Live updates: Donald Trump’s hush money trial resumes - The Independent

Trump falsely claims he’s not allowed to testify because of hush money gag order

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Donald Trump was back at the Manhattan Criminal Court for hush money trial on Thursday after the campaign trail in the battleground states of Wisconsin and Michigan.

Judge Juan Merchan is considering four more alleged violations of Mr Trump’s gag order today after earlier fining him $9,000 and warning the defendant could face “incarceratory punishment” if he persists in bad-mouthing key participants.

Mr Trump’s legal team says he is responding to attacks on him from former fixer Michael Cohen and Joe Biden.

Wrapping up his testimony today was Keith Davidson, the ex-lawyer for Stormy Daniels and Playboy model Karen McDougal who negotiated the sale of their stories to guarantee their silence.

Mr Davidson’s past involvement in salacious celebrity stories was brought up in cross-examination in an attempt to muddy his standing with the jury.

In a recording played to the jury, Cohen said that Mr Trump told him “I hate the fact we did it” concerning the hush money plot. Cohen said he advised him it was right.

The Independent’s Alex Woodward is covering the trial at Manhattan Criminal Court.

1714717800

Kirsti Noem blames ‘fake news’ for outrage over her killing her dog

John Bowden has the story:

Oliver O'Connell3 May 2024 07:30

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Bombshell audio captures Trump and Cohen discussing hush money ‘catch and kill’ plot

For the first time in Donald Trump’s hush money trial, jurors heard the former president’s own voice discussing a deal with his former attorney to buy the silence of a former Playboy model who alleged an affair with Mr Trump.

A portion of the recording – secretly recorded by Michael Cohen while Mr Trump was in the middle of his 2016 campaign for the presidency – was played inside a Manhattan courtroom on Thursday, giving the jury a brief but crucial look into how his “fixer” kept his boss up to date with a scheme that is now central to the criminal case against him.

“I need to open up a company for the transfer of all that info regarding our friend, David, you know, so that – I’m going to do that right away,” Cohen can be heard saying on the recording.

“And I’ve spoken to Allen Weisselberg about how to set the whole thing up,” Cohen says, referencing the now-convicted former chief financial officer for the Trump Organization.

“So, what do we got to pay for this?” Mr Trump can be heard saying. “150?”

That “David” appears to be David Pecker, the former National Enquirer publisher.

Read the full story here:

Maroosha Muzaffar3 May 2024 07:00

1714714229

Donald Trump claims immigration has left London ‘unrecognisable’ after Europe ‘opened its doors to jihad’

The former US President made his remarks to supporters during an election rally in Wisconsin on Wednesday (1 May).

Mr Trump said: “We’ve seen what happened when Europe opened its doors to jihad. Look at Paris, look at London, they’re no longer recognisable.

“I’m going to get myself into a lot of trouble with the folks in Paris and the folks in London, but you know what, that’s the fact. They are no longer recognisable and we can’t let that happen to our country.”

Donald Trump claims immigration has left London ‘unrecognisable’

Donald Trump claimed immigration has left London “unrecognisable” after Europe “opened its doors to jihad”. The former US Presiden made his remarks to supporters during an election rally in Wisconsin on Wednesday (1 May). Mr Trump said: “We've seen what happened when Europe opened its doors to jihad. Look at Paris, look at London, they're no longer recognisable. “I’m going to get myself into a lot of trouble with the folks in Paris and the folks in London, but you know what, that’s the fact. They are no longer recognisable and we can’t let that happen to our country.”

Maroosha Muzaffar3 May 2024 06:30

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Jimmy Fallon says Trump should wear a shock collar in court after reports of him falling asleep

“In an effort to stop Trump from falling asleep in court, his lawyers have been giving him a number of different devices”, the comedian said during his opening monologue on the Tonight Show on Wednesday.

“So far, the only thing that can keep him awake is an iPad playing Bluey.”

