Trump on Thursday signed an executive order sanctioning the International Criminal Court, accusing it of improperly targeting the United States and Israel. LONDON — Dozens of countries, including Germany, South Africa and Mexico, said Friday that President Donald Trump’s decision to sanction the International Criminal Court would “erode the international rule of law.” The joint statement by 79 countries came hours after Trump signed an executive order slapping financial sanctions and visa restrictions against ICC staff and their family members, alleging the court has improperly targeted the United States and Israel. “Such measures increase the risk of impunity for the most serious crimes and threaten to erode the international rule of law, which is crucial for promoting global order and security,” the 79 countries, including Canada and France, said in a statement publicly released by numerous governments. The statement added that “sanctions could jeopardize the confidentiality of sensitive information and the safety of those involved—including victims, witnesses, and court officials, many of whom are our nationals.” The signatories said the sanctions may result in the ICC having to close its field offices. "We regret any attempts to undermine the court’s independence, integrity and impartiality," they said, crediting the "ICC’s indispensable role in ending impunity, promoting the rule of law, and fostering lasting respect for international law and human rights." The United States and Israel are among a minority of around 40 countries that never signed up to the ICC, an international court based in the Netherlands that seeks to hold to account the perpetrators of war crimes, like genocide. But after some historic cooperation between Washington and the ICC, Trump's executive order Thursday accused the world body of “illegitimate and baseless actions targeting America and our close ally Israel.” In November, the ICC issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as for Hamas leaders Yahya Sinwar, Mohammad Deif and Ismail Haniyeh. The warrants relate to events on and since Oct. 7, 2023, when Hamas-led terrorist attacks killed 1,200 people and saw around 250 others taken hostage, according to Israeli officials. Since, then Israel has launched a military offensive that has killed more than 47,500 people in the Gaza Strip, according to local health officials. The court said there was reason to believe Netanyahu and Gallant used “starvation as a method of warfare” by restricting humanitarian aid and intentionally targeting civilians in Israel’s campaign in Gaza. Israel, which also does not recognize the ICC, dismissed those charges as false and antisemitic. The court's "recent actions against Israel and the United States set a dangerous precedent, directly endangering current and former United States personnel, including active service members of the Armed Forces, by exposing them to harassment, abuse, and possible arrest," the executive order said. Its signing appeared timed to coincide with Netanyahu's visit to Washington, in which Trump made the surprise announcement that he wanted the U.S. to take control of the Gaza Strip, shocking and outraging many officials, activists and experts around the world. Washington’s historical relationship with the ICC is a complex one. The administration of President Bill Clinton was involved in negotiating the 1998 Rome Statute on which the ICC is based. But the U.S. opposed the final draft because of fears it “could subject U.S. soldiers and officials to politicized prosecutions,” according to the Council on Foreign Relations. Clinton later signed the statute but asked it not be sent to the Senate for ratification until these concerns were addressed.

Ohad Ben Ami, Eli Sharabi and Or Levy will be freed on Saturday, the militants said. Hamas prisoners’ media office said it expected 183 Palestinians to be freed in exchange. Hamas on Friday announced the names of three Israeli hostages to be released on Saturday in exchange for 183 Palestinian prisoners and detainees after a delay that underlined the obstacles hanging over a fragile deal meant to end the war in Gaza. Ohad Ben Ami and Eli Sharabi, both taken hostage from Kibbutz Be’eri during the cross-border Hamas-led attack on Oct 7, 2023, and Or Levy, abducted that day from the Nova music festival, will be handed over on Saturday, Hamas said. The Hamas prisoners’ media office said Israel was expected to free 183 Palestinians in exchange, including 18 who have been serving life sentences, 54 serving long sentences and 111 who were detained in the Gaza Strip during the war. Earlier the Palestinian militant group accused Israel of breaching their ceasefire accord and held off announcing the names of the three Israelis until a 4 p.m. local time (11 a.m. ET) deadline had passed. It was not immediately clear whether the delay would affect the scheduled exchange on Saturday. Hamas accused Israel of delaying the entry of hundreds of trucks carrying food and other humanitarian supplies agreed under the truce deal that took effect on January 19, and holding back all but a fraction of the tents and mobile homes needed to provide shelter to people returning to their bombed-out homes. “This demonstrates clear manipulation of relief and shelter priorities,” Hamas said in a statement. COGAT, the Israeli military agency that is overseeing the aid deliveries into Gaza, denied the accusation and warned that Israel would “not tolerate violations by Hamas.” The spat compounds the uncertainty around the ceasefire that had already mounted following U.S. President Donald Trump’s surprise announcement this week that he expected Gaza to be taken over by the United States. Trump said on Tuesday he wanted to move the population of Gaza to a third country like Egypt or Jordan and place the small coastal enclave under U.S. control to be developed into the “Riviera of the Middle East”. The statement underlined the fragility of the deal reached last month with Egyptian and Qatari mediators and backed by the United States. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu endorsed Trump’s vision for Gaza as a “remarkable” plan, but it was immediately rejected by Arab countries, Palestinian groups including Hamas and the Palestinian Authority, and many Gazans, who said they would rebuild their homes and restaurants themselves. However Israeli leaders have repeated that Palestinians who wish should be able to leave and Defence Minister Israel Katz ordered the army on Thursday to prepare a plan to allow for the departure of Gaza residents who wanted to go. So far, 13 Israeli hostages of the 33 children, women and older men set to be released in the first, 42-day phase of the agreement have come home, and hundreds of Palestinian prisoners and detainees have been released in exchange. Five Thai hostages have also been returned. Work on the second stage of the multi-phase agreement, aimed at securing the release of around 60 male hostages and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from Gaza, has begun and an Israeli negotiating team was expected to fly on Saturday to Doha, Israeli media reported on Friday. However the accusations levelled by Hamas against Israel underscored how little trust there was between the two sides following more than 15 months of the bloodiest episode in the decades-long conflict. The Israeli military said on Friday that commanders were conducting situational assessments ahead of the next phase of the agreement currently being discussed, with troops deployed at various points around the Gaza Strip. Israel has rejected accusations that it is dragging its feet on enabling the entry to aid supplies as “a completely unfounded claim,” saying it has allowed in thousands of trucks, including tents and shelters. But hundreds of thousands of people are still marooned in tents and other makeshift shelters worn out by months of use as the fighting raged last year. So far, despite accusations of ceasefire breaches levelled by both sides, the truce has held, leaving the way still open to an end to the war and rebuilding densely populated Gaza, which now lies in ruins. Hamas-led gunmen attacked Israel on Oct. 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people and seizing more than 250 as hostages in Israel’s heaviest loss of life in a single day since the founding of the state in 1948. In response to the terrorist attack, Israel launched an air and ground war in Gaza that has killed more than 47,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities, and devastated the narrow enclave.

