Middle East conflict live updates: Netanyahu echoes plan for Rafah offensive in meeting with hostage families

The International Court of Justice, the United Nations’ highest court, said its new orders were based on reports that conditions in Gaza have “deteriorated,” with Palestinians in the enclave facing famine. In it, the judges called on Israel to “take all necessary and effective measures” to ensure the provision of basic services and humanitarian assistance to Palestinians in the enclave.

The Palestinian Authority’s recently appointed prime minister, Mohammad Mustafa, on Thursday announced the names of 22 ministers who would join him as members of a new cabinet. The Biden administration has expressed hope that a rehabilitated Palestinian Authority, which runs parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, could become the postwar government for Gaza.

Israeli forces have begun operations inside al-Amal Hospital in southern Gaza, the Israeli military said, and their raid on al-Shifa Hospital in the north continues, spokesman Daniel Hagari said Thursday. He added that the Israel Defense Forces had identified 513 people at al-Shifa Hospital it suspected of being “terrorists from Hamas and Islamic Jihad.”

At least 32,552 people have been killed and 74,980 injured in Gaza since the war began, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, which does not distinguish between civilians and combatants. Israel estimates that about 1,200 people were killed in Hamas’s Oct. 7 attack and says 253 soldiers have been killed since the start of its military operation in Gaza.