GAZA STRIP, Palestinian Territories: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved Friday new talks on a Gaza ceasefire, a day after the world’s top court ordered Israel to ensure urgent humanitarian aid reaches people in the Palestinian territory.
But despite a binding United Nations Security Council resolution this week demanding an “immediate ceasefire,” fighting continued Friday, including around hospitals.
Regional fallout from the conflict also flared, with Israel saying it killed a Hezbollah rocket commander in Lebanon, and several Hezbollah fighters killed in Syria strikes that a war monitor blamed on Israel.
Netanyahu’s office said new talks on a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release will take place in Doha and Cairo “in the coming days... with guidelines for moving forward in the negotiations,” days after they appeared stalled.
In its order, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague said: “Palestinians in Gaza are no longer facing only a risk of famine, but... famine is setting in.”
Philippe Lazzarini, head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, posted on X that the ruling was “a stark reminder that the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is man made + worsening.”
The court had ruled in January that Israel must facilitate “urgently needed” humanitarian aid to Gaza and prevent genocidal acts, but Israel rejected the case brought by South Africa.
The latest binding ICJ ruling, which has little means of enforcement, came as Israel’s military said Friday it was continuing operations in Al-Shifa Hospital, the territory’s largest, for a 12th day.
Throughout the coastal territory, dozens of people were killed overnight, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said.
Among the dead were 12 people killed in a home in the southern city of Rafah, which has been regularly bombed ahead of a mooted Israeli ground operation there.
Men worked under the light of mobile phones to free people trapped under debris after an air strike, AFPTV images showed.
The ICJ ordered Israel to “take all necessary and effective measures to ensure, without delay” the supply “of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance.”
The war began with Hamas’s October 7 attack that resulted in about 1,160 deaths in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Israel’s retaliatory campaign to destroy Hamas has killed at least 32,623 people, mostly women and children, Gaza’s health ministry says.
Large parts of the territory have been reduced to rubble, and most of Gaza’s population are now sheltering in Rafah.
On Monday the UN Security Council demanded an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza, the release of hostages held by militants, and “ensuring humanitarian access.”
Member states are obliged to abide by such resolutions, but the Doctors Without Borders (MSF) charity said nothing has changed on the ground.
Aid groups say only a fraction of the supplies required have been allowed in since October, when Israel placed Gaza under near-total siege.
Israel has blamed shortages on the Palestinian side, namely a lack of capacity to distribute aid, with humanitarians saying not enough trucks are allowed in to make deliveries.
With limited ground access, several nations have staged airdrops, and a sea corridor from Cyprus has delivered its first food aid.
The UN says Gaza’s health system is collapsing “due to ongoing hostilities and access constraints.”
Israel’s military accuses Hamas and the Islamic Jihad of hiding inside medical facilities, using patients, staff and displaced people for cover — charges the militants have denied.
On Friday the army said it was “continuing precise operation activities in Shifa Hospital” where it began a raid early last week.
Troops first raided Al-Shifa in November, before Israel in January announced it had “completed the dismantling” of Hamas’s command structure in northern Gaza. Palestinian militants and commanders had since returned to Al-Shifa, the army said.
Netanyahu has said troops “are holding the northern Gaza Strip” and also the southern city of Khan Yunis, amid heavy fighting.
“We have bisected the Strip and we are preparing to enter Rafah,” he said Thursday.
Netanyahu is under domestic pressure over his failure to bring home all of the hostages seized by militants on October 7. Israel says about 130 captives remain in Gaza, including 34 presumed dead.
About 200 militants have been killed during the latest Al-Shifa operation, the military said.
Near Al-Amal Hospital in Khan Yunis, troops carried out “targeted raids on terrorist infrastructure,” killing dozens in combat backed by air support, the army said Thursday.
Israeli tanks and armored vehicles have massed around another Khan Yunis health facility, the Nasser Hospital, the Gaza health ministry said.
An analysis of satellite images shows heavily damaged areas around the Nasser and Al-Amal hospitals.
Since the Gaza war began, Israel has increased its strikes in Syria, targeting army positions and Iran-backed forces including Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement, a key Hamas ally.
A Britain-based war monitor said Israeli air strikes Friday in north Syria killed at least 42 people, six from Hezbollah and 36 Syrian soldiers.
And Israel’s military said it killed Ali Abdel Hassan Naim, deputy commander of Hezbollah’s rocket unit, in an air strike in south Lebanon Friday.
US, Egyptian and Qatari mediators have tried to secure a truce in Gaza, but those talks had appeared deadlocked more than halfway through the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.
Tensions have risen between Netanyahu and Washington, which provides billions of dollars in military aid but has grown increasingly vocal about the war’s impact on civilians.
Washington has also raised the issue of Gaza’s post-war rule. It has suggested a future role for the Palestinian Authority, which has partial administrative control in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
On Thursday, Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas approved the new government of prime minister Mohammed Mustafa, who said his cabinet will work on “visions to reunify the institutions, including assuming responsibility for Gaza.”
Hamas forcibly took Gaza from Abbas’s government in 2007.
Netanyahu says Israel must have “security responsibility” in Gaza, and has rejected calls for a Palestinian state.
