Israel's top court allows aid groups to keep working in Gaza as Israeli strikes kill 5 there

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — Israel's top court on Friday moved to allow international aid groups to keep operating in the Gaza Strip and other Palestinian territories as Israeli strikes killed at least five people across the war-torn enclave.

The Supreme Court's order, which followed a petition from 17 aid groups, effectively halted an earlier Israeli government decision that barred aid groups for refusing to comply with Israel's new rules.

Israel had announced it will ban 37 aid groups by March 1 for not abiding by rules introduced last year that require aid groups to register names and contact information of employees, and provide details about their funding and operations.

The groups view the rules as invasive and arbitrary, and say the ban would hinder critical assistance. Israel says the new measures are necessary to ensure armed groups do not infiltrate humanitarian organizations.

A U.S.-negotiated ceasefire reached in October has halted major military operations. But the two-year war triggered by Hamas' Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel has left much of the territory in ruins and most of Gaza's 2 million Palestinians reliant on international aid.

Israel has also continued to strike what it says are militants, often killing civilians.

Friday's order was a temporary injunction while the court considers the case. There was no timeline for a final decision.

“This is, however, a step in the right direction — with a long, long way still to go” said Athena Rayburn, the executive director of AIDA, an umbrella organization representing over 100 groups operating in the Palestinian territories.

The Norwegian Refugee Council, among the aid groups facing a ban, welcomed the injunction but said it offers only partial relief.

“The injunction pauses immediate closure,” council spokesperson Shaina Low said in a statement. “It does not restore visas, reopen access or resolve the wider restrictions that continue to affect aid delivery. ”

The petition said the new rules violate international law, and that Israel, as an occupying power, has the obligation to ensure food and medicine reach people. It also says Israel does not have the authority to shutter organizations in areas under the nominal control of the Palestinian Authority.

COGAT, the Israeli military body overseeing civilian affairs in Gaza, has said that the organizations whose licenses are to be revoked contribute less than 1% of the total aid going into the territory. More than 20 organizations will continue to operate after complying with the new regulations, it said.

Israeli airstrikes overnight killed at least five people, four of them members of the Hamas-run police, officials said Friday.

Such strikes have repeatedly disrupted the truce since it took effect in October. The escalating Palestinian death toll has left many in Gaza feeling as though the war never ended.

Three of the five were killed by a strike on a police checkpoint in southern Gaza near Khan Younis, said Dr. Ahmed al-Farra at Nasser Hospital. Another died in a strike on a checkpoint in Bureij refugee camp, according to a statement from the Hamas-run Interior Ministry, which oversees police in Gaza.

A separate strike in western Khan Younis killed one Palestinian, al-Farra said.

The Israeli military said it killed several militants in Rafah, on the border with Egypt. It said the strikes were in response to a violation of the ceasefire.

The Hamas-run police force has continued to operate in the half the territory under the group's control. The ceasefire agreement calls for Hamas to disarm and hand over power to a committee of Palestinian administrators, and for Israel to withdraw as international forces are deployed. There is no firm timeline for implementing those aspects of the agreement.

Masked men attacked Israeli and Palestinian civilians Friday in the occupied West Bank, injuring two Israelis who were taken to a hospital, the Israeli military said in a statement. The military said attack in the village of Qusra was carried out by “masked Israeli civilians.”

Video posted on social media by the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem showed at least four masked people brandishing clubs as they exited a vehicle and began chasing bystanders. Footage of the attack’s aftermath showed two people lying on the ground bleeding.

Attacks by Israeli settlers in the West Bank have been increasing for years but spiked after October 2023.

The Israeli military's statement condemned the violence Friday, saying authorities were searching for the attackers.

Palestinians and rights groups say Israeli authorities routinely fail to prosecute settlers or hold them accountable for violence.

Also in the West Bank, the U.S. Embassy began offering consular services for the first time Friday in an Israeli settlement.