Trump has alighted on a strip of land as emotionally charged and politically intractable as it is tiny and ruined. LONDON — President Donald Trump’s unprecedented announcement that he was planning to seize control of the Gaza Strip and oust 2.2 million Palestinians, temporarily at least, has provoked shock and disbelief around the world, with some officials and analysts saying it would be tantamount to ethnic cleansing. Many wonder whether it’s even practically possible, instead suggesting it might be more a diplomatic gambit or a distraction technique rather than an actual policy plan. Regardless of its intention or viability, the alleged plan to transform the war-ravaged Palestinian enclave on Israel’s western flank into the “Riviera of the Middle East” has been condemned outside of far-right circles in Israel and the United States. “This is the most foolish idea any American president has put forth in the modern history of the United States,” said Fawaz Gerges, a veteran Middle East expert and professor at the London School of Economics. “It is beyond any kind of rational thinking, any kind of policy feasibility.” The announcement prompted dismay among senior officials and diplomats at a private event in Washington on Tuesday evening. Multiple sources noticed two prominent Arab ambassadors leaving immediately when Trump made his comments, which people were listening to on their phones in real time. Other diplomats reached later by NBC News from Europe and Asian capitals said there was widespread shock over the suggestion of removing the 2.2 million Palestinians in order to rebuild Gaza. Even Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., a Trump ally and U.S. foreign policy maven, questioned the proposal. “We’ll see what the Arab world says but you know that’d be problematic at many many levels,” he said. Within hours, vital U.S. allies such as Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Jordan unequivocally, if diplomatically, rejected the idea of removing Palestinians from their lands. “The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia reiterates its firm rejection of any infringement on the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people,” the Saudi Foreign Ministry said in a statement Tuesday night. “This includes opposition to Israeli settlement policies, the annexation of Palestinian lands, and efforts to displace the Palestinian people from their homeland.” The immediate and sometimes angry reaction to the proposal is an indication of how in Gaza, Trump has alighted on a strip of land as emotionally charged and politically intractable as it is tiny and ruined. Most governments in the world recognize it as part of a future Palestinian state. And though the United States does not, it has been involved in six decades of peacemaking efforts in support of a two-state solution to the conflict. Trump’s surprise announcement, at a news conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Washington, upended that, as well as Trump’s own peace plan unveiled in 2019. That outlined Gaza as part of a Palestinian state and stressed that Palestinians would not be uprooted. On Inauguration Day, Trump briefly entered real estate developer mode and called Gaza “a phenomenal location on the sea” that needed a rebuild. Tuesday’s news conference indicated he was serious, as he vowed the United States would take “long-term ownership” of the enclave. He advocated ousting Palestinians in Gaza from their homes, first suggesting it would be permanent and then indicating they would be allowed back. “I don’t think people should be going back to Gaza,” he said, adding later that “Palestinians will live there. Many people will live there” — without explaining the apparent contradiction. Wednesday afternoon, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters that while Trump believes the United States should be involved in rebuilding Gaza, its residents would be relocated temporarily. Forcing people to relocate from their homes can constitute a violation of international law. Israel has been accused of such by senior United Nations officials and global watchdogs such as Human Rights Watch for its military campaign in the Gaza Strip following Hamas’ terrorist attack Oct. 7, 2023, in which Israeli officials say 1,200 people were killed and another 250 kidnapped. Israel’s military campaign has killed 47,500 Palestinians, according to local officials, though researchers have estimated that the death toll is most likely much higher. Trump’s comments come at a doubly precarious moment, with the United States helping negotiate the next stage of a ceasefire whose supporters hope will free the 79 remaining Israeli hostages, including 44 who are believed to be alive in exchange for Palestinians being held in Israeli prisons or detention. A takeover and removal of Gaza’s population would be a grave contravention to international law, critics agreed. “Trump’s proposal to push 2 million Palestinians out of Gaza and take ‘ownership’ by force if necessary is simply ethnic cleansing by another name,” Sen. Chris Van Hollen, D-Md., said in a statement. The idea of jettisoning Palestinians has previously been such a fringe, taboo idea that it has drawn widespread condemnation when mooted by far-right members of Netanyahu’s coalition. Last month, under then-President Joe Biden, the State Department called this idea “inflammatory and irresponsible” when it was proposed by Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. The mere suggestion has painful historical echoes for Palestinians, 700,000 of whom were forcibly displaced from what became Israel during the 1948 “Nakba,” or catastrophe. One saving grace for those opposed to Trump’s idea is that it is difficult to see how it might be implemented in the real world. The United States' seizing control of the war-torn Gaza Strip, where Hamas fighters still operate, could require untold numbers of American troops to be deployed there, seemingly anathema to Trump’s opposition to foreign intervention. Leavitt, the White House press secretary, also told reporters Wednesday that U.S. involvement in rebuilding Gaza “does not mean boots on the ground.” Whatever happens next, “it seems extremely improbable that the United States could take over Gaza