Netanyahu arrives in Hungary in defiance of international arrest warrant

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has arrived in Hungary, as both he and the Hungarian government defy an International Criminal Court (ICC) warrant seeking his arrest over alleged war crimes in Gaza.

“We welcome to the prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, to Budapest!” Hungary’s Defence Minister Kristof Szalay-Bobrovniczky wrote on Facebook, alongside several photos of Netanyahu being received on a red carpet by the minister and a military honour guard.

Netanyahu’s invitation to Hungary by Prime Minister Viktor Orban has been slammed by Amnesty International, who said the move was a “cynical effort to undermine the ICC”.

Hungary is a party to the Rome Statute that established the ICC and has a legal obligation to detain Netanyahu on behalf of the court.

“As a member state of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Hungary must arrest him if he travels to the country and hand him over to the Court,” Amnesty’s Erika Guevara Rosas said on Wednesday, ahead of Netanyahu’s arrival in Budapest.

PM Netanyahu and his wife Sara land in Budapest.

As expected, Hungary ignores the ICC arrest warrant against him, and receives him with a military honor guard instead. pic.twitter.com/E8v7lfqzwQ

— Lazar Berman (@Lazar_Berman) April 3, 2025

Hungary to withdraw from International Criminal Court

This was announced by Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s chief of staff, Gergely Gulyas, while speaking to Hungary’s state news agency MTI.

The move comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is in the country to meet with senior Hungarian officials despite being sought under an ICC arrest warrant for alleged war crimes related to the war in Gaza.

The ICC has no police force, but, in theory, it should be able to rely on its 124 member states – including Hungary – that have the legal obligation to respect the court’s decisions.

This means that in most countries in the world, should Netanyahu step foot on their soil, the arrest warrant should be carried out, sending Netanyahu over to the ICC to face charges. But, the court has no means to enforce the warrants if member states don’t comply.

Israeli Foreign Ministry Gideon Saar praises Hungary’s ICC withdrawal

In a post on X, the minister also thanked Hungary for its decision to pull out from the International Criminal Court and called it an “important decision”.

“The so-called “International Criminal Court” lost its moral authority after trampling the fundamental principles of international law in its zest for harming Israel’s right to self-defense,” Saar said. “Thank you Hungary for your clear and strong moral stance alongside Israel,” he said.

I commend Hungary's important decision to withdraw from the ICC. FM Péter Szijjártó and I dealt with this matter extensively. The so-called "International Criminal Court" lost its moral authority after trampling the fundamental principles of international law in its zest for…

— Gideon Sa'ar | גדעון סער (@gidonsaar) April 3, 2025

And this is why the EU can't do anything. Needing unanimous decisions on foreign policies, Netanyahu only needs to woo Orbán to block anything the EU could propose, and of course Israel has Germany (and UK) for that as well.

Israeli archaeology conference cancelled after interference from far-right minister

The Israel Exploration Society’s annual conference has been cancelled today after the country’s far-right Heritage Minister Amichai Eliyahu objected to the participation of an Israeli academic who had spoken out against Palestinian “dispossession”.

Rather than comply with the minister, the society called off the conference.

The Times of Israel reports that Eliyahu had instructed the Israeli Antiquities Authority to cancel the participation of Tel Aviv University archaeologist Raphael Greenberg.

Eliyahu said the professor had, due to his activities, “spit into the well of the heritage of the people of Israel where they drink”.

Greenberg wrote an open letter in February against participation in another conference focused on archaeology in the occupied West Bank.

“You must also be aware that Israel and the settlers whom you have joined have weaponized archaeology in Jerusalem and the West Bank, using it as a lever to dispossess Palestinians and enlarge the settler footprint,” Greenberg wrote in his open letter.

8\ Greenberg’s letter was followed by international criticism of the February conference. Notably, the Palestine Exploration Fund condemned it for normalizing “academic activities which are in breach of international law.” https://t.co/4nKpTSXNpn >>

— Emek Shaveh (@EmekShaveh) April 2, 2025

Hamas officials reject latest Israeli Gaza truce proposal: Report

Previously, we reported that Hamas agreed to a ceasefire deal proposed by mediating countries at the end of March, but that Israel rejected it and proposed a counter-offer.

