Senior Hamas spokesperson Sami Abu Zahry has told Al Jazeera that Netanyahu’s remarks that a Rafah attack is imminent “raises questions about the purpose of resuming negotiations”.

“The success of any negotiations depends on ending the aggression,” said Zahry, adding that the group’s “demands are clear: an end to aggression against our people”.

Iran’s foreign minister has accused Washington of approving a deadly strike believed to be carried out by Israel on Tehran’s consulate in Damascus last week.

“America is responsible for this incident and must be held accountable,” Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian told reporters after he inaugurated a new consulate in the Syrian capital.

“The fact that the US and two European countries opposed a [UN Security Council] resolution condemning the attack on the Iranian embassy is a sign that the US gave the green light to the Zionist regime [Israel]” to carry out the attack, he said.

Asked about Amirabdollahian’s remarks, Pentagon spokeswoman Sabrina Singh denied Washington was connected to the attack. “I can very forcefully push back on that and say … the US military had no involvement in that strike that took place in Damascus,” she told journalists.

A day after the April 2 consulate strike, US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby dismissed as “nonsense” comments by Amirabdollahian that Washington, Israel’s main backer, bore responsibility for the attack.

Democratic US Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts said during an event at a local mosque last week: “If you want to do it as an application of law, I believe that they’ll find that it is genocide, and they have ample evidence to do so.”

A video of Warren’ ‘s comments posted on X by a GBH News reporter began circulating on Monday.She made her comments on Friday during an event at the Islamic Center of Boston in Wayland, Massachusetts, the United States.

UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron will “push for a full, urgent, and transparent investigation” into the deaths of seven aid workers, including three UK citizens, in a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Washington, DC, on Tuesday.

“[Cameron] will underline that the deaths of World Central Kitchen humanitarian workers are completely unacceptable and that major changes need to be made to ensure the safety of aid workers on the ground,” the UK’s Foreign Office said in a statement.

Workers from the relief group were killed last week in central Gaza in a “targeted attack” by Israeli forces, which has drawn global condemnation.

The statement said that Cameron would also discuss with Blinken the “path to a sustainable ceasefire” as well as the delivery of greater quantities of humanitarian aid to Gaza.

Congressman Mark Pocan has said that 16 more Democrats have signed a letter addressed to US President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Antony Blinken urging a halt to weapons transfers to Israel.

“Big news! Our letter to withhold offensive arms transfers to Israel picked up steam today. We added 16 signers for our final push – 56 Members of Congress total. A shift is underway!” Pocan said in a post on X.

Last week, former US House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a key Biden ally, joined dozens of congressional Democrats in signing the letter, which also called on the White House to conduct its own probe into an Israeli air strike that killed seven staff from the aid group World Central Kitchen.

The letter was signed by several high-ranking Democrats, including Representatives Barbara Lee, Rashida Tlaib and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

There have been more aggressive air raids across the Gaza Strip, mainly concentrated in the central area, particularly on Deir el-Balah.

In the eastern part of the city, an air strike targeted a home where a family was sheltering, killing at least one person. Wounded family members were transferred to Al-Aqsa Hospital, arriving at an overwhelmed, exhausted health facility.

In Maghazi refugee camp, an air strike killed the mayor. Several other Palestinians were injured.

Here in Rafah city, quadcopters keep shooting in the eastern part of the city, killing one person in his late 50s and wounding several others.

Meanwhile, in the city of Khan Younis, tragedy keeps unfolding after the Israeli military’s withdrawal. More bodies are being removed from under the rubble, some fully decomposed after being there three or four months. About 80 bodies have been recovered so far. The level of destruction in the eastern part of the city has made it unrecognisable, according to people who have checked on what remains of their homes.

The Al-Shifa Hospital has been left “completely non-functional” following a deadly, weeks-long Israeli siege, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has reported in its latest update on Gaza.

OCHA reported that a WHO-led mission accessed the hospital in northern Gaza on April 5, following heavy fighting between the Israeli military and Palestinian groups at the medical facility between March 18 and April 1.