within the confines of international law,” said Martti Koskenniemi, a professor of international law at University of Helsinki and former member of the United Nations’ International Law Commission. To an international law expert with decades of experience, Trump “seems like a crazy man,” Koskenniemi said. “He’s not the first crazy man; there have been crazy men. But some of them are more powerful than others.” The possibility that this may never happen has led some observers to wonder whether Trump might have different aims. Trump’s comments could be “part of his extreme deal-making strategy that will lay the ground for broader Israeli-Saudi normalization talks,” Sanam Vakil, a director at the London think tank Chatham House said in an email. “He could be using this to pave the way to promote Saudi normalization in exchange for no annexation.” Trump’s first-term brokered agreement between the Jewish state, the UAE, Bahrain and Morocco has given rise to the possibility of a similar agreement with Saudi Arabia. That idea has been given short shrift by Saudi Arabia itself. The Foreign Ministry in Riyadh reiterated the kingdom’s “firm and unwavering” position that any Israel normalization would only come with the establishment of a Palestinian state. Whether serious or not, most outside observers agree that Trump was making a full-throated statement of support for Netanyahu, relations with whom had become more distant under Biden. The president “wants to show continued commitment to Israel to placate supporters and high-level donors in the United States,” Vakil said, as well as to “shore up Netanyahu’s fragile political balance of power” and help him in the next phase of ceasefire negotiations. While Netanyahu visited the White House, he vowed to resume the war against Hamas in Gaza after the current ceasefire. Gerges believes Trump’s comments will help him do so. “Benjamin Netanyahu is the happiest man in Israel today because he got exactly what he wanted,” he said. “Now he can go back to Israel and say: look, not only are we going to destroy Hamas, but Donald Trump wants the Palestinians out. We want to help him to bring about his visionary idea.”

It comes after President Donald Trump suggested that the U.S. may "take over" the enclave and "develop" it, sparking outrage among Palestinians and across the Middle East. Israel's defense minister said Thursday that he had instructed his military to prepare a plan to allow Palestinians to voluntarily leave the Gaza Strip, after his country's leadership embraced President Donald Trump's widely condemned remarks in which he said the United States may seek ownership of the territory. Welcoming what he called Trump's "bold initiative," Israel Katz said in a statement Thursday that Palestinians in Gaza "should be granted the freedom to leave and emigrate, as is customary everywhere in the world." He said the plan would include "exit options" for Palestinians to leave Gaza via land crossings, with the possibility of "special arrangements" for departures by sea and air. Katz's comments came after Trump on Tuesday suggested to the press and visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that the U.S. should take a "long-term ownership position" of Gaza and "develop" the enclave, which he had earlier in the day referred to as a "demolition site." Trump made contradictory comments on whether he foresaw Palestinians being able to live in the enclave, with White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt on Wednesday seeking to clarify his statements. The president is "committed to rebuilding Gaza and to temporarily relocating" Palestinians during those reconstruction efforts, she said, adding that Trump has not committed to sending U.S. troops to Gaza as part of the effort. Trump's remarks were widely rejected for their apparent dismissal of Palestinians' long pursuit of internationally recognized statehood. The Human rights organization Human Rights Watch said in a statement that the plan amounted to an "intent to escalate ethnic cleansing in Gaza." Speaking to Fox News on Wednesday, Netanyahu praised Trump's remarks, adding that “the actual idea of allowing first Gazans who want to leave, to leave, what’s wrong with that?” Katz's plan would represent a major policy shift for Israel, which — along with Egypt — has maintained a land, air and sea blockade on the enclave since 2007, when Hamas took power two years after Israel withdrew from the territory following 38 years of occupation. Barred from leaving the territory without Israeli-issued exit permits, Palestinians have effectively been trapped in a war zone. More than 47,500 people have been killed in the Gaza Strip, according to local health officials, since Israel launched its military offensive following the Hamas-led Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attacks that killed 1,200 people and saw around 250 others taken hostage, according to Israeli officials. Those who have been able to leave Gaza during the war have feared not being allowed by Israel to return, a concern underpinning fears over Trump's plan. When discussing his instructions to the Israel Defense Forces, Katz said countries such as Spain, Ireland and Norway, which moved to formally recognize Palestinian statehood last year as they condemned Israel's offensive in Gaza, should be "legally obligated to allow Gaza residents to enter their territory." The Israeli defense minister's plan was welcomed by figures on Israel's far right, such as Itamar Ben-Gvir, who resigned from his role as national security minister last month over Israel's ceasefire truce with Hamas. "The real solution for Gaza is no longer dreams of 'reconstruction' and a return to the previous situation, but a fundamental change in reality," Ben-Gvir, who has expressed support for the Israeli resettlement of Gaza, said in a post on X on Thursday. In Gaza, Palestinians have expressed outrage over the threat Trump's plan poses to the future recognition of Palestinian statehood. "We spent a year and four months in the war and did not leave our country, so is it expected that we will leave it now?" Abu Saad Al-Daada told NBC News' crew on the ground Wednesday in Khan Younis. "He is crazy," Daada, 56, said of Trump. "He has to find another solution."