The AFP news agency now reports that two Hamas officials have accused Israel of “blocking a proposal from Egypt and Qatar and trying to derail any agreement”. “Hamas has decided not to follow up on the latest Israeli proposal presented through the mediators,” one of the officials said.

The original proposal tabled by mediators called for Hamas to release five captives within 50 days, in exchange for 250 Palestinian prisoners – including 150 serving life sentences – as well as 2,000 detainees from Gaza. The proposal would also have seen negotiations begin immediately on a permanent ceasefire and a full Israeli withdrawal from Gaza.

Israel, however, countered this by requesting 10 captives be released on the first day of a 40-day truce, in exchange for 120 Palestinians sentenced to life, and 1,111 Palestinian detainees from Gaza. Israeli negotiators have also refused to withdraw from Gaza and insisted on Hamas’s disarmament as a condition for negotiations.

Germany urges return to ‘serious’ talks on Gaza ceasefire

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has called for a return to “serious” negotiations to end the war in Gaza.

“What is needed now is a return to the ceasefire and the release of all hostages,” Scholz said, urging a return to “serious negotiations with the aim of agreeing a post-war order for Gaza that protects Israel’s security”.

Speaking alongside Jordan’s King Abdullah II in Berlin, Scholz also called for more humanitarian aid for Gaza.

“No humanitarian aid has reached Gaza for a month,” he said. “This cannot and must not continue.” Scholz added that “a sustainable peace that stabilises the situation in the West Bank as well as Gaza can only be achieved through a political solution”.

Abdullah also called for a return to a ceasefire and for aid deliveries to resume into Gaza. “Israel’s war on Gaza must stop. The ceasefire must be reinstated … and aid flow must resume,” he said.

“The humanitarian tragedy in Gaza has already reached unspeakable levels and action must be taken to immediately address it.”

Israeli forces shoot Palestinian during raid on Qalandia camp

The Israeli military has carried out numerous raids across the occupied West Bank over recent hours, including:

Israeli military cuts off large section of Gaza territory as part of so-called ‘Morag Corridor'

In a video message, the Israeli prime minister announced that his military would be claiming the “Morag Corridor” – a so-called corridor. It is basically a line that has been drawn between Rafah and Khan Younis to its north. This is an area of the Gaza Strip that the Israeli army now completely controls and has not allowed Palestinian civilians in.

It cuts the Gaza Strip off from the Karem Abu Salem commercial border crossing, or what is known in Israel as Kerem Shalom, dashing any hope that humanitarian assistance could soon be allowed back after an entire month of blockade with no food, water or aid allowed into Gaza.

This is quite a dramatic announcement. But it does follow a similar one from the Israeli minister of defence, who said Israel’s goal in this expanded military assault on Gaza would be to claim more Palestinian territory in order to exact maximum pressure, not just on Hamas, but on the population in Gaza.

The minister of defence called on the population to remove Hamas and hand over the captives. An impossible demand, of course, but one that many Palestinians fear will translate into even more dramatic actions in the days to come.

Israeli attack helicopters, jet fighters pound Gaza City in predawn strikes

Local media in Gaza report that Israeli attack helicopters are firing on Gaza City, including the Yarmouk Stadium – a football arena that has been used as a refuge by hundreds of Palestinians who were forcibly displaced from towns further to the north of the Strip.

A huge explosion has also been reported east of Gaza City following an attack by Israeli jet fighters. The attacks follow after reports that Israeli military helicopters were carrying out intense low-altitude flights over western parts of the city.

Air strikes were also reported recently on the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, and strikes are continuing to target the Khan Younis area in the south. Earlier at least one person was killed in an attack on displaced people sheltering in tents in a town to the east of Khan Younis.

Qatar condemns Israeli strikes on Syria as violation of international law

Qatar says it considers the latest Israeli attacks across Syria that killed and wounded dozens overnight “a blatant attack on Syria’s sovereignty and unity, and a flagrant violation of international law”.