Israel’s Netanyahu approves new Gaza ceasefire talks
https://arab.news/nvaev
Israel’s Netanyahu approves new Gaza ceasefire talks
- Regional fallout from the conflict also flared, with Israel saying it killed a Hezbollah rocket commander in Lebanon, and several Hezbollah fighters killed in Syria strikes
- Netanyahu’s office said new talks on a Gaza ceasefire and hostage release will take place in Doha and Cairo “in the coming days... with guidelines for moving forward in the negotiations“
Lebanese army sets up checkpoints to implement ban on Hezbollah military activity
- Justice Minister to Arab News: State does not belong to one group over another; we are course-correcting
BEIRUT: The Lebanese army on Tuesday set up inspection checkpoints on the highway leading from Beirut to southern Lebanon, particularly in the Zahrani area toward Nabatieh and Tyre, in implementation of the government’s recent decisions to ban Hezbollah’s military activity.
The military checkpoints focused on vehicles traveling south in an unusual development as tens of thousands of residents were simultaneously fleeing in the opposite direction toward Beirut after the Israeli army issued evacuation warnings to civilians in dozens of villages south and north of the Litani River.
At the army positions, security personnel checked identification documents, searched vehicles for weapons, and questioned drivers about the purpose of their travel to the south.
The measures mark an unprecedented scene in Lebanon over the past four decades. Since the end of the civil war, Hezbollah has retained its arsenal under the banner of “resistance,” unlike other militias that disarmed under the 1989 Taif Agreement and subsequent international resolutions.
A judicial source told Arab News that the Lebanese army checkpoints are tasked with searching for those carrying weapons and launching rockets, and arresting all armed individuals, but noted that “so far no one has been arrested.”
Minister of Justice Adel Nassar told Arab News: “The government was clear in its decisions and their implementation against those who violate the law. Hezbollah is the product of 40 years of accumulation, and today we are course-correcting.”
Nassar reflected on the government’s efforts to restrict weapons to state control during the year following the Nov. 2024 ceasefire agreement between Lebanon and Israel.
“We waited for a response to the state, which is not for one group at the expense of another, but rather a guardian for all people. There were attempts to push toward engagement in the state project instead of engagement with external parties, and we have now reached this point,” he told Arab News.
Hezbollah had responded to the government’s decisions on Monday night by issuing a statement signed by MP Mohammad Raad, whose death in an Israeli strike at dawn on Monday had been rumored, describing them as “decisions against the Lebanese.”
Following its rejection of the decisions, Hezbollah launched more rockets at the Upper Galilee, claiming responsibility in statements issued under the banner of defending the south.
The militant group accused the government of “having been incapable of making decisions on war and peace and imposing them on the enemy that violates national peace and persists in its aggressive war against Lebanon and its people.”
Nassar reiterated that arrest warrants for those who launched rockets have entered into force and investigations are underway.
“There is more than one matter being pursued to identify those responsible,” refusing to disclose details.
On Tuesday, President Joseph Aoun told members of the Quintet Committee at the Presidential Palace that the decision to reserve for the Lebanese state alone the exclusive authority over war and peace, and to ban all military and unlawful security activity outside its authority, “is a sovereign and irreversible one.”
He added: “The Cabinet has tasked the army and security forces with implementing this decision across all Lebanese territory, stressing that the state alone has the sole right to decide on war and peace”.
An official source told Arab News that the president and prime minister remain in contact with world leaders and key stakeholders, urging an end to the Israeli war on Lebanon.
According to the Lebanese Presidency’s media office, French President Emmanuel Macron reaffirmed his country’s “unwavering support for Lebanon”, noting that the Cabinet’s decisions reinforce the Lebanese state’s sovereignty across its territory and affirm its sole authority over weapons.
Prime Minister Nawaf Salam received a call from Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit, who reaffirmed the League’s support for the government’s decisions.
On Tuesday, the Lebanese army redeployed from newly established positions along the Blue Line to its main bases in frontline villages, amid Israeli statements about creating a new buffer zone in southern Lebanon.
Meanwhile, UNIFIL announced the withdrawal of all civilian staff from its headquarters in Naqoura. At the same time, Israeli airstrikes intensified on Beirut’s southern suburbs and southern Lebanon, targeting what Israel claimed were meetings of Hezbollah leaders.
Lebanese Forces communications and media chief Charles Jabbour called for “a clear separation between the political and field dimensions in assessing the developments of the past 48 hours in Lebanon”.
Speaking to Arab News, he said that for the first time, the Lebanese state had taken decisions that effectively dismantled Hezbollah’s military wing, “meaning there is no longer any so-called ‘resistance’ or any weapons outside the state’s authority.”
He described the move as “historic and unprecedented”, while stressing that its implementation would take time.
Jabbour pointed out that none of the political parties or forces objected to the government’s move against Hezbollah, including the group’s closest allies. “Figures the party had supported for years remained silent and said it had no right to drag Lebanon into conflict.”
He stressed that authorities must be given sufficient time, but in return, they must swiftly implement the decisions they have taken. “I believe the Iranian project and its proxies are nearing their end”.
By contrast, Mahmoud Qamati, deputy head of Hezbollah’s political council, said the party’s military escalation against Israel stemmed from what he described as an inability to continue tolerating “the killing of our citizens, the destruction of our people’s homes, and accusations of weakness”, while the government, he claimed, continued to make “free concessions” to the enemy and pursue a policy of “strangulation”.
In a speech directed at Hezbollah’s support base in the South, he declared that “the period of patience has ended, leaving us with no choice but to return to resistance, even if that means an open war with the enemy”.
The United Nations estimated that at least 30,000 people were displaced in Lebanon over the past two days as a result of the Israeli raids, while no official figures were released by the Lebanese ministries of interior and social affairs.