“No soldiers by the U.S. would be needed,” the president added. President Donald Trump doubled down on controversial plans for the Gaza Strip on Thursday, saying the Palestinian enclave would be "turned over to the United States by Israel" once the war there ends. The comments in a string of posts on Truth Social followed his proposal for the U.S. to "take over" and "develop" Gaza, which were derided by rivals and even questioned by close allies earlier this week. Israeli officials did not immediately comment on Trump's latest comments, though in an interview on Fox News on Wednesday, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised Trump's initial proposal. Asked to comment on Trump’s statements on Thursday, a spokesperson referred NBC News to the Fox News interview. Later, Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said Israel does not have details about Trump’s Gaza plan, according to Reuters. In his post on Truth Social, Trump suggested that Palestinians could be "resettled in far safer and more beautiful communities, with new and modern homes, in the region," adding fresh confusion to discrepancies in his stance on the future of Palestinians in Gaza. Trump also said that "no soldiers by the U.S. would be needed! Stability for the region would reign!!!" Trump's Truth Social post comes after contradictory comments Tuesday on whether he foresaw Palestinians being able to live in a future Gaza that he described as the "riviera of the Middle East." He initially suggested that Palestinians could be permanently removed, before adding they would be able to live there, alongside others, after Gaza was rebuilt. Trump’s proposal to seize control of Gaza and potentially oust the roughly 2.2 million Palestinians who live there has sparked anger, fear and disbelief across the Middle East and around the world, with some officials, analysts and human rights groups saying the plan is tantamount to ethnic cleansing. The proposal has been widely condemned as dismissing the Palestinian cause — the bid for internationally recognized statehood. And it has also been a painful reminder for Palestinians of the 1948 “Nakba,” when some 700,000 Palestinians fled or were forced from their homes during the creation of Israel. Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas rejected Trump's bid to take over Gaza, saying Palestinian leaders would "not allow any infringement on the rights of our people" and calling the effort a "serious violation of international law." White House spokesperson Karoline Leavitt on Wednesday evening said the president was "committed to rebuilding Gaza and to temporarily relocating" Palestinians during those reconstruction efforts. Leavitt also said Trump had not committed to sending any troops to Gaza as part of his plans. Israel, along with Egypt, has maintained a land, air and sea blockade on Gaza since since 2007 when Hamas took power two years after Israel withdrew from the territory after a 38-year occupation. The majority of United Nations member countries recognize Gaza as part of an independent state, though both Israel and the United States do not recognize Palestinian statehood. In his Truth Social post Thursday, Trump, who gained fame as a real estate mogul and television personality, said the U.S. would work with "great development teams from all over the World" and would "slowly and carefully begin the construction of what would become one of the greatest and most spectacular developments of its kind on Earth." The president also mentioned Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., in his post, though it was not clear exactly what he meant by his reference to the Democrat. Chantal Da Silva

The five men were freed last month after 15 months in captivity as part of the hostage-prisoners exchange deal Israel struck with the Palestinian militant group. THALI, Thailand — There were cheers and applause as Watchara Sriaoun stepped out of the white van, his hands clasped together to greet the crowd as he finally returned to his village in Thailand after being swept up in a war on the other side of the world. "I don't know how to describe it," said Watchara, 33. "It's like being reborn." Watchara and four other former Thai hostages arrived in Bangkok earlier Sunday, days after being released by Hamas after 15 months of captivity. The group, which also included Sarusak Rumnao, 32, Sathian Suwannakham, 35, Pongsak Thaenna, 36, and Bannawat Saethao, 27, was released as part of the hostage-prisoners exchange deal Israel struck with Hamas last month. They were met at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok by family members as well as Thai Foreign Minister Maris Sangiampongsa and the Israeli ambassador to Thailand, Orna Sagiv, before continuing on to their hometowns. "We were waiting so long for this day," Watchara's mother, Wiwwaeo Sriaoun, told NBC News in an interview Sunday in his home village of Thali in the northeastern province of Udon Thani. "I thank God for leading him home safely," said Wiwwaeo, 53, who met Watchara at Udon Thani airport along with his father, Tom Sriaoun, 57, and his 9-year-old daughter, Irada. Though Watchara's official welcome party is on Tuesday, his home was filled with food for all the people coming to visit in the meantime. Wiwwaeo said Watchara had told her his captivity was difficult but she didn't press him for details. "I told him that he didn't need to talk about it and when he was ready, he can do so," she said. "Just come back first." According to his mother, Watchara had been an agricultural worker in Israel for more than three years when Hamas carried out its Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel. Watchara, who was working at Kibbutz Nir Oz near Israel's southern border with the Gaza Strip, was among 31 Thai nationals taken hostage, the largest group of foreigners to be held captive. Twenty-three of them were released in November 2023 during an early ceasefire, while two others were confirmed to have been killed in the attack before their bodies