Mr Fallon continued: “His lawyers are running out of ideas to keep him awake, they even hired a kindergarten teacher to keep him awake by standing at the front of the court saying, ‘Eyes on me, eyes on you’.”

The comic then cut to a spoof commercial for a “Trump Shock Collar”, which the ad described as: “The world’s first human shock collar disguised as a red neck tie!”

Read the full story here:

Maroosha Muzaffar3 May 2024 06:00

1714710600

Analysis: Biden’s making a play for North Carolina and Florida. Republicans will have to defend themselves

Eric Garcia writes:

On Thursday, President Biden made his way to Wilmington, North Carolina, also making a stop in Charlotte to visit the families of police officers killed in the line of duty. Biden’s trip comes shortly after Vice President Kamala Harris visited Charlotte last month. In fact, both have made multiple journeys down to North Carolina this year.

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the vice president visited Jacksonville, Florida on the day that the state’s six-week abortion ban came into effect. Harris, as Inside Washington has written before, can zero in on abortion rights in ways that Biden, an 81-year-old Catholic man, cannot. And indeed, Harris delivered some scorching lines against Florida Republicans, saying “extremist” Republican lawmakers who voted in the ban “either don’t know how a woman’s body works, or simply don’t care.”

The president continues to poll badly, even in states that he won in 2020 such as Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Arizona and Nevada. So why the focus on tough-to-win states like North Carolina and Florida?

Continue reading...

Oliver O'Connell3 May 2024 05:30

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Key takeaways from Trump’s day in court

Donald Trump was back in court again on Thursday during his third week of the hush money trial in Manhattan, where jurors heard bombshell recordings between Mr Trump and his former personal attorney Michael Cohen.

The former president’s legal team attempted to defend Mr Trump over his gag order violations on Thursday. Earlier this week, Judge Juan Merchan fined him $9,000 for repeated violations of the order, which bars him from talking about foreseeable witnesses or staff of the judge or DA’s office. Ironically, after court adjourned for the day, Mr Trump falsely claimed to reporters that he was not “allowed to testify” because of the gag order.

The court also saw a different side of Michael Cohen, who has previously been described in the Manhattan courthouse as “excitable” and “pants on fire.”

One witness said he thought Cohen “was going to kill himself” after Cohen found out that Mr Trump, Cohen’s long-term client, wasn’t considering him for top roles in his White House administration.

Here are some takeaways from another day at the hush money trial:

Maroosha Muzaffar3 May 2024 05:00

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ICYMI: Watch: Trump hush money trial continues as second gag order ruling due

Mr Trump was warned he could face “incarceratory punishment” if he continued bad-mouthing key participants.

He used Wednesday’s recess to hit the campaign trail in Wisconsin and Michigan, delivering a familiar onslaught of insults, grievances, half-truths, and apocalyptic forecasts.

Thursday’s proceedings come after the court has heard key testimony from Gary Farro, the banker for former Trump fixer Michael Cohen, explaining how the $130,000 payment to Stormy Daniels to cover up the alleged extramarital affair with Mr Trump was funded.

Maroosha Muzaffar3 May 2024 04:30

1714703442

Trump should wear a shock collar in court, says Fallon

“In an effort to stop Trump from falling asleep in court, his lawyers have been giving him a number of different devices”, the comedian said during his opening monologue on the Tonight Show on Wednesday.

“So far, the only thing that can keep him awake is an iPad playing Bluey.”

Read on...

Joe Sommerlad3 May 2024 03:30

1714699842

Potential Donald Trump juror breaks silence on death threats he’s received

A potential juror who was excused from Donald Trump’s criminal trial has revealed he received death threats, despite not being involved in the case. Mark DeMuro told Good Morning Britain how Trump supporters had contacted him saying they were going to “teach him a lesson” if the former USPresident did not receive a fair trial. Speaking on Thursday (2 May), Mr DeMuro told the ITV news programme about the content of the messages he received: “We know who you are, we know where you are, we are going to come and teach you a lesson.” Mr Trump was held in contempt of court this week and fined $9,000 for violating a gag order.

