Netanyahu, 75, has been widely accused of using Israel’s various regional wars as a way of either avoiding giving evidence in the trial or even ending it completely.

Last month he reportedly asked Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security agency, to help him get out of testifying, arguing that it would be a security risk for him to be in a known location for an extended period.

Israel’s longest-serving leader and its defining politician, who now heads a government dependent on key members of the country’s far-right settler movement, is the first sitting Israeli prime minister to be charged with a crime.

Charged with bribery, fraud and breach of trust, Netanyahu will testify three times a week, the court said, despite Israel’s war on Gaza, the fragile ceasefire in Lebanon and its incursions into Syria.

The Palestinian death toll in besieged Gaza rose to 44,758 on Tuesday, as Israel shows no sign of stopping the bloodshed.

Netanyahu was indicted in 2019 in three cases involving gifts from millionaire friends and for allegedly seeking regulatory favours for media tycoons in return for favourable coverage. He denies any wrongdoing.

The prime minister arrived at Tel Aviv District Court at around 10am local time on Tuesday morning, wearing a dark blue suit and white shirt, with an Israeli flag pin on one label and a yellow ribbon symbolising the hostages held in Gaza on the other.

“I have been waiting for eight years for this moment to tell the truth,” Netanyahu told the three judges hearing the case in an underground courtroom, according to Reuters. “But I am also a prime minister… I am leading the country through a seven-front war. And I think the two can be done in parallel.”

Before Netanyahu took the stand, his lawyer Amit Hadad told judges that there were fundamental flaws in the case against his client, and that prosecutors “weren’t investigating a crime, they were going after a person.”

Outside the courtroom, a few dozen protesters had gathered, some of them supporters and others – including family members of the roughly 100 hostages still held by Hamas in Gaza – calling for Netanyahu to stop obstructing a deal to bring those hostages home.

Alon Pinkas, a prominent Israeli diplomat, told Middle East Eye Netanyahu’s appearance in court was “significant but not critical since his testimony will take months”.

Cigars, champagne and jewellery 

Of the various allegations levelled at Netanyahu, the most eye-catching involve the receipt of nearly $200,000 worth of gifts from a billionaire Hollywood film producer.

Arnon Milchan, an Israeli businessman, film producer and former spy, took the stand last June to describe how he routinely delivered tens of thousands of dollars worth of champagne, cigars and other gifts requested by Netanyahu.

According to the court indictment, Milchan, whose production credits include hits such as Pretty Woman and 12 Years a Slave, gave Netanyahu and his wife boxes of cigars, jewellery and crates of champagne over a period of several years.

On the eve of his testimony, Netanyahu was typically bullish in his defence, describing his investigation as a witch hunt and claiming that for “eight years I’ve been waiting for this day. Eight years I have waited to present the truth.”

“The real threat to democracy in Israel is not posed by the public’s elected representatives, but by some among the law enforcement authorities who refuse to accept the voters’ choice and are trying to carry out a coup with rabid political investigations that are unacceptable in any democracy,” he added in a statement.

Netanyahu’s son, Yair, has compared those investigating his father to Nazi Germany’s Gestapo and East Germany’s Stasi.

Before Israel’s war on Gaza began in the wake of the 7 October Hamas-led attacks, Netanyahu’s legal troubles bitterly divided Israelis and shook the country’s politics through five rounds of elections.

His government’s bid last year to curb powers of the judiciary further polarised Israelis, but the shock of the Hamas-led attacks and the ensuing war swept Netanyahu’s trial off the public agenda as the country united.

In recent weeks, though, members of Netanyahu’s cabinet have clashed with Israel’s judiciary and the International Criminal Court (ICC) has heaped further legal jeopardy onto Netanyahu by issuing arrest warrants for him and his former defence minister, Yoav Gallant.

Both men are charged by the ICC with alleged war crimes. Nevertheless, an Israeli security source told MEE they expected Netanyahu to remain in power in the short to medium term.

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“This barbarian, thug, and bloodthirsty greedy named Netanyahu, who is dragging our region and the entire world into disaster, must be stopped,” Erdogan said during his speech in the capital Ankara.

“As Turkiye, we object to the oppression, massacre and injustice that has been going on for 76 years on every platform. We stand with the Palestinian people with all our means,” he added.