were taken to Gaza. A total of 46 Thai nationals have died in the Israel-Hamas war. Five of the six remaining hostages were released Jan. 31 as part of the second round of releases by the Palestinian militant group in what Thailand’s ambassador to Israel, Pannabha Chandraramya, said was “one of the happiest days of my life.” After their release, they spent a few days in a hospital outside Tel Aviv where they underwent medical tests and recuperated. Family members of four of the hostages met them in Israel on Wednesday, the Thai foreign ministry said in a statement. They were also visited by a Thai delegation that included the foreign minister. The status of the remaining Thai hostage, Nattapong Pingsa, is unclear, and Hamas is also still holding the bodies of the two Thai hostages who were confirmed dead. In addition, Hamas is holding another non-Israeli, Nepalese agriculture student Bipin Joshi, as well as the body of a Tanzanian student, Joshua Mollel, who was confirmed dead. With a population of 9 million, Israel is heavily dependent on foreign labor in sectors such as agriculture, construction and caregiving. While the country has been historically reliant on Palestinian labor, Israel began recruiting foreign workers after the Palestinian revolt that ended in 1993. Thais arrived in large numbers, drawn by higher wages than they could earn back home, and remain the largest group of foreign agricultural laborers in the country. Nearly 25,000 Thai workers worked in Israel before the Oct. 7 attack, Chandraramya said. “They worked tirelessly in the farm, in the kibbutz,” she told reporters last week. After the attack, many workers fled their jobs in Israel, which began offering higher salaries and launched a recruitment drive in countries including India to secure the critical supply of foreign labor. Thais have since gone to Israel in bigger numbers than before, and Chandraramya said there were now 38,000 workers in the country. Watchara said he would not be going back. "I want to be with my family first," he said.

For the first time in nine months, medical evacuees were able to leave Gaza by the Rafah border crossing. A small girl in a pink sweater waved goodbye through the smudged window of a bus as it prepared to depart Gaza on Saturday, packed with 37 ill and injured patients, most of them children with cancer, in need of medical treatment that Gaza's war-ravaged hospitals cannot provide. It was the first time in nine months that medical evacuees have been able to leave Gaza by the Rafah border crossing, and outside Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, weary mothers held their sick and listless children wrapped up in coats, anxiously waving their documents at officials to confirm their place. But their departure was bittersweet — only a few patients made the list that day, and each could bring only one companion. A small boy who tried to squeeze his way onto the bus with his sick brother and mother was escorted off. “They did not allow me to pass,” Khalil, 8, still sobbing from being separated from his family, told NBC News' crew. “My brother went with my mom; he is sick.” The evacuees left by the Rafah crossing into Egypt, which has been reopened as part of the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. Under the deal, 50 patients and wounded are set to be evacuated every day under the supervision of the World Health Organization. While much of the attention on the ceasefire has focused on the hostage releases, the daily medical evacuations will be chipping away at a mountain of need. “We need to speed up the pace, because, again, we estimate between 12,000 to 14,000 critical patients are needed to medevac,” Rik Peeperkorn, the World Health Organization representative for the occupied Palestinian territories, who was overseeing the evacuation, told NBC News' crew in Gaza. “Trauma injuries, think about amputees, many of them children. Spinal cord injuries, burns, which need multiple different specialized operations and rehabilitation, which they currently cannot get in Gaza. The other is patients for oncology, cancer patients, chronic diseases and cardiovascular diseases, which need to be medevaced out of Gaza.” The conflict has destroyed much of Gaza’s infrastructure, causing its health system to collapse. Beyond the enormous needs of the skyrocketing number of war wounded, hundreds of thousands of people with acute and chronic illnesses were left with limited or no access to medicine and treatment. According to the WHO, from the start of the war on Oct. 7, 2023, to when the ceasefire began on Jan. 19, Gaza's health care system sustained more than 1,200 direct attacks, including at least 660 on health facilities, and over 1,000 attacks that affected health care workers. The Israel Defense Forces says Hamas operates command centers at hospitals, uses ambulances to transport fighters and diverts fuel aid intended for hospital use to military purposes, charges that Hamas and hospital staff members deny. The scale of the crisis for patients remains overwhelming, and for some children, it is too late. Dr. Muhammed Abu Salmiya, the director general of Al-Shifa Medical Complex, once Gaza's top hospital, said two of the children scheduled for evacuation Saturday died before they could make the journey. Last week, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres called for 2,500 children to be “immediately evacuated with the guarantee that they will be able to return to their families and communities.” Medical evacuations were rare even before the Rafah crossing closed. From October 2023 to May, the United States, hospitals, various nongovernmental organizations and local officials in Gaza were able to quietly move just 150 patients, most of them children, out of Gaza for lifesaving care. After the Rafah crossing shut down when Israeli forces captured it in May, the improbable became nearly impossible. The last significant evacuation appeared to have been in June, when 21 critically ill children were evacuated from the Gaza Strip.