Oliver O'Connell3 May 2024 02:30

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Trump blames Cohen for breaking gag order

The judge presiding over Donald Trump’s hush money trial fired back at his attorney’s attempts to dodge punishment for his comments about the jury – remarks that appear likely to violate a gag order that blocks him from public attacks on witnesses and jurors.

In a contempt hearing on Thursday morning, the former president’s legal team tried to blame at least some of Mr Trump’s potential violations on Michael Cohen, arguing his former attorney and the potential star witness in the case has made “multiple and repeated attacks” on his “credibility” and campaign.

Pulling up several social media posts from Cohen, Mr Trump’s attorney argued that he is “inviting and almost daring Trump to respond to everything he’s saying”.

Alex Woodward reports from court:

Oliver O'Connell3 May 2024 01:30

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Orangutan seen treating wound with medicinal herb in first for wild animals - The Guardian

The high intelligence levels of orangutans have long been recognised, partly due to their practical skills such as using tools to retrieve seeds and forage for insects. But new research suggests the primate has another handy skill in its repertoire: applying medicinal herbs.

Researchers say they have observed a male Sumatran orangutan treating an open facial wound with sap and chewed leaves from a plant known to have anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving properties.

It is not the first time wild animals have been spotted self-medicating: among other examples, Bornean orangutans have been seen rubbing their arms and legs with chewed leaves from a plant used by humans to treat sore muscles, while chimpanzees have been recorded chewing plants known to treat worm infections and applying insects to wounds.

However, the new discovery is the first time a wild animal has been observed treating open wounds with a substance known to have medicinal properties.

“In the chimpanzee case they used insects and unfortunately it was never found out whether these insects really promote wound healing. Whereas in our case, the orangutan used the plant, and this plant has known medical properties,” said Dr Caroline Schuppli, senior author of the research based at Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior in Germany.

The team say the findings offer insight into the origins of human wound care – the treatment of which was first mentioned in a medical manuscript dating to 2200BC.

“It definitely shows that these basic cognitive capacities that you need to come up with a behaviour like this … were present at the time of our last common ancestor most likely,” said Schuppli. “So that that reaches back very, very far.”

Writing in the journal Scientific Reports, Schuppli and colleagues report how they made the discovery while working in a research area of a protected rainforest in Indonesia.

The team describe how, while tracking a male Sumatran orangutan called Rakus, they noticed he had a fresh facial wound – probably the result of a scrap with another male. Three days later, Rakus was seen feeding on the stem and leaves of Fibraurea tinctoria – a type of liana climbing vine.

Then he did something unexpected.

“Thirteen minutes after Rakus had started feeding on the liana, he began chewing the leaves without swallowing them and using his fingers to apply the plant juice from his mouth directly on to his facial wound,” the researchers write.

Not only did Rakus repeat the actions, but shortly afterwards he smeared the entire wound with the chewed leaves until it was fully covered. Five days later the facial wound was closed, while within a few weeks it had healed, leaving only a small scar.

The team say the plant used by Rakus is known to contain substances with antibacterial, anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal, antioxidant, pain-killing and anticarcinogenic properties, among other attributes, while this and related liana species are used in traditional medicine “to treat various diseases, such as dysentery, diabetes and malaria”.

It remains unclear whether Rakus figured the process out for himself or learned it from another orangutan, although it has not been seen in any other individual.

Schuppli added that Rakus appeared to have used the plant intentionally.

“It shows that he, to some extent, has the cognitive capacities that he needs to treat the wound with some medically active plants,” she said. “But we really don’t know how much he understands.”

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Columbia University community shattered after police raid - BBC

EPA

By Phil McCausland

BBC News, New York

Police and private security throng every entrance but one. Steel barriers line the streets. Students pack up belongings in their cars and leave for home - classes are cancelled, and exam plans are up in the air.

