Hamas and Israel set for next Gaza truce exchange

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President Donald Trump on Friday froze US aid to South Africa, citing a law in the country that he alleges allows land to be seized from white farmers, despite Johannesburg's denials.

The law would "enable the government of South Africa to seize ethnic minority Afrikaners' agricultural property without compensation," Trump said in an executive order, which also noted foreign policy clashes between the two countries over the Middle East.

Trump also cited South Africa's genocide case in Gaza at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Israel.

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has urged the international community to "fully fund" humanitarian relief for the Palestinian people, and meet their "urgent needs".

In a post on X, Guterres said the UN is working "around the clock to reach Palestinians in need & scale up support".

"That requires rapid, safe, unimpeded, expanded & sustained access," he said.

Hundreds of Hamas fighters and onlookers gathered in the Gaza Strip's Bureij refugee camp on Friday for the funeral of Marwan Issa, the slain deputy leader of the movement's armed wing.

Brandishing assault rifles, their eyes the only visible feature behind black masks, fighters from the group's armed Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades packed the narrow streets of the central Gaza camp for the funerary procession.

The Israeli military had said it had killed Issa in a March 2024 air strike, but his death was only confirmed by Hamas on January 30 amid an ongoing ceasefire with Israel in Gaza.

The group also announced the death of Al-Qassam's military chief Mohammed Deif, who Israel had said it had killed in a July airstrike, as well as a number of other fighters and commanders.

Issa's coffin, draped in the green Hamas and Palestinian flags and adorned with pictures of the slain deputy, was carried aloft by fighters during the procession. Friday prayers before the burial were held in a sports stadium in the camp.

"Do not think that the resistance has ended with the assassination of the great leader Marwan Issa," said a fighter from the militant group Islamic Jihad, whose members were also out in force at the funeral.

"We have many resistance fighters and heroes, and we are constantly preparing for you," he added.

A seven-year-old Palestinian child has died of his wounds one week after he was critically injured after Israeli soldiers shot at his grandfather's house.

Saddam Hussein Iyad Rajab was shot in the Tulkarem refugee camo during one of Israel's violent raids.

Israeli forces have raided several cities in the West Bank again on Friday, including the Balata camp east of Nablus, Al-Khader south of Bethlehem.

The army arrested two men in Ya'bad, south of Jenin, and four men were injured in the village of Husan, west of Bethlehem.

US State Department informs Congress of plans for $7 billion-plus arms sales to Israel as Netanyahu visits Washington.

A Hezbollah commander was reportedly killed by explosion that occurred early on Friday in the area of ​​Tyre Harfa, southern Lebanon, following the detonation of an explosive device linked to the group, the Israeli army claimed today.

The army's Arabic-language spokesman Avichay Adraee said in a post on X that the explosion killed Abbas Haidar along with his family.

#عاجل 🔸فقط للتوضيح: حسب المعلومات المتوفرة في جيش الدفاع فان الانفجار الذي وقع صباح اليوم في منطقة طير حرفا في جنوب لبنان ناجم عن انفجار عبوة ناسفة لحزب الله.

🔸نتيجة الانفجار قتل المدعو عباس حيدر وهو قائد ميداني في حزب الله حيث كانت العبوة الناسفة مخصصة لتنفيذ اعتداء إرهابي… pic.twitter.com/XK2aITnlZ2

— افيخاي ادرعي (@AvichayAdraee) February 7, 2025

Scores of Lebanese armed group supporters have protested in Beirut against comments by the US deputy special envoy to the Middle East, Morgan Ortagus, who praised Israel for "defeating Hezbollah" during her visit to the country.

Dozens of people gathered near the entrance gate of the Beirut airport, protesting against Ortagus’s remarks, the Lebanese National News Agency said.

After her meeting with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun, Ortagus said Hezbollah will no longer "be able to terrorise the Lebanese people".

Amnesty International has criticised Donald Trump's plan to place sanctions on the ICC, calling the move a betrayal the international justice system.