The explosions tore through the city of Jenin, in the occupied West Bank, sending plumes of smoke into the sky. The Israeli military destroyed almost two dozen buildings in Jenin, a city in the occupied West Bank, as Israel turned to the territory since it withdrew some of its troops during the ongoing ceasefire across the border in Gaza. Video captured by Reuters showed a series of explosions tearing through the city, sending towering plumes of smoke into the sky. In a statement Sunday, the Israel Defense Forces said it demolished 23 buildings in Jenin that were “used as terrorist infrastructure.” Hamas called for an “escalation in the resistance” against Israel after the demolition in Jenin. The number of casualties, if any, is unknown. Israel launched an offensive in Jenin last month to “defeat terrorism,” according to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. It is the Israeli army’s third major incursion into the city — a longtime stronghold of militant groups, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad — in less than two years. On Sunday, a 16-year-old boy was among five people killed by Israeli airstrikes on Jenin, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. Violence by settlers and Israeli military operations has soared in the occupied territory since the war in the Gaza Strip began Oct. 7, 2023, when, Israeli officials say, 1,200 people were killed and around 250 were taken hostage in Hamas’ multipronged attacks on Israel. In the year leading up to the attacks, 253 Palestinians were killed in the West Bank, according to a database kept by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. But since Oct. 7, 2023, the database shows the death toll has risen sharply, with 845 Palestinians killed. And Israel's most recent offensive in January was launched just hours after President Donald Trump rescinded American sanctions on far-right settler groups and people accused of involvement in violence against Palestinians in the West Bank. In Gaza, the IDF said an Israeli aircraft fired on a vehicle it said was traveling outside the “agreed inspection route,” which it claimed violated the ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas. “The IDF is prepared for any scenario and will continue to take any necessary actions to thwart immediate threats to its soldiers,” the statement read. Both attacks coincided with Netanyahu’s departure Sunday for the United States, where he is set to meet with Trump. Netanyahu, the first foreign leader to visit Trump since he was inaugurated last month, left Israel as negotiations for the second phase of talks were expected to begin Monday. Meanwhile, the deputy head of Hamas, Mousa Abu Marzouk, will lead a delegation to visit the Russian capital, Moscow, on Monday, the RIA state news agency reported Sunday. Russia has long held ties to governments and groups in the Middle East, including Israel, Iran, Lebanon and the Palestinian Authority.

Jenin Amro, 23, says Israeli authorities still have yet to tell her why she was detained for 13 months before being released as part of the ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas. DURA, West Bank — Israeli soldiers burst into her bedroom in the middle of the night as she slept, arresting her at gunpoint as her younger sisters watched on. But after more than a year in prison, Jenin Amro told NBC News she still doesn’t know why she was detained. Like all of the 90 Palestinian women and children released in the first hostage exchange between Israel and Hamas in January, she was labeled as a “terrorist” by the Israel Prison Service. But Amro denies any militant ties, and Israeli authorities have not responded to multiple requests for specific details on why she was held for over a year. “How am I a terrorist? I was a university student who attended, studied and lived with my family,” the 23-year-old told NBC News last month, two days after she was freed as part of the deal between Israel and Hamas and was allowed to return to her family home in Dura in the occupied West Bank. Sitting in a plastic chair outside her family’s stone-built home surrounded by greenery and farm animals, Amro said she was “in shock” as she was taken to Damon Prison near the Israeli city of Haifa. “I was wondering what was happening and why this was happening to me,” she said. Nearby, her father, Mohammad Amro, 58, watched on with a look of concern for his eldest daughter while Amro’s younger sister Boshara, 21, stood beside him. Her mother, Hind Taleb Amro, 58, and other siblings were all close by. Her uncle Raef Mohammed Amro, who said his journey from Jenin in the West Bank’s north to Dura to see her had taken 10 hours instead of two because of Israeli checkpoints, embraced her with a warm hug. Describing the Damon Prison as “unfit for human habitation,” Amro said with a soft but determined voice that she and the other women suffered physical and verbal abuse from Israeli guards. Some were “beaten,” she said, recalling one case where a woman who had difficulty walking was dragged on the floor and “no one was allowed to help.” While she said she hadn’t weighed herself since her release, it was “clear” she had lost weight during her time in detention. Meal sizes were small, she said, adding that the small amount of yogurt for breakfast and a plate of fries for lunch would be shared between groups of detainees. She said all of the women she was detained with were Palestinian and that some had been arrested over social media posts, while others, like her, had not been charged. The reality of her situation “didn’t fully register until the very last day,” adding that she still struggled to understand whether she was able to to leave “and return to my life.” The Israel Prison Service did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the conditions at the facility. Asked why Amro was detained, the Israel Defense Forces referred NBC News