The move continues a shift in policy under U.S. President Donald Trump, whose administration has been far friendlier to Israeli settlements in the West Bank than past U.S. leaders. Most of the international community views the settlements as illegal and an obstacle to peace with the Palestinians.

People lined up in the settlement of Efrat, where some 4,000 U.S. citizens live.

“The United States says Efrat is part of Israel, Efrat is going to be forever here,” the city’s mayor, Dovi Sheffler, said.

More than 500,000 Israelis live in settlements across the West Bank, which is home to around 3 million Palestinians living under military rule, with the Palestinian Authority exercising limited autonomy in population centers.

The U.S. Embassy has previously provided consular services in Ramallah and other Palestinian cities in the West Bank, which is home to many Palestinian Americans.

Shurafa reported from Deir al-Balah, Gaza Strip.

Yazid Al-Zayan, 9, mourns during the funeral of his father Khaled Al-Zayan, a Palestinian policeman, who was killed in an Israeli military strike, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Feb. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Muslim worshippers perform Friday prayers during the holy month of Ramadan outside the destroyed Al-Albani Mosque, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Feb. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Mourners pray over the body of a Palestinian policeman who was killed in an Israeli military strike, at Nasser Hospital, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Feb. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Yazid Al-Zayan, 9, mourns during the funeral of his father Khaled Al-Zayan, a Palestinian policeman, who was killed in an Israeli military strike, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Feb. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

A youth mourns over the body of a Palestinian policeman, Khaled Al-Zayan, who was killed in an Israeli military strike, during his funeral in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Feb. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Muslim worshippers perform Friday prayers during the holy month of Ramadan outside the destroyed Al-Albani Mosque, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Feb. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Muslim worshippers perform Friday prayers during the holy month of Ramadan outside the destroyed Al-Albani Mosque, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Feb. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Muslim worshippers take part in the Friday prayers during the holy month of Ramadan outside the destroyed Al-Albani Mosque, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Feb. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Muslim worshippers perform Friday prayers during the holy month of Ramadan outside the destroyed Al-Albani Mosque, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Feb. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Muslim worshippers take part in the Friday prayers during the holy month of Ramadan outside the destroyed Al-Albani Mosque, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Feb. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Muslim worshippers perform Friday prayers during the holy month of Ramadan outside the destroyed Al-Albani Mosque, in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Feb. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

Mourners carry the body of the Palestinian policeman, Khaled Al-Zayan, who was killed in an Israeli military strike, during his funeral in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Friday, Feb. 27, 2026. (AP Photo/Abdel Kareem Hana)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Former President Bill Clinton told members of Congress on Friday that he “did nothing wrong” in his relationship with Jeffrey Epstein and saw no signs of Epstein's sexual abuse as he faced hours of grilling from lawmakers over his connections to the disgraced financier from more than two decades ago.

“I saw nothing, and I did nothing wrong,” the former Democratic president said in an opening statement he shared on social media at the outset of the deposition.

The closed-door deposition in Chappaqua, New York, marks the first time a former president has been compelled to testify to Congress. It came a day after Clinton's wife, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, sat with lawmakers for her own deposition.

Bill Clinton has also not been accused of any wrongdoing. Yet lawmakers are grappling with what accountability in the United States looks like at a time when men around the world have been toppled from their high-powered posts for maintaining their connections with Epstein after he pleaded guilty in 2008 to state charges in Florida for soliciting prostitution from an underage girl.

“Men — and women for that matter — of great power and great wealth from all across the world have been able to get away with a lot of heinous crimes and they haven’t been held accountable and they have not even had to answer questions,” said Republican Rep. James Comer, the chair of the House Oversight Committee, before the deposition began Friday.

Hillary Clinton told lawmakers Thursday that she had no knowledge of how Epstein had sexually abused underage girls and had no recollection of even meeting him. But Bill Clinton will have to answer questions on a well-documented relationship with Epstein and his former girlfriend Ghislaine Maxwell, even if it was from the late 1990s and early 2000s.