Agnès Callamard, Amnesty International’s Secretary General, said: "This reckless action sends the message that Israel is above the law and the universal principles of international justice. It suggests that President Trump endorses the Israeli government’s crimes and is embracing impunity."

"This attack against the ICC seeks to damage the Court’s independent pursuit of international justice. The sanctions issued will harm accountability, a crucial ingredient to global and long-term security. They will embolden perpetrators, present and future. They will negatively impact the interests of all victims globally and those who look to the Court for justice in all the countries where it’s conducting investigations, including Darfur, Libya, the Philippines, Palestine, Ukraine and Venezuela."

Israeli captive Yarden Bibas, who was freed last week in Gaza, on Friday urged Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to help bring back his wife and two children from the Palestinian territory.

"Prime Minister Netanyahu, I'm now addressing you with my own words... bring my family back, bring my friends back, bring everyone home," Bibas said in his first public message following his release. Hamas previously said his wife and his two sons -- the youngest hostages -- were dead, but Israel has not confirmed their deaths.

Israel will free 183 inmates from jails on Saturday in the fifth hostage-prisoner swap agreed with Hamas as part of an ongoing Gaza ceasefire deal, according to the Palestinian Prisoners' Club advocacy group.

"Among those to be released are 18 serving life sentences, 54 with lengthy sentences, and 111 from Gaza who were arrested after October 7," Amani Sarahneh, spokeswoman for the Palestinian NGO, told AFP, referring to Hamas's unprecedented attack on Israel in 2023 which started the Gaza war.

The president of the International Criminal Court on Friday hit out at the announced US sanctions against her institution, describing them as "serious attacks" against the global law-based order.

US President Donald Trump's order against the court was "the latest in a series of unprecedented and escalatory attacks aiming to undermine the Court's ability to administer justice", said Tomoko Akane in a statement.

"Such threats and coercive measures constitute serious attacks against the Court's States Parties, the rule of law based international order and millions of victims," she added.

"We firmly reject any attempt to influence the independence and the impartiality of the Court or to politicise our judicial function," said Akane.

She said she had noted with "deep regret" Trump's order and stressed that the ICC is "indispensable" given the atrocities being committed around the world.

President Donald Trump said Friday that he was in no hurry to advance his shock plan for Gaza, which would see its Palestinian inhabitants moved out and the United States take control.

"There's absolutely no rush," Trump told reporters at the White House, where he was meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba.

Syria's Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa has been invited to visit Germany, his office said on Friday following a phone call with Chancellor Olaf Scholz. The invitation came two days after Sharaa's office announced he had been invited to visit France.

Scholz assured Sharaa of Germany's willingness to support Syria's reconstruction, a German government spokesperson said earlier on Friday.

In an hour-long phone call, Scholz congratulated the Syrian people on their success in ending the rule of former President Bashar al-Assad, who was toppled in December.

Scholz and Sharaa agreed on Syria's need for an inclusive political process that allows participation of all Syrians and provides rights and protection, the German spokesperson said in a statement.

"The Federal Chancellor underlined the ongoing importance of the fight against terrorism for security in Syria, the region and worldwide," the spokesperson added.

Lebanese President Joseph Aoun spoke to Syria's Interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa over the phone, the Lebanese Presidency said Friday.

The two discussed the countries' border security, after deadly cross-border clashes broke out between Syrian authorities and members of a Lebanese clan on Thursday and have continued into Friday.

Hamas prisoner's media office has said Israel is expected to release 184 Palestinian detainees on Saturday in return for three Israeli captives, according to a statement.

The spokesperson for Hamas' armed wing announced on Friday the names of the three Israeli captives that will be released.

Abu Obaida said Eli Sharabi, Ohad Ben Ami and Or Levy will be freed on Saturday as part of the next phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal.

Dozens of countries warned on Friday that US President Donald Trump's targeting of the International Criminal Court with sanctions could "increase the risk of impunity for the most serious crimes and threaten to erode the international rule of law."