The international community must take urgent action to compel Israel to abide by its international commitments and to “stop its repeated aggressions on Syrian territory”, Qatar’s Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The Israeli military said it “struck military capabilities that remained at the Syrian bases of Hama and T4, along with additional remaining military infrastructure sites in the area of Damascus”.


Iran, Saudi Arabia and Iraq denounce Israel’s attacks on Syria

Iran has condemned Israel’s strikes on military and civilian infrastructure in Syria and “occupation of strategic parts of the country”.

Foreign Ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baghaei said in a statement that “all sides that played a role in creating the grounds for this opportunism and violation by Israel” bear responsibility and must take action to stop it.

Saudi Arabia said it categorically rejects “Israeli attempts to threaten the security and stability of Syria and the region through violations of international law”.

The international community, particularly the UN Security Council, must assume responsibility for Israel’s deadly attacks, the Foreign Ministry said.

Iraq also condemned the Israeli ground-and-air assault, saying it violates international law and the sovereignty of national states. It called for the protection of civilians and “respecting the right of peoples to live in peace and security”.

Qatar condemns ‘smear campaign’ over Israel allegations

Qatar has denounced accusations that it made “financial payments” to undermine efforts by Egypt and other mediators in talks between Hamas and Israel for a ceasefire in Gaza.

“The State of Qatar strongly condemns the statements published by some journalists and media outlets alleging that Qatar has made financial payments to undermine the efforts of Egypt or any of the mediators involved in the ongoing negotiations between Hamas and Israel,” Qatar’s International Media Office said in a statement.​​​​​​

“These allegations are baseless and serve only the agendas of those who seek to sabotage the mediation efforts and undermine relations between nations.”

Earlier, an unnamed Qatari official told AFP news agency it’s “not the first time we have been subject of a smear campaign by those who do not want to see an end to this conflict or the remaining hostages returned to their families”.

The official said Qatar would “continue our mediation efforts” on ending Israel’s devastating war on Gaza.

Read the International Media Office of the State of Qatar’s statement in response to false media reports regarding ongoing mediation efforts between Hamas and Israel:https://t.co/vlZYKMcjgu pic.twitter.com/SDs9GvCoXc

— Qatar's International Media Office (@IMO_Qatar) April 3, 2025

‘Barbaric’: Hezbollah condemns US, Israeli strikes across the region

The Lebanese group has denounced what it calls “the escalating barbaric American-Israeli aggression against Syria, Yemen, Gaza and Lebanon”.

The two countries are extending their “open war” against the people of the region to destabilise nations, violate their sovereignty and deplete capabilities to “subject them to the requirements of hegemony and the interests of the Zionist entity so it has the upper hand in the region”.

All the countries and peoples of the region now have “historical responsibilities” to resist, Hezbollah said in a statement.

“The equation today is clear: either confront or surrender to the enemy’s plans, which aim only to subjugate the region, bring it to its knees, and dominate its people and capabilities.”

New Israeli air strikes hit south of Damascus

The Israeli military has carried out more attacks on Syrian soil despite mounting condemnation from across the region.

New air strikes hit the town of al-Kiswah, south of Damascus, Syrian state media reported. There was no immediate confirmation on casualties or damage, but the target was reportedly a military base.

The Israeli army has hit Syria with about two dozen attacks in the past day, while its soldiers have expanded a ground invasion of the country. Israel bombed Syria frequently when the country was governed by President Bashar al-Assad, targeting the foothold established by his ally Iran during the civil war.

Syria accuses Israel of deadly ‘destabilization’ campaign

Syria has accused Israel of mounting a deadly “destabilization” effort after a wave of air strikes on military targets, including an airport, and a ground incursion killed at least 13 people.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights war monitor said the dead were local fighters killed “while attempting to confront Israeli forces following calls by mosques in the area for jihad against the Israeli incursion”.

Syria’s Foreign Ministry said the strikes resulted in “near-total destruction” of a military airport in the central province of Hama that wounded dozens of civilians and soldiers.

