Closing summary
It’s 2am in Gaza City and Tel Aviv and we’re about to close this blog. Our live coverage will resume later today. Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
South Africa has launched a case against Israel at the UN’s international court of justice (ICJ) accusing the state of committing genocide in its military campaign in Gaza. Israel responded to the allegations “with disgust”, calling South Africa’s case a “blood libel” and urging the ICJ to reject it. Any case at the ICJ is likely to take years to resolve, but South Africa has called for the court to convene in the next few days to issue “provisional measures” calling for a ceasefire.
At least 21,507 people have been killed in Gaza since the war with Israel broke out nearly 12 weeks ago, according to Friday figures from the territory’s health ministry. That figure included 187 fatalities over the previous 24 hours. At least 308 people have been killed while sheltering in UN shelters in Gaza since the war began, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees also said.
The UN’s top aid official has “strongly condemned” reports that Israeli troops opened fire on an aid convoy in the Gaza Strip on Thursday. The director of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) had earlier on Friday accused Israel of firing on an aid convoy as it returned from northern Gaza along a route designated by the Israeli army. Martin Griffiths, the UN emergency relief coordinator, said the convoy was fired upon despite being “clearly marked”. “Attacks on humanitarian workers are unlawful,” he added.
The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has said he is “very concerned” about the growing threat of infectious diseases facing the people of Gaza. Nearly 180,00 people are suffering upper respiratory infections and about 136,400 cases of diarrhoea have been recorded since mid-October, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in a social media post on Friday. Half of the diarrhoea cases have been among children aged under five, he said.
The Joe Biden administration has once again bypassed congressional review for weapons sale to Israel. The US state department said secretary of state Antony Blinken informed Congress that he had made a second emergency determination covering a $147.5m sale for equipment required to make the 155mm shells that Israel has already purchased function.
Israel has detained at least 14 Palestinians, including a child, during its latest raids inside the Israeli-occupied West Bank, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported on Friday. On Thursday the UN published a report deploring what it said was a “rapid deterioration” of human rights in the West Bank and urged Israeli authorities to end violence against the Palestinian population there.
Qatari mediators have told Israel that Hamas has “agreed in principle” to resume talks on the release of further hostages held in Gaza, according to a report by Israel’s Walla news on Friday. But a senior Hamas official later told Al Jazeera there is currently no talk of a hostage exchange before fighting in Gaza stops. Separately, a Hamas official said that a delegation from the militant group was due in Cairo on Friday to look at an Egyptian plan for a ceasefire that would end the war in Gaza.
The UN secretary general, António Guterres, is “gravely concerned” about the further spillover of the conflict in Gaza which could have “devastating” consequences for the entire region, his spokesperson has said. In a statement on Friday, Guterres warned of a “continued risk of wider regional conflagration” the longer the conflict in Gaza continues.
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has said it located and destroyed a hideout belonging to Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar in northern Gaza. An investigation by IDF troops found the apartment, located on the outskirts of Gaza City, as well as a large tunnel system under it which was part of a network used by senior Hamas members, an IDF spokesperson said on Friday.
Iran has announced it has hanged four people it claims were engaged in “sabotage” on behalf of Israel. The three men and one woman had been sentenced to death on charges of “moharebeh”, or “waging war against God”, and “corruption on Earth” through their “collaboration with the Zionist regime”, and were executed in Iran’s north-west province of West Azerbaijan.
Updated
Three Palestinian brothers who were detained by Israeli soldiers in Gaza have said they and other men were beaten, stripped to their underwear, burnt with cigarettes and subjected to other forms of mistreatment during their detention.
Sobhi Yaseen, his brothers Sady and Ibrahim told Reuters they were taken by the Israeli military from their homes in northern Gaza in early December, and held for up to two weeks at unknown locations including a military barracks or camp.
Sobhi told the news agency that while he was detained, he was beaten and that his captors were “smoking and putting out cigarettes on our backs, spraying sand and water on us, urinating on us”.
Ibrahim described having his hands bound and being blindfolded as he was held for interrogation. He said he was not allowed to sleep and forced to stand for hours, while soldiers “would hit you alternately in the head and body”.
In response, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) spokesperson’s office said it was operating “to dismantle Hamas’ military capabilities” and rescue hostages captured by the Palestinian militant group. Detainees were treated in accordance with international law, and were often required to hand over clothes to ensure they were not carrying weapons or explosives, the office said.
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