Middle East live: Netanyahu applauds Trump’s ‘bold’ ICC sanctions | Israel

The sanctions against the ICC were not the only ones issued by the Trump administration this week. Iran on Friday condemned as “illegal” and “unjustified” new financial sanctions by the United States that target Iranian entities accused of selling crude oil to China, Agence France-Presse reports.

“The decision of the new US government to exert pressure on the Iranian nation by preventing Iran’s legal trade with its economic partners is an illegitimate, illegal and violative measure,” said foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei in a statement, adding that the move is “categorically unjustified and contrary to international rules”.

Hello, and welcome to our live coverage of developments in the Middle East. It’s nearly XY am in Gaza and Jerusalem and if you are just tuning in, there is plenty to catch up on.

Rights activists have strongly criticised Donald Trump’s sanctioning of the international criminal court (ICC). The US president’s announcement, in which he claimed the court had targeted the US and its close ally, Israel, came two days after he declared the US would take over Gaza and envisioned the area as the “Riviera of the Middle East”.

Responding to Trump’s move, the secretary general of Amnesty International, Agnès Callamard, said the order “sends the message that Israel is above the law and the universal principles of international justice”.

“Today’s executive order is vindictive. It is aggressive. It is a brutal step that seeks to undermine and destroy what the international community has painstakingly constructed over decades, if not centuries: global rules that are applicable to everyone and aim to deliver justice for all,” she added.

Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who is the subject of an ICC arrest warrant applauded Trump’s move, extending his thanks to the US president in a post on X. “Thank you, President Trump, for your bold ICC Executive Order,” he said, “It will defend America and Israel from the anti-American and antisemetic corrupt court that has no jurisdiction or basis to engage in lawfare against us.”

Meanwhile Israel on Thursday struck two sites in Lebanon despite a ceasefire deal. It said the sites contained a stockpile of Hezbollah weapons without providing any evidence.

A fragile Israel-Hezbollah ceasefire has been in place since 27 November, after more than a year of hostilities. Despite the deal, Israel has continued to carry out strikes on Lebanon, and both sides have repeatedly accused the other of violating the truce.

Here is a quick summary of the latest:

• Donald Trump signed an executive order imposing sanctions on the ICC, which accuses the ICC of having “engaged in illegitimate and baseless actions” targeting the US and its “close ally” Israel. It said the court “abused its power” by issuing “baseless” arrest warrants targeting Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and its former defence minister, Yoav Gallant.

• Trump has doubled down on his proposal to “take ownership” of Gaza despite widespread opposition. In a Truth Social post, Trump said the Palestinian territory would be “turned over” to the US by Israel after it concludes its military offensive against Hamas. Netanyahu, who is in Washington, said it is “worth listening carefully” to Trump’s proposal.

• Globally, the proposal to relocate 2.3 million Palestinians to other countries has provoked outrage. Trump’s proposal would “squash” the ceasefire and “incite a return of fighting”, Egypt’s foreign ministry said. Russia called Trump’s proposal “counterproductive” and accused him of fuelling “tension in the region”. China’s foreign ministry said Beijing opposed the forced transfer of people in Gaza. Pakistan described Trump’s plan as “deeply troubling and unjust”, while Iran said it “categorically rejected and condemned” Trump’s proposal.

• US secretary of state, Marco Rubio, said Palestinians in Gaza are “going to have to live somewhere else in the interim”, describing Gaza as “not habitable” in comments that appeared to walk back on Trump’s proposal about transferring Palestinians permanently to neighbouring countries. Rubio will travel to Europe and the Middle East next week, a senior State Department official said Thursday.

• Israel’s defence minister, Israel Katz, ordered the military to prepare plans to allow Palestinians “who wish to leave” Gaza to exit. Asked who should take the residents of Gaza, Katz said it should be countries who have opposed Israel’s military operations since the 7 October attacks, he said. He also claimed that Spain, Ireland, and Norway, who all last year recognised a Palestinian state, are “legally obligated to allow any Gaza resident to enter their territories”.

• In violation of a ceasefire deal, Israel said late on Thursday it had struck two sites in Lebanon that allegedly contained weapons of the Hezbollah group. Israeli forces “conducted a precise strike in Lebanese territory on two military sites that contained Hezbollah weapons, which were in violation of the ceasefire agreement,” the army said in a post on X.

• The head of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) warned the agency faces an “existential threat” after Israel formally banned it from operating on its territory. Philippe Lazzarini also described Trump’s Gaza proposal as “totally unrealistic”, adding: “We are talking about forced displacement. Forced displacement is a crime, an international crime. It’s ethnic cleansing.”

• Human Rights Watch warned that Trump’s proposal could move the US “from being complicit in war crimes to direct perpetration of atrocities”. Forced or coerced displacement is a crime against humanity, illegal under the Geneva conventions, to which Israel and the US are signatories. “Governments should together make clear their strong opposition to Trump’s call for forced displacement in Gaza and take action to prevent further atrocities against the Palestinian people,” said HRW Middle East and North Africa director Lama Fakih.

• At least 47,583 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli attacks since October 2023, according to the Palestinian health ministry on Thursday. The ministry’s latest daily update also said that a total of 111,633 have now been injured.

• Israel informed the United Nations human rights council (UNHRC) that it is formally withdrawing from the body. Israel’s foreign minister, Gideon Saar, said the decision was reached “in light of the ongoing and unrelenting institutional bias against Israel in the human rights council.