On the fight against terrorism, Erdogan said: “Turkiye cannot find peace or feel secure until the terror-producing swamps in northern Iraq and Syria are drained.”

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Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s cabinet has voted unanimously to close Al Jazeera’s operations in Israel, according to a government statement.

The cabinet vote on Sunday came after Israel’s parliament passed a law allowing the temporary closure in Israel of foreign broadcasters considered to be a threat to national security during the months-long war in Gaza.

Netanyahu announced the decision on X, formerly Twitter. “The government headed by me unanimously decided: the incitement channel Al Jazeera will be closed in Israel,” he posted in Hebrew.

In another X post, Israel’s Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi said he had signed the orders against Al Jazeera, which would be effective immediately.

Karhi also ordered the seizure of Al Jazeera’s broadcasting equipment “used to deliver the channel’s content”, including editing and routing equipment, cameras, microphones, servers and laptops, as well as wireless transmission equipment and some mobile phones.

The decision escalates Israel’s long-running feud against Al Jazeera. It also threatens to heighten tensions with Qatar, which funds the media network, at a time when Doha is playing a key role in mediation efforts to halt the war in Gaza.

Israel has long had a rocky relationship with Al Jazeera, accusing it of bias against it and collaborating with Hamas. The Qatar-based network has repeatedly rejected the accusations.

Al Jazeera is one of the few international media outlets to remain in Gaza throughout the war, broadcasting bloody scenes of air attacks and overcrowded hospitals, and accusing Israel of massacres.

Last month, Netanyahu had said he would “act immediately to stop” Al Jazeera’s operations in Israel after its parliament approved a law that grants senior ministers powers to shut down foreign news networks deemed a security risk.

“Al Jazeera harmed Israel’s security, actively participated in the October 7 massacre, and incited against Israeli soldiers,” Netanyahu had posted on X.

The network accused Netanyahu of “incitement”, holding the Israeli leader “responsible for the safety of its staff and network premises around the world, following his incitement and this false accusation in a disgraceful manner”.

Al Jazeera’s Zein Basravi, reporting from Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, said the Palestine-Israel conflict is “one of the main reasons that our network exists”.

“So to have our journalists, our operations, threatened in this way … Definitely, the worry here in the occupied West Bank is that we will be next,” he said.

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“I will not compromise on full Israeli security control over the entire area in the west of Jordan – and this is contrary to a Palestinian state,” Netanyahu posted on X late on Saturday night, doubling down his opposition to a Palestinian state a day after speaking to the US president, who has offered unconditional support to Israel in its war on Gaza Strip, in a phone call.

Biden on Friday said he spoke with Netanyahu about possible solutions for the creation of an independent Palestinian state, suggesting one path could involve a non-militarised government.

Biden’s call with Netanyahu was the first in nearly a month, the White House said. Asked if a two-state solution was “impossible” while Netanyahu was in office, Biden said, “No, it’s not.”

But in a statement, the Israeli prime minister’s office said Netanyahu told Biden that “after Hamas is destroyed Israel must retain security control over Gaza to ensure that Gaza will no longer pose a threat to Israel, a requirement that contradicts the demand for Palestinian sovereignty”.

Netanyahu is under heat to appease members of his far-right ruling coalition by intensifying the war on the besieged Palestinian enclave, killing more than 165 people in the past 24 hours. Close to 25,000 Palestinians, most of them women and children, have been killed in relentless bombardment since October 7.

He expressed his opposition to any Palestinian state multiple times since launching the war on Gaza deferring to the Biden administration’s stance on the issue.

The UK said on Sunday that Netanyahu’s opposition to Palestinian sovereignty is “disappointing”.

“I think it’s disappointing actually, to hear that from the Israeli prime minister,” said Defence Secretary Grant Shapps on the Sky News channel.

Meanwhile, United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Sunday said “the denial of the right to statehood for the Palestinian people” is “unacceptable”.

“The right of the Palestinian people to build their own state must be recognized by all,” he posted on X.

US-backed peace talks towards the so-called “two-state solution” that would see Israel existing side by side with a Palestinian state in Gaza, the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, collapsed a decade ago.

On Thursday, US State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said there was no way to solve Israel’s long-term security challenges and the short-term challenges of rebuilding Gaza without the establishment of a Palestinian state.

