Israel-Palestine live: Israel bombs Unrwa building in Gaza

A group of senior American, Arab and European officials met in Munich on Friday to discuss formulating a plan for a post-war Gaza that would be linked to the normalisation of ties between Israel and Saudi Arabia, according to diplomats and officials.

The meeting included US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Saudi Arabian Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan and the foreign ministers of Jordan, Qatar, Germany, Britain, France and Italy. It took place on the sidelines of the annual Munich Security Conference.

Despite the war breaking out in Gaza, the US has been continuing to push for Saudi Arabia and Israel to normalise relations.

Reporting by Reuters

The latest order by the International Court of Justice, which stated there was no need for additional measures to stop an Israeli military assault on Rafah, was met with disappointment by some Palestinians.

Noura Erakat, a Palestinian-American lawyer and professor, called the ruling "profoundly disappointing".

In response to the additional application by South Africa, in which it called on the International Court of Justice to intervene to stop a planned invasion of Rafah, the court said such a military campaign would "exponentially increase what is already a humanitarian nightmare".

However, the court ruled that at this moment there would be no additional measures asserted by the ICJ, and the court further called on Israel to abide by the Genocide Convention.

Egypt's State Information Service is denying that Cairo is participating in a process that involves displacing Palestinians in Gaza into Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.

The denial comes after reports surfaced this week that Egypt was creating a security zone near Gaza that could be used to house Palestinians en masse ahead of an Israeli invasion of Rafah.

Students across all five boroughs of New York City are set to walk out of school this afternoon in demand of an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

“The [Department of Education] is complicit in genocide! They continue to censor not only students, but teachers as well," Lina Abdullah, a student in New York City, said in a statement provided to MEE.

"It’s time for America to be on the right side of history."

After walking out of school at 3pm, the students, along with educators and other demonstrators, will gather in Bryant Park for a rally.

US President Joe Biden said on Friday that he has spoken to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in recent days, in which he pushed for a "temporary ceasefire".

Biden told reporters he made the case that there must be a pause in fighting to get hostages out of Gaza.

The government media office has provided an update to its figures from the ongoing war in Gaza, which has now been happening for 133 days.

• 28,775 Palestinians killed, including 12,660 children and 8,570 women

• 340 medical workers killed

• 130 journalists killed

• 7,000 Palestinians reported missing

• 10,000 Palestinian cancer patients

• 60,000 pregnant women facing a lack of medical care

• 100 schools and universities destroyed

• 184 mosques completely destroyed

• 31 hospitals put out of service

Palestinian families in Deir al-Balah, in central Gaza, are having to wait in queues for hours in order to receive a hot meal, according to the UN aid agency, Unrwa.

The entire Gaza Strip is facing a food shortage, and the spread of disease is rampant in overcrowded tent communities formed by Palestinians displaced from Israel's war in the enclave.

Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) medical staff performed a successful Caesarean section, or c-section, for a woman experiencing sudden labour pains amid attacks on al-Amal hospital, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip.

The organisation hailed the operation as a "remarkable feat", achieved "despite facing challenges such as insufficient blood units, the absence of an available anesthesia technician (who was arrested), and the lack of a neonatologist," PRCS said on X (formerly Twitter).

US "Specially Designated Global Terrorist" sanctions against Houthis for their attacks targeting Israel-linked commercial vessels in the Red Sea came into effect on Friday, the US Department of the Treasury said in a statement.

In January, Washington said it was returning the Houthis to the global list of terrorist groups in response to the militia group's attacks on commercial shipping.

A Palestinian man was shot in the head with a rubber-coated bullet by Israeli forces in his home during a military raid on Shuafat refugee camp, north of Jerusalem, Wafa news agency reported on Friday.

Video footage circulating online revealed an Israeli police officer firing directly at a Palestinian man standing at the window of his house while filming the camp raid on his phone.

A ship has reported being targeted by a missile off the coast of Yemen, the United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations agency said on Friday.

The agency said the ship also reported an explosion in close proximity, adding that the crew and the vessel were safe.

"Military authorities are responding," the agency said.

The attack took place 72 nautical miles (133km) northwest of the Yemeni port of Mokha, according to the agency.

Palestinian solidarity groups have brought criminal charges against a German politician for suspected incitement of hate and denial of war crimes in Israel's war on Gaza.

Palestine Speaks and Jewish Voice for Just Peace in the Middle East filed the charges against Volker Beck, a former member of parliament and head of the German-Israeli Society.

"This is the first step in holding public figures who publicly make genocidal statements legally accountable," the groups posted on Instagram.

Beck has dimissed the claims as "nonsense", claiming: "There is no genocide in Gaza, and I do not advocate genocide. These people have a disturbed relationship with the rule of law."

Three victims from a shooting attack on a bus stop in southern Israel have died from their wounds.

"This attack reminds us the entire country is a front and the murderers, who come not only from Gaza, want to kill us all," said Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. "We will continue to fight until total victory."