It concluded that “substantial efforts” were needed to clear unexploded ordnance in Al-Shifa and to “assess the potential for making the facility safe and accessible” again. It added that northern Gaza has been left without any CT scanning capabilities, significantly reduced laboratory capacity and with only one source for medical oxygen production following the hospital’s destruction.

An estimated 55 percent of the buildings in the Khan Younis area – about 45,000 buildings – have been destroyed or damaged, according to Corey Scher of the City University of New York and Jamon Van Den Hoek of Oregon State University, two mapping experts who used satellite imagery to track destruction.

The scenes in Khan Younis underscored what has been one of the world’s most destructive and lethal military assaults in recent decades, leaving most of the tiny coastal territory unlivable for its 2.3 million people.

It also portended what is likely to happen in Gaza’s southernmost town of Rafah, where half of Gaza’s uprooted population is now crowded, if Israel goes ahead with plans to invade it.

Israeli warplanes bombed two homes in Gaza City’s Zeitoun neighbourhood, causing dozens of casualties, according to the Palestinian Wafa news agency. A drone strike on Salah al-Din Street to the east of the city, meanwhile, killed at least one person and injured others, Wafa reports.

Elsewhere in Gaza City, Israeli artillery shelling struck the neighbourhoods of Shujayea, Sabra, Tal al-Hawa, and Sheikh Ijlin, said Wafa, without providing casualty figures.

The casualties bring the total number of people killed in Gaza since October 7 to 33,360, with 75,993 wounded, according to the ministry. At least 7,000 additional people are missing, presumed buried under the debris after six months of Israeli bombing. The death toll includes more than 14,500 children and 9,560 women.

Mediators presented a new ceasefire proposal to Hamas and Israel that would include a six-week pause in fighting and a swap of 40 Hamas-held captives for at least 700 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.

The proposal was presented to delegations from Hamas and Israel during the latest round of negotiations in Cairo over the weekend, according to Egyptian officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Hamas would be required to provide a list of the captives it will release, as well as a list of Palestinian prisoners whose freedom it seeks. The proposal also includes the return of “a significant number” of Palestinians to northern Gaza.

The proposal stipulates that Israel gradually dismantle checkpoints it built on a new road that split the strip in half to prevent the return of Palestinians to the north.

Defence Australia has told Senator David Shoebridge it won’t release details of arms transfers to Israel because it could damage Australia’s reputation. Responding to a Freedom of Information request from Shoebridge’s office, the department said, “The release of such information could harm Australia’s international standing and reputation.”

Shoebridge, a member of the Australian Greens party, questioned how Australia could have “hundreds of secret defence export permits … but no weapons sold to Israel”. “Australia has a secret defence industry cooperation deal with Israel and you’re not allowed to know what’s in it,” he said in a post on social media.

Australia’s weapons manufacturing industry has come under increased scrutiny in recent months, with regular protests from pro-Palestinian supporters outside Australian firms making components for F-35 fighter jets.

The restrictions apply to products in 54 categories, spanning iron and steel products, construction equipment, machines and more, according to Turkey’s Trade Ministry. The ban takes effect immediately, the ministry announced.

“Israel continues to flagrantly violate international law and ignores the international community … This decision will remain in place until Israel declares a ceasefire immediately and allows adequate and uninterrupted flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza,” it said on social media.

The new measures come a day after Turkey said Israel blocked its attempt to airdrop aid to Gaza. Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan promised reprisals against Israel, saying they would be implemented “step by step” and “without delay”.

Relations between Israel and Turkey, which have traditionally cooperated closely, deteriorated to their lowest point in years during the Gaza war, with Turkey’s President Erdogan calling Israel a “terror state” whose leaders are engaging in “genocide”.

“Israel must be independent,” says Ron Tomer, president of Israel’s Manufacturers Association, in response to Turkey imposing export restrictions on Israel.