Miller said Israel had an opportunity now as countries in the region were ready to give it security assurances.

‘Complete victory’

Netanyahu says Israel must fight until it achieves “complete victory” and Hamas no longer poses a threat but has not outlined how this will be accomplished. Hamas has been governing Gaza since 2007 when Israel imposed a land, sea and air blockade on the enclave of 2.3 million people.

But a member of Israel’s war cabinet, former army chief Gadi Eisenkot, has called a ceasefire the only way to secure the captives’ release, a comment that implied criticism of Israel’s current strategy.

Critics have accused Netanyahu of preventing a cabinet-level debate about a post-war scenario for Gaza. They say he is stalling to prevent conflict within his coalition. Netanyahu’s office called the claim that he was unnecessarily prolonging the war “utter nonsense”.

Israel launched its war on Gaza after the Hamas group’s unprecedented October 7 attacks that killed about 1,100 people, mostly civilians, in Israel and saw about 250 others taken captive.

In a sign of the pressures, Netanyahu’s government faces at home, thousands of Israelis protested in Tel Aviv on Saturday, calling for new elections, and others demonstrated outside the prime minister’s house, joining families of the more than 100 remaining captives held by Hamas and other fighters.

They fear that Israel’s military activity further endangers captives’ lives.

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Israel and its biggest ally, the United States, have insisted that Hamas – currently in power in Gaza – cannot be allowed to continue to rule the strip, following its attack on southern Israel on October 7, in which an estimated 1,400 people were killed.

However, Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, called for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip on Sunday and indicated that the PA would be willing to return to the besieged enclave as part of a future political settlement.

“We will fully assume our responsibilities within the framework of a comprehensive political solution that includes all of the [occupied] West Bank, including East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip,” Abbas was quoted as telling United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken by the official Palestinian news agency Wafa.

Blinken was visiting Ramallah, the PA’s seat in the occupied West Bank.

So how do people in Gaza view the prospect of the PA taking power in the besieged Strip 17 years after Hamas won legislative elections, and then a military battle against Fatah, the political arm of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), chaired by Abbas?

Here are some voices from the ground:

Mohamed, 25

I don’t think the PA taking over Gaza is a solution people will accept or support. I reject it because I can see what’s happening in the West Bank, which is under PA’s control.

There are always raids into so many towns and people are always arrested in these areas considered under the PA’s rule.

They don’t change anything on the ground. This is why its rule will not benefit Gaza in any way. I would be for a national unity government [including Hamas, Fatah and other Palestinian factions].

Kamal, 53

The PA will not protect Gaza because it participated in its siege repeatedly and oppressed the people of Gaza, all because of its dispute with Hamas. We don’t believe it can be fair in Gaza.

The president always gives these speeches talking about Gaza and his responsibility towards it, but he doesn’t do what he says.

The evidence is the siege and the explosion that occurred in Gaza. If the PA were good for the West Bank, it may have been good in Gaza.

But we can see that the return of the PA is impossible. It can only come as part of a national unity government chosen by the people.

Somaia, 29

The West Bank is enough of an example of how life is for other Palestinians under the rule of the PA. The Israeli occupation has an iron fist that strikes at the simplest rights of the Palestinian people in the occupied territories.

The only solution, or any next move that should be discussed now, should prioritize the means of how dismantling years of occupation and military rule across the occupied territories.

That will help whoever runs Gaza, from among the Palestinian factions, to do what is best for the people, and for the people only.

Abu Hakeem, 45

Whether the PA is a valid alternate player that could take power over two million people here doesn’t seem to be a priority question for people right now.

What the US and the PA are discussing now, no matter what can’t be enough to guarantee the safety of my family or thousands of others who are currently in Gaza under fire from Israeli warplanes.

Ahmed, 33

We have been calling for years for the mere human rights that we need to have a life – like employment, electricity, clean water, freedom of movement and the right to seek medical referral outside.

The legitimacy of the PA as a suitable power, and of any other ruler in Gaza, comes into the equation only when we have enough for a good life and survival from this hell.

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President Joe Biden voiced support for a ceasefire Monday as intensifying violence between Israel and Hamas militants in Gaza entered a second week.

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