israel was planning to open one of the main entrances/ exits in Gaza one-way.

The foreign ministers of Egypt, Indonesia, Jordan, Pakistan, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates "expressed their deep concern regarding the statements issued by the Israeli side concerning the opening of the Rafah crossing in one direction with the aim of transferring residents of the Gaza Strip to" Egypt, they said in a joint statement.

The ministers voiced "their absolute rejection of any attempts to expel the Palestinian people from their land" and said they were against "compelling any resident of the Gaza Strip to leave".

They urged for the crossing to be opened in both directions in accordance with US President Donald Trump's peace plan.

On Wednesday, Israel said it would open the Rafah crossing from Gaza to Egypt to allow Palestinians to exit the Gaza Strip "in the coming days".

But Egypt said that it had not agreed to such a deal, insisting that the key crossing be opened in both directions.

Aid agencies have also expressed concern that the one-way opening of the crossing would not allow aid to enter. 

United Nations chief Antonio Guterres criticised the way Israel has conducted its war on Gaza in an interview with Reuters on Thursday, saying that Israel had destroyed Gaza but not Hamas.

"I think there was something fundamentally wrong in the way this operation was conducted with total neglect in relation to the deaths of civilians and to the destruction of Gaza," he told Reuters editor-in-chief Alessandra Gallon.

"The objective was to destroy Hamas. Gaza is destroyed, but Hamas is not yet destroyed. So there is something fundamentally wrong with the way this is conducted." 

President Xi Jinping of China said he will provide $100m in humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza and support reconstruction efforts, Reuters reported.

Xi made the remarks in Beijing during a joint press conference on Thursday with French President Emmanuel Macron.

Israeli forces killed two Palestinian men in the north of Gaza.

They accused the men of carrying suspicious objects, but they have not identified what those objects were.

Since the ceasefire, often close to the yellow line demarcating the buffer zone, soldiers have been killing Palestinians in Gaza and accusing them of being "terrorists".

Commissioner general of the United Nations relief and works agency for Palestine refugees Philippe Lazzarini said on Friday on X that "Gaza now hosts the largest group of child amputees in modern history". 

He also spoke about the need for a political solution for Palestinians.

"Palestinian refugees remain refugees because of the absence of a political solution," he said in a post on Thursday. "They are no exception. Other refugees across the world have also been waiting decades for a lasting political solution to their plight. Dismantling UNRWA will not address the refugee status of Palestinians. A political solution will. Investing in peace is the answer to end what was meant to be a temporary situation."

The president of the Spanish public television channel RTVE has lambasted Eurovision as "a festival dominated by geopolitical interests". 

"What happened at the EBU Assembly confirms that Eurovision is not a song contest but a festival dominated by geopolitical interests and deeply fractured," said José Pablo López, president of the Spanish public television channel RTVE, on X on Thursday.

Spain is one of four countries that has decided to boycott the Eurovision contest after the General Assembly did not vote on Israel's participation, along with Ireland, Slovenia and the Netherlands.

The RTVE Board of Directors said it had agreed last September that it would withdraw if Israel participated. 

In a statement about its withdrawal, RTVE said, "RTVE, along with seven other countries, has formally requested a secret ballot at the Assembly. The EBU presidency has denied RTVE's request for a specific vote on Israel's participation. This decision increases RTVE's distrust of the festival's organization and confirms the political pressure surrounding it.

"In his address to the General Assembly prior to the vote, RTVE Secretary General Alfonso Morales explained that the Corporation 'recognizes and values' the measures adopted by the EBU and the Reference Group to defend the core principles and values ​​of the Eurovision Song Contest. 'However, we consider these measures insufficient,' he stated.

“'We would like to express our serious doubts about the participation of Israeli broadcaster KAN in Eurovision 2026. The situation in Gaza, despite the ceasefire and the approval of the peace process, and Israel’s use of the contest for political purposes, make it increasingly difficult to maintain Eurovision as a neutral cultural event,' he remarked."

Israeli soldiers shot and killed a 38-year-old man near Nablus, in the West Bank, according to Palestine’s health ministry.

The incident started after Israeli soldiers fired tear gas at people exiting a mosque after Friday prayers in the village of Odala.

After fighting broke out, the man, Bahaa Abdel-Rahman Rashid, suffered "a critical head injury", according to the Palestine Red Crescent Society, which treated him.