to the Israel Security Agency, or Shin Bet. Shin Bet did not respond to multiple inquiries from NBC News and the Israel Prison Service did not respond to a request for comment. Amro’s lawyer Ahmed Safia said that throughout her time behind bars, he had repeatedly asked Israeli authorities to explain why the young woman, who was studying agricultural engineering at Hebron University, had been detained, only to be told that the information was secret. He said she was one of thousands of Palestinians held by Israel under a controversial practice known as “administrative detention,” which it uses to hold people without trial or other usual legal proceedings, based on alleged secret evidence it does not share with detainees, their families or legal representatives. The practice has been criticized by rights groups like Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch that say it has been used to hold Palestinians without charge and due process. Israel has defended the practice as a necessary security measure. Before some 580 Palestinian prisoners were released in the four exchanges for Israeli hostages during the current truce, Israel was holding 3,376 administrative detainees without trial, according to data from HaMoked, an Israeli human rights organization. Meanwhile, inside Israel, ultranationalist lawmakers have criticized the ceasefire and hostage release deal. Among them is Itamar Ben-Gvir, who resigned from his post as national security minister in protest. He has objected to the fact that hundreds of Palestinian prisoners will be freed and argued that it leaves open the possibility of Hamas staying in power in Gaza, where health officials say more than 47,000 people been killed in the Israeli military offensive since Oct. 7, 2023, though researchers estimate the death toll is likely significantly higher. Israel began its campaign after Hamas’ multipronged attacks on the country in which roughly 1,200 people were killed and around 250 were taken hostage, according to Israeli tallies. Despite the objections of Ben-Gvir and some of his fellow lawmakers, the first three Israeli hostages — Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari, a dual British citizen — were freed last month in exchange for 90 Palestinian prisoners and detainees, all of whom were women and children under the age of 19. All of them, including Amro were described as “terrorists” by Israel, a fact that came as little surprise to Sarit Michaeli, international outreach director for Jerusalem-based human rights organization B’Tselem, who said Israel used it as a blanket term to describe the freed Palestinians. In general, she said, many people detained by Israel “haven’t been charged with any sort of violent offenses,” and “some have not been charged at all.” On Jan. 25, four female Israeli soldiers Daniella Gilboa, Naama Levy, Karina Ariev and Liri Albag were also released in exchange for 200 Palestinian prisoners, some of whom were serving life sentences after being convicted of deadly attacks. But while the truce between Israel and Hamas has held for more than a week in Gaza, the Israeli military has ramped up military activity in the occupied West Bank, launching a major operation in the northern city of Jenin last week. The offensive began after President Donald Trump rescinded American sanctions on far-right Israeli settler groups and individuals accused of involvement in violence against Palestinians in the territory, in one of his first acts in office. Israel has occupied the West Bank since the Six-Day War against its Arab neighbors, which saw the country seize the West Bank and east Jerusalem from Jordan and the Gaza Strip from Egypt. Since then, it has built and expanded Jewish settlements in the West Bank. Most countries deem them illegal under international law, a position disputed by Israel, which sees the territory as a security bulwark. In 2019, the first Trump administration abandoned the long-held U.S. position that the settlements are illegal before it was restored by his successor, Joe Biden. Muted celebrations Before she was released on Jan. 20, Amro’s family waited for hours in the cold at a rendezvous point for the freed prisoners. Her younger sister Boshara said she “couldn’t describe the feeling” of having her sister home. In a voice note before Amro was released, Boshara said she was “like a mother to me, in her kindness and in everything she does.” But throughout Amro’s detention, Boshara said she had no contact with her sister and was unable to visit her, adding that her family was disturbed by her sibling’s “very bad mental state, especially the mental and physical stress she was subjected too.” In video shared with NBC News, Amro’s family and friends could be seen celebrating her return on Jan. 20. Wearing a flower crown, she could be seen being carried down the street on the shoulders of two men as she was greeted by a cheering crowd. But Amro, her sister and their father said they received a visit from Israeli forces that day warning them not to celebrate again. A spokesperson for the IDF denied its forces had specifically visited Amro’s family, but said they had been in the Dura area that day to disperse a march being held in support of Hamas. As for Amro, she said she hoped to overcome the ordeal, finish her degree and eventually open a plant or flower shop, but she feared she would be detained again — a threat she said Israeli authorities made to her upon her release. “I am more determined, strong,” she told NBC News in a message after her ordeal, adding that she planned to “continue my life with passion.” Speaking outside her home last week, she said she wanted to share her story because she thought it was important for Palestinians to demand “our rights” and to shine a light on the “injustice happening” under Israeli detention. “Everything I have experienced in prison makes me feel that the world should know,” she said.

