THE HAGUE (Reuters) -Judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) on Wednesday rejected Israel's request to withdraw arrest warrants against its prime minister and former defence minister while the ICC reviews Israeli challenges to its jurisdiction over the conduct of the Gaza war.

In our news wrap Wednesday, a second party in Israel exited Netanyahu's coalition, leaving him with a minority in parliament, an American aid organization in Gaza says 20 Palestinians died in a crowd surge at one of its distribution sites today and President Trump lashed out at his own supporters over his administration's handling of the Jeffrey Epstein case and called it a "big hoax.

Twenty Palestinians were killed at a food distribution center run by an Israeli-backed American organization in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday, mostly from being trampled, the group said. They were the first deaths reported at one of the Gaza Humanitarian Fund sites,

That afternoon, Netanyahu and Katz ordered the Israeli military to once again attack government forces and weaponry in Suweida. They said they were working to prevent them from harming the Druze and to "ensure the demilitarisation" of areas near Israel's border.

In a direct message to the Druze community of Israel, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has urged restraint and warned against crossing into Syrian territory, amid escalating violence in the southwestern Syrian city of Sweida.

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee told Ireland to "sober up" and apologize to the Israeli foreign ministry over a bill that is set to ban imports from settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem.

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