“This unjustified escalation is a deliberate attempt to destabilize Syria and exacerbate the suffering of its people,” it said in a statement on Telegram.

Remember Rafah was a red line a year ago?

‘Rafah is gone’

The Israeli army assault to capture Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah is a major escalation in the war after Israel broke the ceasefire with Hamas on March 18 and restarted its attack on the besieged Palestinian territory.

Rafah “is gone, it is being wiped out”, said a father of seven among the hundreds of thousands who fled the city to neighbouring Khan Younis.

“They are knocking down what is left standing of houses and property,” said the man who declined to be identified for fear of repercussions.

Nicaragua withdraws from Israel’s Gaza genocide case

Nicaragua has informed the International Court of Justice (ICJ) it decided to withdraw its application to join the genocide case against Israel for its conduct during the war on Gaza.

Neither the ICJ nor Nicaragua have stated an official reason for the move. The Central American nation broke ties with Israel in October, citing deadly military attacks against Palestinian civilians as the main reason.

PRESS RELEASE: on 1 April 2025, Nicaragua informed the #ICJ that it had decided to withdraw the its Application for permission to intervene submitted in the case #SouthAfrica v. #Israel. https://t.co/c1sGSUgvE4 pic.twitter.com/xj5Xv8kXln

— CIJ_ICJ (@CIJ_ICJ) April 3, 2025

Gaza rescuers ‘executed by gunshots either in the head or chest’

The Israeli military killed 15 medics and emergency workers in southern Gaza and buried the bodies with their ambulances and rescue vehicles last month.

Dr Ahmed al-Farra, director of paediatrics at Al-Tahreer Maternity Hospital in southern Khan Younis, saw the bodies coming into the medical facility after they were recovered a week later. He said Israeli soldiers would have easily seen they were targeting medics when they opened fire.

“The skies are filled with their planes, they can see a needle on the ground. So they could easily distinguish ambulances,” al-Farra told Al Jazeera.

“When the bodies came to the hospital, they were nearly decomposed. It had been around seven to eight days since the medics were executed. I saw three of them had their hands tied behind their backs.”

No shrapnel wounds on their bodies and no signs of physical damage caused by explosions were visible, he added.

“They were executed by gunshots either in the head or in the chest. They were unarmed and went to the al-Hashaashin area of Rafah to help people who were severely injured.”

Teenage Palestinian prisoner dies of complications from hunger

A 17-year-old Palestinian boy has died in Israeli custody as a result of complications from being starved, according to two rights monitors.

The Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society said the administration at Israel’s Megiddo Prison has “committed a complete and systematic crime” leading to the death of Walid Khaled Abdullah Ahmed.

The teenager reportedly complained about being starved in a December medical examination that also found he suffered from scabies. He lost consciousness on March 22 and was transferred to the prison’s clinic, where attempts to revive him failed.

The rights monitors said many testimonies obtained from adult and child detainees have reflected a high “level of brutality” against Palestinians in Israeli prisons.

Israeli strike on school-turned-shelter in northern Gaza kills 15

Al Jazeera correspondents on the ground confirm that at least 15 Palestinians were killed in a series of air strikes on a former school-turned-shelter located in the Tuffah neighbourhood of Gaza City.

The Israeli military claimed the shelter for displaced Palestinians was another “command-and-control complex” used by Hamas.

Death toll in Israeli attack on ‘safe zone’ tent rises to 4

The death toll from the Israeli shelling of a tent housing displaced people in Gaza’s al-Mawasi area, which we earlier reported on, has risen to four.

The tent camp at al-Mawasi – near Khan Younis and Deir el-Balah – is one of the most overcrowded areas in a landscape devastated by nearly 18 months of relentless Israeli bombardment.

The Israeli-described “safe evacuation zone” has sustained repeated deadly attacks by the military.

Death toll rises to 25 in Israeli attack on school shelter

Medical sources tell Al Jazeera at least 25 Palestinians have been killed and nearly 100 wounded in an Israeli air strike on a school housing hundreds of displaced people in the Tuffah neighbourhood of northern Gaza City. Many of the casualties are children and women.