Everywhere there is gloom, and uncertainty about what happens next at Columbia University.

Students told the BBC that the university's decision to call in police to clear a Gaza protest late on Tuesday, leading to a raid on the occupied Hamilton Hall and hundreds of arrests, has left the college community shattered.

The university president, Nemat Shafik, said that it was with great regret that she ordered the police raid against students and others she said had infiltrated the protest. It would "take time to heal", she added in a message in the operation's aftermath.

For students of this prestigious school in Manhattan, New York, how long is unclear.

"It definitely feels like things are scattered," said Anna Oakes, a graduate journalism student at Columbia University who covered the removal of protesters from Hamilton Hall on Tuesday evening. "There's this feeling of scramble in the aftermath."

After a night of chaos and confrontation, the clearest reminder of the protests on Wednesday morning were water-logged flyers littering streets alongside the campus perimeter. One promised that protest organisers "will not stop. We will not rest".

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Students who remained said they were left mystified about plans for their finals and even whether dining services would be brought back fully.

While others speed off in cars packed with possessions, Will Parkinson, a 20-year-old environmental studies student, described his feeling: "Weird limbo".

"We're not sure what to do," he said, and recounted how he watched from a friend's dorm window as police stormed Hamilton Hall.

He had been barred from leaving the building during the raid, which meant he was unable to get home and finish a term paper.

• How a police raid on Columbia protest ignited campus movement
• Crackdown or compromise? A tale of two US campus protests
• Counter-protesters attack UCLA pro-Palestinian camp

Mr Parkinson said the school had given students money to spend at nearby restaurants because they had to limit staff who would normally operate the university's cafeterias.

He had left campus to eat, and was not sure when he would eventually write that paper.

Others continued to peacefully protest, walking near the new steel barriers, holding slogans including "Cops off campus" and "Student power v Israel power".

Members of the faculty, whose access to campus and offices is now largely denied, said they did not know how they were expected to conclude the semester.

"I have students who can't get to their work study to pay for school, I have faculty members with papers they need to grade locked in their offices, I have 16 instructors looking to me for guidance on how to support students through finals and the end of the semester," said Joseph Howley, a classics professor who has worked with the student protesters.

"So it has completely upended everything we do."

Unable to address those academic obligations, Prof Howley led dozens of students and faculty members in a protest outside the one campus entrance left unobstructed on Wednesday afternoon.

He and others said that the university administration had lost their trust by bringing police on to campus, and that they shouted "shame" in unison when Prof Shafik's name was mentioned.

One unidentified speaker at the protest said she was at Hamilton Hall when police "ambushed us. We were tackled and beaten, and my hands were handcuffed so tightly that even lifting my pinky caused extreme harm and excruciating pain".

The NYPD denied that it was unnecessarily aggressive, and the administration has defended its decision to bring in police - who will remain on campus until 17 May.

Prof Shafik, who began serving as president in July, said on Wednesday that "tensions" on campus "rose to new heights" when protesters broke into Hamilton Hall and locked themselves inside.

She said she had acted after negotiations collapsed with demonstrators. She had given them until the early afternoon on Tuesday to disperse from a protest, and they seized the school building in response to her ultimatum.

Getty Images

The protesters barricaded the doors and unfurled a banner from an upper window, renaming the hall after a Palestinian child killed in Gaza - Hind Rajab. They said they would not leave until the administration agreed to divest from companies linked to Israel.

The police moved quickly after the school president invited them onto the campus, according to witnesses who spoke to the BBC.

They closed streets north and south of the school, brought in military-style equipment, barred all the school's buildings' doors, and broke through a chain of students who out of solidarity with the occupiers had linked arms around the perimeter of the hall.

Meghnad Bose, a 31-year-old journalism graduate student at Columbia University, witnessed the NYPD raid on Tuesday night and said police acted "rough and aggressive" with the protesters.

Getty Images

"There's no doubt that the student body, not just those who were protesting, will be raising questions to the university administration about the NYPD action and the way it took place," he said.

