Israel-Gaza war: Israel to respond after South Africa urges ICJ to order halt to Rafah offensive | Israel-Gaza war

Rebecca Ratcliffe is the Guardian’s south-east Asia correspondent.

Thailand’s prime minister Srettha Thavisin said he was “deeply saddened” by the deaths of two Thai nationals who were killed in the 7 October attack on Israel. It had previously been believed the men, named as Sonthaya Oakkharasri and Sudthisak Rinthalak, were alive and being held among hostages in the Gaza Strip.

“I offer my deepest condolences to both their families,” Srettha said on social media platform X. “The Thai Government will continue to do our utmost to secure the release of the remaining hostages.”

Before the attacks on 7 October, about 30,000 Thais were working on Israeli farms, where the wages offered are significantly higher than agricultural salaries at home. Thais accounted for the biggest group of foreign nationals taken hostage in October.

It is believed there are now six Thai hostages being held in Gaza, according to the Thai authorities. So far, 23 have been released and returned home to Thailand.

In a statement, Thailand’s ministry of foreign affairs said it expressed its profound condolences to the families of the two men, adding they had already been contacted by the Royal Thai embassy in Tel Aviv, and that they would be given all necessary assistance.

“The Royal Thai Government reiterates its strong call for the immediate release of all remaining hostages, including the six remaining Thai nationals in Gaza, so that they may return home safely, and call for all sides to exercise their utmost efforts in negotiations leading to an urgent solution to the current humanitarian crisis in Gaza,” the ministry said.

The US Central Command (Centcom) said on Friday that trucks carrying humanitarian assistance began moving ashore via a temporary pier in Gaza at 9 am local time (7am BST). No US troops went ashore in Gaza, it added.

“This is an ongoing, multinational effort to deliver additional aid to Palestinian civilians in Gaza via a maritime corridor that is entirely humanitarian in nature, and will involve aid commodities donated by a number of countries and humanitarian organizations,” Centcom said.

It is 9.30am in Gaza and Tel Aviv. This is our latest Guardian live blog on the Israel-Gaza war and the wider Middle East crisis.

Israel is expected to respond today to a request by South Africa to the international court of justice (ICJ) seeking an order to halt its assault on Rafah and its wider military campaign across Gaza, and allow international investigators and journalists into the territory.

In a court hearing, lawyers for South Africa argued that seven months into the war, which has killed more than 35,000 people and reduced much of Gaza to rubble, the scale of suffering was now so intense that a total ceasefire was needed to get food, medicine and other aid to its desperate population.

Prof Vaughan Lowe KC told the court that a destructive campaign in Rafah, the last corner of Gaza that has not faced a ground invasion by Israeli forces, would destroy “the foundation of Palestinian life” in the territory.

Here is a summary of the latest developments:

• At least 35,272 Palestinians have been killed and 79,205 have been wounded in Israel’s military offensive on Gaza since 7 October, the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry has said.

• Israeli soldiers have shared footage of Palestinian detentions in the occupied West Bank online, which legal experts say could be a war crime, reports the BBC. The British broadcaster analysed 45 photos and videos, which include those of detainees draped in Israeli flags. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said soldiers had been disciplined or suspended in the event of “unacceptable behaviour” but did not comment on the individual incidents or soldiers that the BBC had identified.

• The US military has said the installation of a floating pier for the delivery of humanitarian aid off Gaza has been completed, with officials ready to begin ferrying supplies into the territory. According to officials, the delivery of food and other crucial aid is expected to start within 24-48 hours.

• Five Israeli soldiers have been killed by friendly fire in Gaza’s north, where intense fighting has resumed more than seven months into the war. The troops were killed on Wednesday at 7pm local in the area of Jabalia refugee camp, the IDF said in a statement. Seven other troops were wounded in the incident.

• Spain refused permission for a ship carrying arms to Israel to dock at a Spanish port, its foreign minister, José Manuel Albares, said on Thursday. “This will be a consistent policy with any ship carrying arms to Israel that wants to call at Spanish ports. The foreign ministry will systematically reject such stopovers for one obvious reason: the Middle East does not need more weapons, it needs more peace.”

• Red Cross officials are to hold talks with the UK over a Foreign Office plan to visit Palestinian detainees held by Israel. Critics say this bypasses a duty on Israel under the Geneva conventions to give the Red Cross access to detainees. Israel has suspended the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) from access to Palestinian detainees since the Hamas attack on 7 October, and says it will not rescind the policy until Hamas grants access to Israeli hostages.

• The Republican-led US House of Representatives voted on Thursday to force president Joe Biden to end his hold on high-payload bombs approved for Israel but blocked over concerns about their use in Gaza. The largely symbolic move – it has no chance of becoming law – is a response to Biden suspending the shipments over fears of mass Palestinian casualties as Israeli forces press their assault on the densely populated city of Rafah.

• The Israeli army said on Thursday that two Thai hostages earlier believed to be alive in Gaza were killed in the 7 October attack and their bodies are being held in the Palestinian territory. The Israeli army and the Hostages and Missing Families Forum named the two men as Sonthaya Oakkharasr and Sudthisak Rinthalak. There are now six Thai hostages being held in Gaza, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

• Canada on Thursday imposed its first-ever sanctions on what the foreign ministry called “extremist” Israeli settlers in the West Bank, and said Ottawa was weighing additional measures to deter settler violence against Palestinians. Canada’s sanctions, which follow similar measures by allies including the United States and Britain, target four individuals accused of engaging directly or indirectly in violence against Palestinians and their property.

• Host Bahrain called for a Middle East peace conference Thursday at the start of an Arab League summit dominated by the Israel-Hamas war. “[We] call for an international conference for peace in the Middle East, in addition to supporting full recognition of the State of Palestine and accepting its membership in the United Nations,” said King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa.

• Israel continues to evade efforts to reach a ceasefire in its war with Hamas in Gaza, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, whose country has mediated in the conflict, told Arab leaders. Sisi added that Israel is pursuing its military operations in Rafah, the southern border city between Egypt and Gaza, and using the city’s border crossing from its Palestinian side “to tighten the siege of the enclave.”

• Egypt has rejected an Israeli proposal for the two countries to coordinate to reopen the Rafah crossing between Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip, and to manage its future operation, two Egyptian security sources told Reuters. The Israeli proposal included a mechanism for how to manage the crossing after an Israeli withdrawal, the security sources said. Egypt insists the crossing should be managed only by Palestinian authorities, they added.