The school was hit with four missiles, according to a Civil Defence agency spokesperson.

‘New massacre’: Gaza Gov’t Media Office says 29 now dead in shelter attack

More than half of those killed in Israel’s bombing of a school-turned-shelter in northern Gaza City are children, women and the elderly, Gaza’s Government Media Office says.

“The occupation has committed a new massacre against displaced persons by bombing Dar al-Arqam School in Gaza City leaving 29 martyrs – including 18 children, women, and elderly people – and more than 100 wounded,” it said in a statement.

Latest Israeli massacre ‘a wake-up call to the entire world’

A spokesperson from Gaza’s emergency rescuers tells Al Jazeera the international community must step in immediately to stop the Israeli army from killing children, women, and old people after an attack on a civilian shelter.

“This is not only a massacre, this is the craziness of Israel. It is crazy to commit a massacre against children and women living in a shelter, the Dar al-Arqam School, where two buildings were targeted directly by the Israeli forces,” he said.

More than 100 wounded people are now being treated at al-Ahli Arab Hospital’s emergency department in Gaza City.

“What is going on here is a wake-up call to the entire world. This war and these massacres against women and children must stop immediately. Children are being killed with cold blood here in Gaza.”


Not much of a wake up call when the Israeli controlled western media won't report on any massacres anymore.

Israel attacks Gaza school shelter again after dozens killed

The school in Gaza City has reportedly been attacked again – just within the past few minutes – in another Israeli air strike. Civil defence crews and volunteers are still at the bombing site trying to rescue those who may have survived the initial strikes.

This new attack will likely increase the number of casualties. We are awaiting further updates from the scene.

‘Horrific and deeply disturbing’: Israel’s bombing of Gaza school

I am extremely shocked by the footage presented to us from the bombing site. This was the Dar al-Arqan School that was sheltering hundreds of displaced Palestinians, many of whom arrived in recent days from areas such as Shujayea in the eastern neighborhood and other parts of Gaza City.

Some of the footage is too graphic to show – horrific and deeply disturbing. Many were killed on the spot, while others succumbed to their injuries while being transported in ambulances or civilian vehicles to al-Ahli Hospital.

Some died from severe bleeding and burns. Among those killed, more than 10 were children.

This tragedy underscores again that Israeli-described “safe zones” are anything but.

Israeli army conducts major ground assault in eastern Gaza City

The Israel army has launched 10 raids on areas east of Gaza City. Earlier, Israeli forces bombed schools acting as civilian shelters in the northern city’s eastern area, killing at least 33 people and wounding more than 100 others.

It was one of the deadliest single attacks of the day that so far have killed at least 100 Palestinians.

At least 112 Palestinians killed in Gaza so far today

Israeli air strikes across Gaza have killed at least 112 people, 71 of them in Gaza City in the north, medical sources told Al Jazeera.

Gaza’s civil defence agency also confirmed the death toll from the Israeli strike on the Dar al-Arqam School in Gaza City increased to 31 people from 29 dead hours earlier.

Amnesty slams Hungary’s ICC exit as a ‘betrayal’ of war crime victims

The rights group Amnesty International has condemned Hungary’s decision to withdraw from the ICC, describing it as a “betrayal of all victims of war crimes”.

The UK-based group’s secretary-general, Agnes Callamard, said leaders and officials from ICC member states must not undermine the court by meeting Netanyahu or other wanted fugitives.

“By welcoming Netanyahu, Hungary is effectively giving a seal of approval to Israel’s genocide, namely the physical destruction of the Palestinian people in whole or in part in Gaza,” Callamard said.

“Hungary’s purported withdrawal from the ICC is a brazen and futile attempt to evade international justice and to stymy the ICC’s work.

“Its withdrawal is a betrayal of all victims of war crimes and undermines the protections afforded the Hungarian people as it removes, in a year, their opportunity to seek justice at the ICC for crimes committed against them.”

Hungary should be thrown out of the EU with Orban licking Putin's and Netanyahu's boots.