While 119 people at Columbia University were arrested when police stormed the school to quash the pro-Palestinian protest, police said at a Wednesday press conference that they arrested another 173 people at a similar sit-in at the City College of New York later in the evening.

Police Commissioner Edward Caban said officers intervened because "public safety was a real concern... the NYPD was called in to do their job".

A 19-year-old physics student named Kevin - he declined to give his last name - said it was "difficult to be proud of being a Columbia student" after the police raid, which had left him deeply frustrated.

He spoke while piling bags full of clothes into his parents' car just outside the campus gates, and said he was unsure when he would return.

"It depends on what the university does in the coming months," he said. "We'll see what they [the administration] say about it. The ball is in their court."

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Related Topics

• Israel-Gaza war
• Freedom of expression
• Palestinian territories

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UCLA cancels classes as clashes over Gaza war spread across US campuses - Financial Times

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US universities: Police in riot gear at two campuses as protesters clash - Sky News

Police in riot gear are trying to break up protesters at a California university - hours after Columbia University in New York was raided.

Protests over the Israel-Hamas war reached boiling point at US universities overnight. Hundreds of campus protesters have been arrested across the country over the past week.

The clashes on the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) campus took place early on Wednesday morning outside a tent encampment, where pro-Palestinian protesters erected barricades and plywood for protection, which counter-protesters tried to pull down.

The protesters shoved and kicked one another, sometimes beating people with sticks or throwing chairs.

Image: Counter-protesters try to remove barricades at a pro-Palestinian encampment on the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) campus. Pic: Reuters

Image: The clashes at UCLA have turned increasingly violent. Pic: Reuters

Image: Pic: Reuters

The LA mayor Karen Bass wrote on X: "The violence unfolding this evening at UCLA is absolutely abhorrent and inexcusable.

"LAPD has arrived on campus."

In a statement on X, the LAPD said: "At the request of UCLA, due to multiple acts of violence within the large encampment on their campus, the LAPD is responding to assist UCLA PD, and other law enforcement agencies, to restore order and maintain public safety."

Image: Officers put on gas masks and other gear amid clashes in California. Pic: Reuters

Sky News US correspondent Martha Kelner, reporting from the university site in Los Angeles, said: "Just look at this scene on a US university campus - California highway patrol wearing riot shields, riot masks, gas masks underneath their helmets.

"A word on why they are wearing a gas mask - that's because throughout the course of the evening from inside this encampment, or at least the vicinity, a substance was released, I think, probably, pepper spray.

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"But the police here are not taking any chances, wearing gas masks - preparing, I guess, potentially to access this encampment."

She reported how a protester appeared to pray at the feet of officers, adding: "She's a pro-Palestinian protester. She's refusing to move for the California Highway Patrol. She appears to be kneeling down, perhaps in prayer, at the feet of the patrol.

"It is a remarkable sight to see. These are scarcely fathomable scenes on a US university campus."

On the other side of the country, police in riot gear raided Columbia University and arrested pro-Palestinian protesters occupying one of its buildings.

About 30 to 40 people were removed from the Manhattan university's Hamilton Hall, according to police.

The raid came hours after New York City Mayor Eric Adams said the demonstration at the Ivy League school "must end now".

He also claimed the demonstration had been infiltrated by "professional outside agitators".

Image: Police enter Hamilton Hall. Pic: Reuters

Image: Police gather around Columbia University before moving in to break-up the protest. Pic: Reuters

Image: Police stand guard near an encampment of protesters on the grounds of Columbia University. Pic: Reuters

Image: Arrested protesters from Columbia University are loaded onto a bus. Pic: Reuters

University bosses said they called in the New York Police Department (NYPD) after protesters "chose to escalate the situation through their actions".

"After the university learned overnight that Hamilton Hall had been occupied, vandalised, and blockaded, we were left with no choice," a university spokesman said in a statement.