"Sanctions would severely undermine all situations currently under investigation as the Court may have to close its field offices," the 79 countries - who make up about two-thirds of the court's members - said in a statement.

Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof said on Friday his country would seek to ensure the International Criminal Court, based in The Hague, could continue to operate despite announced US sanctions.

"Of course, as the host country we have a responsibility to guarantee the unhindered functioning of the criminal court at all times. And we will keep doing that," Schoof told reporters.

Schoof described the moves as a "disturbing signal and very regrettable" with potentially "significant implications" for the ICC's independence and ongoing investigations.

"The Netherlands stands by the International Criminal Court. We will continue to support it. We are the host country," said Schoof.

"We are also proud of the Netherlands and also of The Hague as a city for peace and justice. The ICC is an explicit part of that. And we will do everything we can to ensure that the ICC can fulfil its tasks," added the premier.

France is reaffirming its support for the International Criminal Court (ICC) and will mobilise with its partners so that the ICC can continue its mission in an independent and impartial way, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said on Friday

Ukraine believes that the work of the International Criminal Court in relation to Russian war crimes will continue after US President Donald Trump imposed sanctions on the organisation, Kyiv's foreign ministry said on Friday.

"We are convinced that the ICC will continue to fulfil important functions in Ukraine's case, in particular bringing Russian war criminals to responsibility," foreign ministry spokesperson Heorhii Tykhyi said at a press briefing in Ukraine's capital.

"We know that relations between the US and ICC have a long history," said Tykhyi.

Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz on Friday warned officers not to "speak out" against US President Donald Trump's plan to "take over" Gaza, which the army's intelligence chief reportedly criticised.

"There will be no reality in which IDF (military) officers speak out against the important plan of US President Trump regarding Gaza, and against the directives of the political echelon," Katz said in a statement.

Katz ordered the army to reprimand Major General Shlomi Binder, the head of military intelligence, "for remarks attributed to him regarding President Trump's plan for Gaza".

Earlier, Israeli media reported that during an evaluation of Trump's plan, Binder cautioned that the initiative to move Gazans to other countries and rebuild the war-torn Palestinian territory posed significant security concerns.

According to the Times of Israel, Binder warned it would inflame tensions in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, especially ahead of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan which is due to begin in about three weeks.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Friday invited US House Speaker Mike Johnson to visit Israel this year.

"You're invited to Israel this year in Jerusalem. I know you're busy but find space to do that. You'll be welcomed with a red carpet," Netanyahu told Johnson during remarks following their meeting at the US Capitol.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday told Syria's interim president Ahmed al-Sharaa that Berlin was ready to support the transition to a "free and safe" future after the ouster of Bashar al-Assad.

Scholz expressed Berlin's "willingness to support the reconstruction of Syria so that Syria can become a free and safe home for all", in an hour-long conversation with Sharaa, the chancellor's spokesman Steffen Hebestreit said in a statement.

In his first call with the new Syrian leader, Scholz "congratulated the Syrian people on their success in ending the Assad regime's reign of terror".

Scholz told the new Syrian leader he needed to lead a "inclusive political process... that allows all Syrians, regardless of their ethnic or religious group to participate".

The chancellor also stressed "the ongoing importance of the fight against terrorism for security in Syria", according to the statement. Germany would work together with European and international partners in this regard, Scholz said.

The head of Hezbollah's parliamentary bloc, Mohammed Raad, slammed comments by visiting US official Morgan Ortagus on Friday as "blatant interference" in Lebanon's affairs.

Ortagus' statement was "full of malice and irresponsibility" and attacked a component of "Lebanese political life", Raad said in a statement, adding that the remarks amounted to "blatant interference in Lebanon's sovereignty".

Ortagus had said Washington considered Hezbollah's participation in Lebanon's next government a red line.

France hopes Lebanese Prime Minister-designate Nawaf Salam will find a formula to resolve the cabinet-formation impasse, a French foreign ministry spokesman said Friday, when asked about US "red lines" over Hezbollah's presence in the government.

"France has full confidence Lebanese authorities can form a government that can bring together all Lebanese in all their diversity," the spokesman said.

