Updates: Hamas-Israel ceasefire holds

UN investigators probing rights violations in Israel and the Palestinian territories said they hoped US President Donald Trump’s new Board of Peace could finally open the door to field visits.

Israeli authorities have blocked the UN’s Independent International Commission of Inquiry (CoI), which found Israel was committing genocide in Gaza, from conducting investigations on the ground.

Speaking just before the US president unveiled his new Board of Peace at the World Economic Forum in Davos, CoI chairman Srinivasan Muralidhar said of the Trump-brokered plan to end the war in Gaza: "We don’t find anything there that can possibly hinder the work of this commission."

"With this peace plan in place, it’s only a hope that that might change. We might have some cooperation from those who will be controlling the affairs of that zone of conflict," Muralidhar told a press conference in Geneva.

"We would expect them to trust us to do our investigation in the most professional way."

The Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip will reopen in both directions next week, the newly-appointed administrator of the Palestinian territory said at the launch of US President Donald Trump’s Board of Peace.

"I am pleased to announce the Rafah crossing will open next week in both directions," Ali Shaath, a former Palestinian Authority deputy minister, said at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

"For Palestinians in Gaza Rafah is more than a gate, it is a lifeline and symbol of opportunity. Opening Rafah signals that Gaza is no longer closed to the future and the world," Shaath said.

As part of the truce plan, Shaath was named to head a committee of 15 Palestinian technocrats to oversee the day-to-day administration of Gaza.

US President Donald Trump on Thursday launched his Board of Peace, inviting dozens of other world leaders to join, including Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

Initially focused on cementing Gaza's ceasefire, but the board, Trump said, could take a wider role that may worry other global powers, although he said it would work with the United Nations.

"Once this board is completely formed, we can do pretty much whatever we want to do. And we'll do it in conjunction with the United Nations," Trump said, adding that the UN had great potential that had not been fully utilised.

Trump, who will chair the board, said he wants it to address challenges beyond the stuttering Gaza truce, stirring misgivings that it could undermine the UN's role as the main platform for global diplomacyand conflict resolution.

Representatives from countries introduced as founder members were present in the room as Trump spoke. But Reuters could not immediately spot any representatives from governments of other top global powers or from Israel or the Palestinian Authority.

The signing ceremony was held in Davos, Switzerland, where the annual World Economic Forum, bringing together global political and business leaders, is taking place. 
Read more

Israeli fire killed 11 Palestinians including two boys and three journalists in separate incidents in Gaza on Wednesday, local medics said, in the latest violence to undermine a three-month-old ceasefire in the war-shattered enclave.

Palestinian health officials said an Israeli airstrike killed three Palestinian journalists travelling in a car on assignment to film a displaced persons camp in central Gaza.

In another incident, medics said three people, including a 10-year-old boy, were killed by Israeli tank shelling in central Gaza. Two others, including a 13-year-old boy, were killed in two Israeli shooting incidents in Khan Younis in the south, medics said.

A further three Palestinians were killed in other Israeli attacks across Gaza, bringing the day's death toll to at least 11, the Gaza health ministry said.

In a statement, the civil defence said three journalists were killed in an Israeli air strike in the Al-Zahra area southwest of Gaza City, naming the dead as Mohammed Salah Qashta, Abdul Raouf Shaat and Anas Ghneim, AFP reported.

Journalist Abdul Raouf Shaat, who once decried the targeting of reporters, was himself killed by Israeli forces in Gaza.

He died alongside Muhammad Salah Qeshta and Anas Ghoneim when an Israeli airstrike hit their vehicle.

The three were filming for the Egyptian Committee, highlighting the ongoing dangers faced by journalists.

The World Health Organisation evacuated 21 patients and their attendants to Jordan on Monday, said a UN official. 

With over 18,000 patients still awaiting evacuation, WHO has urged more states to help, calling on Israel to reopen access to the West Bank, including East Jerusalem.

Read the UN report here.

Italy needs more time to decide whether to join US President Donald Trump's "Board of Peace" because parts of its statute appear incompatible with the constitution, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni said on Wednesday.

"This does not allow us to sign tomorrow for sure, but we need more time. There is work that needs to be done. However, my position certainly remains one of openness," Meloni told state broadcaster RAI.

Earlier on Wednesday, daily Corriere della Sera said Italy would not take part, citing concerns that joining a body led by a single foreign leader would breach constitutional rules requiring Rome to engage only in organisations where it enjoys equal terms with other states.

Diplomats have also warned the project could undermine the role of the United Nations. "There is a doubt about this, a doubt that I’ve read about," Meloni said.

US President Donald Trump on Wednesday said it should be known within three weeks whether Hamas will agree to give up its weapons, and threatened action if the group does not.

"That's what they agreed to. They've got to do it. And we're going to know ... over the next two or three days — certainly over the next three weeks — whether or not they're going to do it," Trump said in a question and answer session following his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

"If they don't do it, they'll be blown away very quickly. They'll be blown away."

Pope Leo is among world leaders invited to join US President Donald Trump's "Board of Peace", Cardinal Pietro Parolin, the Vatican's top diplomatic official, said on Wednesday.

Leo, the first US pope and a critic of some of Trump's policies, is evaluating the invitation, he said.

"The pope has received an invitation and we are considering what to do," Parolin told journalists. "I believe it will be something that requires a bit of time for consideration before giving a response."

Israeli fire killed 11 Palestinians, including two boys and three journalists, in Gaza on Wednesday, said local medics.

In the latest violence disrupting a brittle, three-month-old ceasefire, Palestinian health officials said an Israeli airstrike killed three Palestinian journalists travelling in a car in the central Gaza Strip.