Israel-Gaza war: hopes grow over ceasefire as US hails proposal as ‘breakthrough’ | Israel-Gaza war

On 20 May, the same day international criminal court prosecutor Karim Khan made a surprise request for warrants to arrest the leaders of Israel and Hamas involved in the Gaza conflict, he suddenly cancelled a sensitive mission to collect evidence in the region, eight people with direct knowledge of the matter told Reuters.

Planning for the visit had been under way for months with US officials, four of the sources said.

Khan’s decision to request the warrants upended the plans backed by Washington and London for the prosecutor and his team to visit Gaza and Israel. The court was set to gather on-site evidence of war crimes and offer Israeli leaders a first opportunity to present their position and any action they were taking to respond to the allegations of war crimes, five sources with direct knowledge of the exchanges told Reuters.

Khan’s request for a warrant for Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu – the court’s first attempt to detain a sitting, western-backed head of state – also flew in the face of efforts the US and the UK were leading to prevent the court from prosecuting Israeli leaders, the sources said.

The two states have said the court has no jurisdiction over Israel and that seeking warrants would not help resolve the conflict.

Khan’s office told Reuters the decision to seek warrants was, in line with its approach in all cases, based on an assessment by the prosecutor that there was enough evidence to proceed, and the view that seeking arrest warrants immediately could prevent ongoing crimes.

Reuters is the first to report in detail about the planned trip and the repercussions of its cancellation.

Khan had for three years been working to improve relations with the US, which is not a member of the court. He had asked Washington to help put pressure on its ally Israel – also not a court member – to allow his team access, four sources told Reuters.

His move has harmed operational cooperation with the US and angered the UK, a founding member of the court, the sources said.

A senior US state department official said Washington continued to work with the court on its investigations in Ukraine and Sudan, but three sources with direct knowledge of the US administration’s dealings with the court told Reuters cooperation has been damaged by Khan’s sudden action.

According to Reuters, all the sources expressed concerns Khan’s action would jeopardise cooperation in other ongoing investigations.

However, Khan’s sudden move has drawn support from other countries, exposing political differences between national powers over the conflict and the court. France, Belgium, Spain and Switzerland have made statements endorsing Khan’s decision; Canada and Germany have stated more simply that they respect the court’s independence.

Lebanon’s Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and top Hamas official Khalil Al-Hayya discussed the latest developments in the Gaza Strip and negotiations aimed at reaching a ceasefire there during a meeting, Hezbollah said on Friday.

Reuters reports that Nasrallah received Hamas deputy chief Hayya for the meeting, which reviewed “the latest security and political developments” in the Gaza Strip.

“They also discussed the latest developments in the ongoing negotiations these days, their atmosphere, and the proposals presented to reach an end to the treacherous aggression against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip,” the Hezbollah statement said.

The White House has described the latest Hamas ceasefire proposal for Gaza as a “breakthrough” establishing a framework for a possible hostage deal, but warned that difficult negotiations remained over the implementation of the agreement.

A senior US official said the Biden administration received the latest Hamas offer “a couple of days ago” and had been studying it ahead of a 30-minute telephone call between Joe Biden and Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday.

“The conversation was detailed, going through the text of the agreement, constructive and encouraging, while also clear-eyed about the work ahead [and] the steps that must be put in place to finalise this deal and then begin the implementation,” the US official said of the call.

Netanyahu convened a meeting of his security cabinet on Thursday evening to discuss the Hamas proposal, and is dispatching a negotiating team to the Qatari capital, Doha, for talks with US, Egyptian and Qatari mediators in the coming days.

Five Palestinians were killed in an Israeli military offensive on the West Bank city of Jenin on Friday, the Palestinian health ministry said, reports Reuters.

Israel’s military said in a statement its forces had encircled a building where militants had barricaded themselves in, and that an Israeli aircraft had struck targets in the area.

The Palestinian news agency Wafa said military vehicles surrounded a house in a Jenin refugee camp and loud speaker demands were made for an occupant to surrender. Shoulder-fired missiles were then used and a drone attacked the house, it added.

It is almost 11am in Gaza and Tel Aviv. This is our latest live blog on the Israel-Gaza war and the wider Middle East crisis.

Hezbollah said its leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah and top Hamas official Khalil al-Hayya had discussed the latest developments in the Gaza Strip and negotiations aimed at reaching a ceasefire there during a meeting on Friday.

Reuters reports that Nasrallah received Hamas deputy chief Hayya for the meeting, which reviewed “the latest security and political developments” in the Gaza Strip, Hezbollah said in a statement.

A senior US administration official said on Thursday that Hamas had made a pretty significant adjustment in its position over a potential hostage release deal with Israel, expressing hope that it would lead to a pact that would be a step to a permanent ceasefire.

In other developments:

• Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu convened his security cabinet on Thursday evening to discuss new Hamas positions on a ceasefire deal in Gaza, a source in Netanyahu’s office said. Israel received Hamas’ response on Wednesday to a proposal made public at the end of May by US president Joe Biden that would include the release of about 120 hostages held in Gaza and a ceasefire.

• Hezbollah said it launched more than 200 rockets at several military bases in Israel in retaliation for a strike that killed one of its senior commanders.
  The attack by the Lebanese militant group on Thursday was one of the largest in the monthslong conflict along the Lebanon-Israel border, with tensions boiling in recent weeks.

• The Israeli president Isaac Herzog sent his congratulations to the newly elected UK prime minister, Keir Starmer, and said he looked forward to working together to bringing home hostages taken by Hamas. “I send my warmest congratulations to (Sir Keir),” Herzog posted to X.

• Pro-Palestinian protesters breached security at Australia’s Parliament House to unfurl banners from the roof on Thursday as a senator quit the government over its direction on the Gaza war. The four protesters were arrested after draping the words “war crimes” and “genocide” as well as the controversial slogan “from the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” for more than an hour over the building’s facade.

• Gaza’s health ministry said on Thursday that the number of Palestinians killed by Israel’s campaign in Gaza had climbed past 38,000. The ministry does not differentiate between combatants and civilians in its count.

• Polls opened in Iran on Friday for a run-off presidential election that will test the clerical rulers’ popularity amid voter apathy at a time of regional tensions and a standoff with the west over Tehran’s nuclear programme. State TV said polling stations opened their doors to voters at 8am local time (5.30am BST).

• The University of Birmingham is censoring students’ beliefs about Gaza by seeking to shut down a pro-Palestine encampment on its grounds, the high court has heard. Birmingham is one of several universities taking legal action to try to evict student protesters, with a case brought by the University of Nottingham due to be heard before the same judge on Friday.