Egypt, which borders Gaza, has intensified calls with Arab partners, including Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and United Arab Emirates to stress its rejection to any measures aimed at displacing Palestinians, its foreign ministry said in a statement on Friday.

The calls, made under the directives of Egypt President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, come on the heels of President Donald Trump's plan for the U.S. to take over the enclave and his call to Egypt and Jordan to take in resettled Palestinians.

Palestinians in Gaza say they are determined to rebuild their own seafront restaurants and hotels, dismissing U. President Donald Trump's controversial vision of creating a "Riviera of the Middle East"  cleansed of its population and under US control.

Before Israel's 15-month offensive left buildings across Gaza in ruins, the densely inhabited Palestinian territory had developed a local tourism scene on its Mediterranean shore despite a long Israeli blockade.

"There is nothing that cannot be repaired," said Gaza resident Assad Abu Haseira, pledging to start serving food from the restaurant he owns even before it is rebuilt.

"Trump says he wants to change the restaurants, and he wants to change Gaza and wants to create a new history for Gaza. We remain Arab and the history of Arabs will not be replaced with the history of foreigners."

Other Palestinians share his defiance. Mohammed Abu Haseira, another restaurant owner, said his eatery would become operational again "and much better than before".

"Trump has come up with a decision that he wants to establish restaurants, but the restaurants are here and the hotels are here. Why did you destroy them to establish other ones?" he said.

The Israeli delegation is expected to leave for Qatar's Doha on Saturday for the talks on the second phase of the Gaza ceasefire deal, Israeli Kann News reported on Friday.

An Israeli campaign group urged the government on Friday to stick with the Gaza truce ahead of a fifth captive-prisoner swap, after explosive comments by US President Donald Trump raised questions over the future of the deal.

The scheduled exchange on Saturday comes after Trump declared that the United States would "take over Gaza" and move Palestinians out of the territory, sparking uproar across the Middle East and beyond.

Israel has since ordered its military to prepare for the "voluntary" relocation of Gazans, while Hamas has rejected Trump's plans as "absolutely unacceptable".

An explosion in a house in southern Lebanon on Friday killed one man and his two daughters, local media reported.

It was not initially clear what caused the blast, but reports later said it was due to unexploded ordnance left from Israel's recent offensive.

LBCI said the man killed had ties to Hezbollah.

Other reports said there were two other men in the house when the explosion happened.

Britain supports the independence of the International Criminal Court and has no plans to sanction its officials, Prime Minister Keir Starmer's spokesperson said on Friday.

The spokesperson was asked about the ICC after US President Donald Trump authorised economic and travel sanctions targeting people who work on ICC investigations of US citizens or US allies such as Israel.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said on Friday he completely opposed resettlement of Palestinians from Gaza.

"What President Trump put on the table gets a total rejection from me," he told a campaign event in Ludwigsburg, western Germany. "We cannot resettle the population of Gaza to Egypt and Jordan. That is not ok."

The US deputy special envoy for the Middle East on Friday said that Hezbollah's presence in Lebanon's new government was a red line, welcoming the end of the Iran-backed group's "reign of terror".

"We have set clear red lines in the United States that they (Hezbollah) won't be able to terrorise the Lebanese people, and that includes by being a part of the government," Morgan Ortagus said after meeting Lebanese President Joseph Aoun in Beirut.

"Hezbollah was defeated by Israel and we are grateful to our ally Israel for defeating Hezbollah," she said, adding: "The end of Hezbollah's reign of terror in Lebanon and around the world has started and it's over".

"The men and women of character of this government will ensure that we start to end corruption, that we end influence from Hezbollah, and that we embark on the reforms for a greater country."

