��������

JERUSALEM: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will travel to Hungary this week, his office said on Sunday, defying an arrest warrant from the International Criminal Court issued over allegations of war crimes in Gaza.
During the visit, due to begin on Wednesday and run until Sunday, Netanyahu will meet his Hungarian counterpart Viktor Orban, who invited him in November, soon after the ICC issued the arrest warrant.

Orban said at the time that the warrant would “not be observed.”
All EU member states, including Hungary, are ICC members, meaning they must enforce its warrants.

Orban, a right-wing nationalist, has often been at odds with the EU over democratic standards and human rights in Hungary.
Hungary had no immediate comment about this week’s visit.
It will be Netanyahu’s second trip abroad since the ICC announced the warrants, following a visit to Washington in February to meet US President Donald Trump.
Israel has denounced the warrants against Netanyahu and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, describing the allegations as “false and absurd.”
Netanyahu repeated a demand on Sunday for Hamas to disarm and for its leaders to leave Gaza as he promised to step up pressure on the group while continuing efforts to return hostages.
He said Israel would work to implement US President Donald Trump’s “voluntary emigration plan” for Gaza and said his Cabinet had agreed to keep pressuring Hamas, which says it has agreed to a ceasefire proposal from mediators Egypt and Qatar.
Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said Netanyahu’s comments were a recipe for “endless escalation” in the region.
Netanyahu rejected assertions that Israel was not negotiating, saying “we are conducting it under fire, and therefore it is also effective”
“We see that there are suddenly cracks,” he said in a video statement issued on Sunday.

On Saturday, Khalil Al-Hayya, the Hamas leader in Gaza, said the group had agreed to a proposal that security sources said included the release of five Israeli hostages each week. But he said laying down its arms as Israel has demanded was a “red line” the group would not cross.

��