“About 50 percent of cement, steel and marble imports are imported from Turkey. Maybe now the government will wake up and break away from Turkish dependence,” Israel’s Army Radio quoted Tomer as saying.

Turkey is also in the process of “taking over” a number of areas, including Israel’s construction industries, he alleged.

Israel threatens Turkey with retaliation after export ban

Stephane Sejourne says the international community should pressure Israel and potentially impose sanctions to force it to open up more land crossings and increase the amount of aid entering Gaza.

“There must be levers of influence and there are multiple levers, going up to sanctions to let humanitarian aid cross checkpoints,” he told French outlets RFI radio and France 24.

“France was one of the first countries to propose European Union sanctions on Israeli settlers who are committing acts of violence in the West Bank. We will continue if needed to obtain the opening of humanitarian aid,” he added.

Human Rights Watch has called for “targeted sanctions” and the suspension of arms transfer to press Israel to ensure access to humanitarian aid and basic services in Gaza.

The rights group said in a statement children in the besieged and bombarded territory have been dying from starvation-related complications since the Israeli government began “using starvation as a weapon of war, a war crime”.

“Governments outraged by the Israeli government starving civilians in Gaza should not be looking for band-aid solutions to this humanitarian crisis,” said Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine director at HRW.

“Israel’s announcement that it will increase aid shows that outside pressure works. Israel’s allies like the US, UK, France, and Germany need to press for full-throttle aid delivery by immediately suspending their arms transfers.

Video shows activists spraying red paint on the UK’s Labour Party headquarters in London in a protest calling for an arms embargo against Israel.

At least two people were arrested. Calls continue to grow for a halt to weapons transfers to Israel over its conduct during the six-month war on Gaza, which has killed more than 33,000 people.

Germany’s legal representative Christian Tams, speaking at the ICJ, hit back at Nicaragua’s claims that Germany is violating the UN’s 1948 Genocide Convention by supplying Israel arms and “defunding” the UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA.

Here are his key arguments so far:

• Germany’s defence cooperation with Israel is based on a robust legal framework that ensures compliance with international law. Since October 7, nearly all German military exports to Israel have been “defensive in nature”.
• Germany has demonstrated a commitment to supporting Palestinians from early on in the Gaza war, including by providing hundreds of millions of euros in humanitarian assistance to the occupied Palestinian territory.
• Germany has not defunded UNRWA, as Nicaragua claimed, but made a temporary decision not to approve further funds to the agency on January 27 after allegations against UNRWA members, which had no direct impact on the agency’s operations. Germany has since resumed funding for UNRWA operations in the occupied West Bank, Jordan, and elsewhere.

But not in Gaza, where the genocide is concentrated, which is what the case is about... Looks like an admission in aiding the deliberate starvation of 2.3 million people.

When you can't defend your actions, attack jurisdiction

Samuel Wordsworth, counsel and advocate for Germany, argues the International Court of Justice cannot order any provisional measures against Germany because Nicaragua has not proven it even has jurisdiction in the case.

“Alleged violations of international law by Israel constitute the essential bedrock of Nicaragua’s application and request,” Wordsworth told the court. “Yet Nicaragua must establish that at least prima facie, the court is able to exercise jurisdiction, and it cannot do so, given the manifest absence of an indispensable third party, namely Israel.”

...

“The situation in Gaza is unbearable,” acknowledged Germany’s legal expert Anne Peters. “Too many lives have been destroyed. Too many life plans shattered.” “We all want this to end, but this type of strategic litigation between proxies will not bring us closer to this goal.”

Ban on arm transfers will bring us closer to an end of the war, which is what Nicaragua is asking for.

It will likely take the court years to issue a final ruling on Nicaragua’s case against Germany that it is abetting acts of genocide in Gaza. However, the court is expected to decide whether to order provisional measures sought by Nicaragua within weeks.

These measures could include ordering Germany to:

• immediately suspend military assistance to Israel
• immediately ensure that military equipment, weapons, or other equipment used for military purposes already delivered to Israel are not being used to commit international law violations
• resume support and financing of UNRWA.