The move to ban UNRWA from the Palestinian territories came as 2 million people grappled with the destruction of the 15-month Gaza war. Its has alarmed the international community. JERUSALEM — Israel’s ban on the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees went into effect Thursday in a move that the world body has warned will jeopardize humanitarian aid efforts in the Gaza Strip, the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem. The move comes as 2 million Palestinians living in those areas are grappling with the destruction wrought during the 15 months of the Gaza war and its timing — coming at an especially vulnerable moment for the Palestinian territories — has alarmed the international community. The Palestinian Authority, which governs the West Bank, believes the ban will further stoke tensions between Palestinians and Israelis in the occupied West Bank and in Gaza, where a fragile ceasefire remains in place. Israel has occupied the West Bank since the 1967 Six-Day War between Israel and its Arab neighbors, which saw the country seize the West Bank and east Jerusalem from Jordan and the Gaza Strip from Egypt. Since then, it has built and expanded Jewish settlements in the West Bank. Most countries deem them illegal under international law, a position disputed by Israel which sees the territory as a security bulwark. Israel, which claims that Hamas members have infiltrated UNRWA, argues that the agency’s absence will depoliticize humanitarian aid, make delivery more efficient and help keep it out of Hamas’ hands. UNRWA Director-General Philippe Lazzarini has warned of “disastrous” consequences if Israel bans the aid organization from the Palestinian territories. The ban comes into effect less than two weeks after a Gaza ceasefire deal allowed for a surge in humanitarian aid into the enclave with the expected weekly entry of 4,200 trucks of aid. Because they claim that UNRWA has exaggerated the proportion of Gaza’s aid it provides, Israeli officials say that other aid bodies, other UN agencies and municipal departments will step in to fill the gap left by UNRWA. What is UNRWA? Often described as the main humanitarian and social security provider for the Palestinians, UNRWA was established in 1949 and went into operation in 1950 to serve some 750,000 Palestinians who fled or were driven from their homes during the foundation of the state of Israel. UNRWA, which is funded by a combination of U.N member states and the U.N. itself, now provides humanitarian aid, education and health services to 5.9 million Palestinian refugees and their descendants, who are also considered refugees under the agency’s charter. Some 2.4 million of these people are in Jordan, 1.6 million in Gaza, 900,000 are in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, and a further 1 million are spread across Syria and Lebanon. While the U.N. General Assembly controls UNRWA, annually extending its mandate to operate, the body only functions with the approval of local authorities. According to UNRWA itself, it has more than 17,000 employees, most of them Palestinian refugees — in territories impacted by the ban, where 2.4 million people are recognized as refugees — plus a small number of international staff. What's Israel saying? Lawmakers on the political right in Israel and the U.S. have long argued that the education material taught in UNRWA schools is antisemitic and incites violence against Israel. They also say that UNRWA has helped to perpetuate the refugee status of Palestinians and used them as a political tool against Israel rather than helping them integrate into their environments. More recently, they have claimed that UNRWA has failed to prevent Hamas from using its facilities in Gaza, infiltrating its organization and misappropriating aid supplies. Those arguments gathered support in Israel after the Israel Defense Forces said it had found Hamas-built tunnels under UNRWA schools and weapons in UNRWA faculties. When Hamas led the Oct. 7 2023, terrorist attack on Israel in which Israeli officials say more than 1,200 people were killed and 251 taken hostage, some of those casualties and hostages were taken by members of UNRWA staff, according to Israel. What's the response? In its own defense, UNRWA has said that its educational material is designed to highlight tolerance and democracy and has denied any connection to terrorist activities. The body says that its staff must remain neutral and that any staff who are not are fired. It says that less than 1% of staff have been found guilty of such violations. Last August, an independent investigation regarding the Oct. 7 2023, attack commissioned by U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres examined 19 staff members and found that in nine cases, “the evidence obtained by [the UN’s Office of Internal Oversight Services] indicated that the UNRWA staff members may have been involved in the armed attacks.” Lazzarini told the U.N. Security Council on Tuesday that the Israeli Foreign Ministry had orchestrated a campaign against UNRWA “motivated by the desire to strip Palestinians of their refugee status.” What does cancellation mean? As dictated by a motion approved in October by its parliament, Israel is canceling the 50-year-old agreement with the U.N. under which it allows UNRWA to operate in Gaza, the West Bank and east Jerusalem. While services in Jordan, Syria and Lebanon will not be impacted, that means Israel will no longer communicate with UNRWA staff, issue visas for its international workers or recognize existing visas — meaning many foreign staff will have to leave the occupied Palestinian territories. Initially, the ban will be felt most in east Jerusalem, where UNRWA has been ordered to vacate its premises, while some of its operations in the West Bank will likely be wound down more gradually. What does UNRWA say? It remains unclear what the impact will be on aid in Gaza. U.N. figures suggest that Gaza is acutely in need of aid given that Israel’s military offensive — which local health authorities say killed 47,000 people — left around 90% of Gaza’s population, or 1.9 million people, displaced from their homes. Around 60% of Gaza’s broader infrastructure has also been destroyed, the U.N. says. UNRWA’s local permits are issued through local Gaza authorities and with the Israeli army planning to withdraw from many areas of the enclave, the U.N. body will no longer need to coordinate its movements with Israel. According to Lazzarini, UNRWA employs 13,000 staff members and has 300 facilities in the enclave. While it’s expected that services will continue, the logistical viability of dealing with an Israeli military that controls Gaza’s land borders but no longer recognizes UNRWA may be placed in jeopardy. Lazzarini told the Security Council on Tuesday that “since October 2023, we have delivered two-thirds of all food assistance [in Gaza], provided shelter to over a million displaced persons, and vaccinated a quarter of a million children against polio.” What do Israel and the U.S. say? Israeli officials say that UNRWA represents a fraction of the aid in Gaza and that it has exaggerated its role. They add that the weekly entry of 4,200 trucks of humanitarian assistance into Gaza as part of the ceasefire agreement will not be impacted. The Israeli military’s Office of the Coordinator of Government Activities in the [Palestinian] Territories (COGAT) says that, including UNRWA, there are 11 U.N. agencies and 17 nonprofits involved in aid efforts in Gaza, while the office of Deputy Foreign Minister Sharren Haskel said that 13.5% of aid there comes from UNRWA. The Biden administration halted funding to UNRWA in 2024 and President Donald Trump has since supported Israel’s ban on the body. Dorothy Shea, a U.S. envoy to the U.N., told the Security Council on Tuesday that “UNRWA exaggerating the effects of the laws and suggesting that they will force the entire humanitarian response to halt is irresponsible and dangerous.” “What is needed is a nuanced discussion about how we can ensure that there is no interruption in the delivery of humanitarian aid and essential services,” she added.