Israeli forces also killed 11 people who had been seeking food in southern Gaza, according to witnesses, hospitals, and Gaza’s Health Ministry.
In Israel, the Jerusalem District Court cancelled this week’s scheduled hearings in Netanyahu’s long-running corruption trial, accepting a request made by the Israeli leader citing classified diplomatic and security grounds.
A Palestinian stands on the beach outside the cafe hit in Gaza City.Credit: AP
Israeli media reported the country’s president, Isaac Herzog, would meet with former Supreme Court Chief Justice Aharon Barak on Tuesday evening, Israel time, to discuss ways in which the trial might be brought to an end. Barak has previously said any deal in which Netanyahu escapes trial must involve him leaving office.
Trump has recently involved himself in the matter by publicly declaring the corruption trial was “terrible” and claiming it interfered with negotiations.
“How is it possible that the Prime Minister of Israel can be forced to sit in a Courtroom all day long, over NOTHING (Cigars, Bugs Bunny Doll, etc.),” Trump posted on the weekend.
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“It is a POLITICAL WITCH HUNT, very similar to the Witch Hunt that I was forced to endure. This travesty of ‘Justice’ will interfere with both Iran and Hamas negotiations. In other words, it is INSANITY doing what the out-of-control prosecutors are doing to Bibi Netanyahu.”
Trump also issued a thinly veiled threat, adding: “The United States of America spends Billions of Dollar a year, far more than on any other Nation, protecting and supporting Israel. We are not going to stand for this.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Tuesday (AEST) that Trump was simply emphasising his empathy for Netanyahu. “He, too, was a victim of a judicial system that was trying to put him in jail,” she said.
Netanyahu has publicly thanked Trump for his support, vowing that together the two of them will “make the Middle East great again”.
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But Trump’s intervention in the case has been polarising among Israelis, with some arguing it is inappropriate and portrays Israel as effectively a protectorate or client state of the US.
In the left-leaning Israeli newspaper Haaretz, writer Yossi Verter said the trial was “dissolving before our very eyes” and Trump’s meddling was the final straw. “The proceeding has become a total joke, and it wasn’t all too serious to begin with,” he wrote.
Netanyahu faces charges of bribery, fraud and breach of trust for accepting more than $US200,000 ($304,000) in luxury gifts, while granting regulatory favours to prominent businessmen.
While in office, US president Joe Biden also made comments about domestic matters surrounding the trial, urging Netanyahu to “walk away” from planned judicial reforms that would have allowed the government to override Supreme Court decisions.
with Reuters, AP
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