"The decision to reach out to the NYPD was in response to the actions of the protesters, not the cause they are championing.

"We have made it clear that the life of campus cannot be endlessly interrupted by protesters who violate the rules and the law."

The protest began when students barricaded the entrance of Hamilton Hall at Columbia's campus on Tuesday and unfurled a Palestinian flag out of a window.

Video footage showed protesters locking arms in front of the hall and carrying furniture and metal barricades to the building.

Those behind the protest said they had renamed the building "Hind's Hall" in honour of Hind Rajab, a six-year-old girl killed in a strike on Gaza in February.

Read more:
Why are students protesting?

Image: Protesters unfurled a flag with the words 'Hind's Hall'. Pic: Reuters

Image: Protesters hang banners on the exterior of Hamilton Hall building. Pic: Reuters

Demonstrators said they had planned to remain at the hall until the university conceded to the Columbia University Apartheid Divest's (CUAD) three demands: divestment, financial transparency and amnesty.

"Columbia will be proud of these students in five years," said Sweda Polat, one of the student negotiators for CUAD.

She said students did not pose a danger and called on police to back down.

Officers raided the campus on Tuesday night after university bosses wrote to New York City officials and the NYPD formally asking for assistance.

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A large group of officers dressed in riot gear entered the campus late on Tuesday evening. Officers were also seen entering the window of a university building via a police-branded ladder vehicle, nicknamed "the bear".

Earlier, Mayor Adams urged demonstrators to leave the site. "Walk away from this situation now and continue your advocacy through other means," he said.

Image: Protesters block the entrance of Hamilton Hall at Columbia University. Pic: AP

Image: Demonstrators block the entrance of Hamilton Hall. Pic: AP

Protests at Columbia earlier this month kicked off demonstrations which have spread to university campuses from California to Massachusetts.

Dozens of people were arrested on Monday during protests at universities in Texas, Utah, Virginia, and New Jersey.

Police moved to clear an encampment at Yale University in Connecticut on Tuesday morning, but there were no immediate reports of arrests.

Read more from Sky News:
US plans to reclassify cannabis as less dangerous drug
Four police officers shot dead in North Carolina

Meanwhile, the president of the University of South California issued a statement on Tuesday after a swastika was drawn on the campus.

"I condemn any antisemitic symbols or any form of hate speech against anyone," Carol Folt said.

"Clearly it was drawn there just to incite even more anger at a time that is so painful for our community. We're going to work to get to the bottom of this immediately, and it has just been removed."

Earlier, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said President Joe Biden believed students occupying buildings was "absolutely the wrong approach" and "not an example of peaceful protest".

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2024-05-01 09:33:45Z
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At least 19 killed, dozens injured after road collapses in southern China - Al Jazeera English

Some 30 people are being treated in hospital after they were trapped in their vehicles when the road caved in early on Wednesday morning.

At least 19 people have been killed after part of a highway collapsed in southern China’s Guangdong province.

State broadcaster CCTV reported a 17.9-metre (58.7-foot) stretch of the S12 highway between Meizhou city and Dabu county caved in at about 2:10am on Wednesday (18:10 GMT on Tuesday), trapping dozens of people in 18 vehicles.

As of 11:45am (03:45 GMT), “19 people have been confirmed dead, and 30 are receiving all-out emergency care in hospital”, CCTV reported.

It added that the lives of those in hospital were “not currently at risk” but did not go into detail on their injuries.

Social media footage shared by local news outlets showed flames and smoke rising from a deep, dark pit into which the cars appeared to have fallen.

Authorities have sent about 500 people to the site to help with the rescue operation, CCTV reported.

The cause of the collapse was not specified.

Guangdong has been hit by a series of extreme weather events in recent weeks, from heavy rain to flooding and a deadly tornado.

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2024-05-01 06:09:35Z
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Gaza: Israeli PM Netanyahu says Rafah attack will happen regardless of deal - BBC

EPA

By Matt Murphy

BBC News

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel will launch an invasion of the southern Gaza city of Rafah regardless of truce talks with Hamas.