Bill Clinton in his opening statement said that he would likely often tell the committee that he did not recall the specifics of events from more than 20 years ago. But he also expressed certainty that he had not witnessed signs of Epstein's abuse.

Still, Republicans were relishing the opportunity to scrutinize the former Democratic president under oath.

“No one’s accusing anyone of any wrongdoing, but I think the American people have a lot of questions,” Comer said.

Republicans have wanted to question Bill Clinton about Epstein for years, especially as conspiracy theories arose following Epstein's 2019 suicide in a New York jail cell while he faced sex trafficking charges.

Those calls reached a fever pitch late last year when several photos of the former president surfaced in the Department of Justice's first release of case files on Epstein and Maxwell, a British socialite who was convicted of sex trafficking in December 2021 but maintains she's innocent. Bill Clinton was photographed on a plane seated alongside a woman, whose face is redacted, with his arm around her. Another photo showed Clinton and Maxwell in a pool with another person whose face was redacted.

Epstein also visited the White House several times during Clinton's presidency, and the pair later made several international trips together for their humanitarian work. Comer claimed the committee has collected evidence that Epstein visited the White House 17 times and that Bill Clinton flew on Epstein's airplane 27 times.

“We are only here because he hid it from everyone so well for so long,” Bill Clinton said in his opening statement. “And by the time it came to light with his 2008 guilty plea, I had long stopped associating with him.”

Comer pledged extensive questioning of the former president. He claimed that Hillary Clinton had repeatedly deferred questions about Epstein to her husband.

Bill Clinton went after Comer for calling his wife before the committee, telling him that “including her was simply not right.”

The committee was working to quickly publish a transcript and video recording of her deposition.

Democrats, who have supported the push to get answers from Bill Clinton, are arguing that it sets a precedent that should also apply to President Donald Trump, a Republican who had his own relationship with Epstein.

“I think that President Trump needs to man up, get in front of this committee and answer the questions and stop calling this investigation a hoax,” said Rep. Robert Garcia, the top Democrat on the committee, on Friday.

Comer has pushed back on that idea, saying that Trump has answered questions on Epstein from the press.

Democrats are also calling for the resignation of Trump's Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. Lutnick was a longtime neighbor of Epstein in New York City but said on a podcast that he severed ties with Epstein following a 2005 tour of Epstein’s home that disturbed Lutnick and his wife.

The public release of case files showed that Lutnick actually had two engagements with Epstein years later. He attended a 2011 event at Epstein's home, and in 2012 his family had lunch with Epstein on his private island.

“He should be removed from office and at a minimum should come before the committee,” Garcia said of Lutnick.

Republican Rep. Nancy Mace questioned Hillary Clinton about Lutnick's relationship to Epstein during the deposition on Thursday. On Friday morning, Mace joined in calling for the commerce secretary to come before the committee.

“I believe we will have the votes to subpoena him,” Democratic Rep. Ro Khanna said.

Follow the AP's coverage of Jeffrey Epstein at https://apnews.com/hub/jeffrey-epstein.

A motorcade carrying former President Bill Clinton approaches the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center where Clinton is scheduled to testify before U.S. House lawmakers as part of a congressional investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Friday, Feb. 27, 2026, in Chappaqua, N.Y. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)

Demonstrators walk around outside the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center while awaiting the arrival of former President Bill Clinton who is testifying before U.S. House lawmakers as part of a congressional investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, , Friday, Feb. 27, 2026, in Chappaqua, N.Y. (AP Photo/Angelina Katsanis)

Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton speaks outside the Chappaqua Performing Arts Center, after testifying before U.S. House lawmakers as part of a congressional investigation into convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Thursday, Feb. 26, 2026, in Chappaqua, N.Y. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

FILE - President Clinton sits with first lady Hillary Clinton during a campaign rally in San Antonio, Nov. 2, 1996. (AP Photo/Greg Gibson, file)

FILE - Former President Bill Clinton speaks in the Cash Room of the Treasury Department during an event for the anniversary of the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund,, Nov. 21, 2024, in Washington. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)