نائبة المبعوث الأميركي إلى الشرق الأوسط، مورغان أورتاغوس، من قصر بعبدا: أميركا ملتزمة بالشراكة مع لبنان، وتسعى إلى إعادة لبنان إلى مكانه الطبيعي في الشرق الأوسط. كما نشكر الرئيس عون ورئيس الحكومة المكلّف نواف سلام على التزامهما بإنهاء الفساد وإجراء الإصلاحات pic.twitter.com/q7Y3P8Eb0E

— Lebanese Presidency (@LBpresidency) February 7, 2025

An Israeli airstrike targeted a coastal region of south Lebanon Friday morning, after overnight airstrikes in other parts of the country's south and east.

The strike hit an area between the villages of Tibna and Bisariyeh in the Zahrani district. Bisariyeh has been targeted multiple times by Israel since the November ceasefire.

It was not immediately clear if there were any casualties.

الغارة الإسرائيلية التي استهدفت #تبنا في أطراف #البيسارية - جنوبي لبنان pic.twitter.com/rSqLXqKJbC

— Al Modon - المدن (@almodononline) February 7, 2025

US deputy special envoy for the Middle East Morgan Ortagus met with Lebanese President Joseph Aoun at the Baabda Palace on Friday after arriving to Lebanon Thursday night.

Ortagus is expected to meet with other officials in Beirut and also visit south Lebanon.

Discussions will centre on the ceasefire deal with Israel and the cabinet formation, which Washington has pressed not to include Hezbollah.

Israel said late Thursday it had struck two sites in Lebanon that allegedly contained weapons belonging to Hezbollah, despite a ceasefire deal.

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 on social media.

The airstrikes were reported in south Lebanon and a mountanious area along the eastern border with Syria, known for smuggling routes. There were no reports of casualties.

Israel has continued to carry out airstrikes in south Lebanon - and sometimes along the Syrian border - despite the 27 November deal, vowing to stop Hezbollah from rearming.

مراسل الجديد: غارات اسرائيلية استهدفت مرتفعات السلسلة الشرقية في البقاع @farhat_muhamad1 pic.twitter.com/bch4VR2LWO

— Al Jadeed News (@ALJADEEDNEWS) February 6, 2025

Sanctions imposed by US President Donald Trump on the International Criminal Court are "absolutely understandable", Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjarto said in a Facebook post on Friday.

Szijjarto also said that the ICC has recently become "a biased political tool" and that Hungary was also evaluating its cooperation with the institution.

The International Criminal Court on Friday hit back after US President Donald Trump slapped sanctions on the institution, vowing it would continue to provide "justice and hope" around the world.

"The ICC condemns the issuance by the US of an Executive Order seeking to impose sanctions on its officials and harm its independent and impartial judicial work," the court said in a statement.

"The Court stands firmly by its personnel and pledges to continue providing justice and hope to millions of innocent victims of atrocities across the world," added the court, based in The Hague.

"We call on our 125 States Parties, civil society and all nations of the world to stand united for justice and fundamental human rights," the ICC statement concluded.

The EU on Friday warned sanctions on the International Criminal Court threaten its independence and the wider judicial system, after US President Donald Trump punished the court over its arrest warrants for Israeli officials.

"Sanctioning the ICC threatens the Court's independence and undermines the international criminal justice system as a whole," Antonio Costa, who heads the European Council representing the EU's 27 member states, wrote on X.

The European Commission separately expressed "regret" regarding Trump's sanctions, stressing the ICC's "key importance in upholding international criminal justice and the fight against impunity."

The executive order risks "affecting ongoing investigations and proceedings, including as regards Ukraine, impacting years of efforts to ensure accountability around the world," said a commission spokesman.

"The EU will be monitoring the implications of the executive order and will assess possible further steps," added the spokesman for the bloc's executive.

Israel on Friday praised US President Donald Trump for imposing sanctions on the International Criminal Court, calling the court's actions against Israel "immoral" and illegitimate.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a post on X: "It will defend America and Israel from the anti-American and anti-Semitic corrupt court that has no jurisdiction or basis to engage in lawfare against us".

Foreign Minister Gideon Saar said on X: "I strongly commend @POTUS President Trump's executive order imposing sanctions on the so-called 'international criminal court'," adding the ICC's actions were "immoral and have no legal basis".