It comes amid ongoing attempts to try to reach an agreement for a ceasefire and hostage releases.

But at a meeting of hostages' relatives, Mr Netanyahu said he would invade "with or without" a deal.

His comments follow renewed warnings by the US against a Rafah invasion unless civilians were properly protected.

In a phone call with Mr Netanyahu on Sunday, US President Joe Biden "reiterated his clear position" on Rafah, a White House statement said. Mr Biden has previously described an invasion of Rafah as a "red line".

On Tuesday, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said an assault on Rafah would be an "unbearable escalation", appealing for "all those with influence over Israel to do everything in their power to prevent it".

More than half of Gaza's 2.5m population is in Rafah, having fled there to escape fighting in other parts of the territory. Conditions in the overcrowded city are dire, and displaced people there have spoken of a lack of food, water and medication.

The West Bank-based Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Monday that an invasion of Rafah would be the "biggest catastrophe in the Palestinian people's history".

Israeli sources told the Reuters news agency on Monday that plans to attack Rafah would be shelved in favour of a "sustained period of calm" if a ceasefire agreement between Hamas and Israeli was reached.

Days earlier, Israel's Foreign Minister Israel Katz told Israeli Channel 12 television that "if there will be a deal, we will suspend the [Rafah] operation".

But on Tuesday Mr Netanyahu insisted that the war would continue until Israel had achieved all of its objectives in Rafah.

"The idea that we will halt the war before achieving all of its goals is out of the question," he said.

"We will enter Rafah and we will eliminate the Hamas battalions there with or without a deal, in order to achieve the total victory," according to a statement issued by Mr Netanyahu's office.

It said the families urged the prime minister and his national security adviser, Tzachi Hanegbi, to continue the war and ignore mounting international pressure. Many hostage families however have publicly demonstrated for the government to agree to a deal to return their loved ones at any cost.

About 130 hostages from among 253 kidnapped by Hamas during its unprecedented attack on Israel on 7 October remain unaccounted for. At least 34 of them are presumed dead. The rest have been released or rescued.

Indirect talks have been at an impasse for weeks, although the US Secretary of State, Antony Blinken, said on Monday that he hoped Hamas would accept what he has called Israel's "extraordinarily generous offer" for a truce.

Meanwhile the head of the UN's refugee organisation has warned that the looming invasion was causing people in Rafah to live in a state of "constant traumatic stress disorder".

"People have not yet been asked to evacuate from Rafah, but there is a sense that if there is no deal this week that could happen," Philippe Lazzarini told reporters.

"My colleagues on the ground are describing constant state of trauma among the people."

Mr Netanyahu also denounced as "a scandal on a historical scale" recent reports, citing Israeli officials, that the International Criminal Court (ICC) at The Hague could be preparing to issue arrest warrants for Israeli government leaders and military commanders on charges related to the war.

"I want to make one thing clear: no decision, neither in The Hague nor anywhere else, will harm our determination to achieve all the goals of the war," the prime minister said.

"Israel expects the leaders of the free world to come out strongly against this scandalous step, a step that will harm the self-defence capacity not only of the State of Israel, but of all democracies in the world."

There has been no announcement from ICC Prosecutor Karim Kahn KC.

However, his office has been formally investigating alleged war crimes in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip since June 2014, and Mr Khan has confirmed that the investigation will cover the 7 October attack and the ensuing war.

Israel has never ratified the Rome Statute, the ICC's founding treaty, and Mr Netanyahu insisted that the ICC had "no authority" over the country. However, the ICC ruled in 2015 that it had jurisdiction because the Palestinians had ratified the treaty.

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said on Monday that the US - which has also not ratified the Rome Statute - did not believe the court has jurisdiction and did not support the investigation.

Related Topics

• Israel-Gaza war
• Israel
• Benjamin Netanyahu

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2024-04-30 16:10:51Z
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