THE HAGUE: The UN’s top court Friday rejected South Africa’s request to put more legal pressure on Israel to halt a threatened offensive against the Gaza city of Rafah, saying it was “bound to comply with existing measures.”
Pretoria has already filed a complaint against Israel in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, alleging that its assault on Gaza amounts to a breach of the Genocide Convention.
The court has yet to rule on the underlying issue, but on January 26 it ordered Israel to ensure it took action to protect Palestinian civilians from further harm and to allow in humanitarian aid.
South African officials on Tuesday filed a further request to the court, asking it to order new measures in the light of Israel’s preparation of a new operation against Rafah.
More than half of Gaza’s 2.4 million population have sought shelter there from Israel’s offensive on the Gaza Strip.
The ICJ’s judges acknowledged that the recent developments “’would exponentially increase what is already a humanitarian nightmare with untold regional consequences’” — citing remarks by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres.
But although Israel needed to act immediately to ensure the safety and security of Palestinians, that did not require “the indication of additional provisional measures,” they added.
Israel remained “bound to fully comply with its obligations under the Genocide Convention and with the said Order,” the ICJ ruling said.
Hamas’s October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of about 1,160 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Militants also took about 250 people hostage, around 130 of whom are still in Gaza, including 30 who are presumed dead, according to Israeli figures.
Israel’s assault on Gaza has since killed at least 28,775 people, mostly women and children, according to the territory’s health ministry.
Israel’s foreign minister on Friday said the country would coordinate with Egypt before launching any military offensive in the southern border city of Rafah.
“We will operate in Rafah after we coordinate with Egypt,” Israel Katz told journalists on the sidelines of the Munich Security Conference, where 180 dignitaries have gathered to discuss conflicts around the globe.
Fears had been growing for the hundreds of thousands of people who have fled the north of Gaza to Rafah as Israeli troops advanced into the territory to wage war on Hamas.
But Israel is now planning a major operation in the overcrowded city. With the border to Egypt closed, nearly 1.5 million Palestinians are essentially trapped there.
According to a NBC News report, US President Joe Biden has been expressing his frustration with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in private conversations. Citing five sources familiar with the matter, NBC News revealed that Biden is seeking to persuade Israel to change its military tactics in Gaza, but Netanyahu is perceived as “an obstacle” in this process.
The sources stated that Biden has used strong language to convey his frustration, reportedly describing Netanyahu actions as “giving him hell” and expressing a sentiment that “this has to stop.”
There have been instances where Biden has reportedly referred to Netanyahu with derogatory terms, including “bad fking guy” and “ahole,” according to sources cited by POLITICO and NBC News.
When questioned about Biden’s remarks, a spokesperson for the National Security Council said, “The president has been clear where he disagrees with Prime Minister Netanyahu, but this is a decades-long relationship that is respectful in public and in private.”
Despite the outward display of mutual respect, Biden’s private frustrations highlight a stark contrast to the public perception of the relationship between the two leaders.
Behind closed doors, Biden’s comments suggest a growing impatience with Netanyahu’s handling of Israel’s assault on Gaza, with the president reportedly viewing him as a significant obstacle to achieving desired outcomes.
A source told NBC about Biden’s view on the Gaza campaign: “He just feels like this is enough. It has to stop.”
More than 28,000 people are reported to have died since the war broke out on October 7. Israel is planning a ground assault on Rafah city in the south of Gaza – where more than one million displaced Palestinians are. Despite the US’s public opposition to the operation, Netanyahu is said to be pressing ahead with it.
The reported tensions come amidst ongoing efforts to address the situation in Gaza and calls for a ceasefire. Biden’s private sentiments underscore the complexities and challenges faced in navigating the relationship between the United States and Israel, particularly concerning matters of regional security and diplomacy.
Gaza Strip (Palestinian Territories) (AFP) – A six-year-old Palestinian girl who went missing after the family’s car came under fire in war-ravaged Gaza was found dead Saturday, the health ministry and her relatives said, accusing Israel of killing her.
The last time Hind Rajab had been seen was about two weeks ago when she was surrounded by dead relatives after becoming trapped in the vehicle as they tried to flee Gaza City as Israeli forces advanced.
“Hind and everyone else in the car is martyred,” the girl’s grandfather, Baha Hamada told AFP.
A number of family members made the grim discovery when they went to Gaza City’s Tel al-Hawa area looking for the car near a petrol station where it had last been spotted, he said.
“They were able to reach the area because Israeli forces withdrew early at dawn today,” Hamada added.
The health ministry in the Gaza Strip confirmed Hind’s death.
“She was killed by (Israeli) occupation forces with all those who were with her in the car outside the petrol station in Tel al-Hawa,” the ministry said in a statement.
Earlier this week, family members had said the group found their way in the path of Israeli tanks and were fired on as they tried to flee.
Contacted by AFP, the Israeli military did not comment on the incident.
Israeli forces disguised as doctors, nurses, and paramedical staff burst into a hospital in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday and shot three Palestinians dead, one of whom was lying paralysed in bed.
A border police counter-terrorism unit and a unit from the internal security forces, known as the Shin Bet, entered Ibn Sina hospital on the outskirts of the city’s refugee camp early Tuesday, CCTV footage of the aftermath of the operation showed.
The shooting was carried by undercover operatives while the men were sleeping at the hospital, according to the statements issued by the Palestinian Ministry of Health and the Israeli army.
The Israeli military identified one of the men killed as Mohammad Jalamneh, aged 27, who it claimed was planning an imminent attack and had been transferring weapons and ammunition to other members, Al Jazeera reported.
The two other men killed, brothers Basil Ayman Al-Ghazzawi and Mohammad Ghazzawi, were hiding inside the hospital and were involved in attacks, the military alleged. “A gun was found on a wanted person, which was confiscated by the forces.”
CCTV footage from the hospital showed a group of about 10 people, dressed in civilian clothes, pacing through a corridor, armed with assault rifles and moving into the hospital.
The hospital’s director, Dr Naji Nazzal, said the Israeli team had entered the hospital at around 5:30 am and made its way stealthily to the third floor, ringing the bell to enter the ward where the men were sleeping.
“They executed the three men as they slept in the room,” he told Reuters.
Hours later, a bloodied blue hospital pillow pierced by a bullet remained on a bed, while a folding bed nearby was also stained with blood, apparently from a shot to the head.
Targeted attacks
Dr Nazzal said Mr Basil had been receiving treatment since October 25 for a spinal injury which had paralysed him.
According to the medical staff, one of the three Palestinians killed in the hospital was being treated for an injury received during a previous army raid months ago, Al Jazeera reported.
“The Israeli army often surrounds and in some instances has attacked the three Palestinian hospitals in Jenin during nightly raids on the city,” he said. “But this is the first time they have entered a civilian medical facility in what seems to have been a well-planned, targeted assassination operation that Palestinian authorities are calling another violation of international law,” he said, adding that there were no attempts to arrest these men.
Australia and Canada have suspended their funding to the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, after Israel accused several employees of involvement in October 7 attacks by Hamas.
Australian Foreign Minister Penny Wong said on Saturday she was “deeply concerned” by the allegations against the agency, UNRWA.
“We are speaking with partners and will temporarily pause disbursement of recent funding,” she wrote on social media platform X.
Allegations UNRWA staff were involved in the abhorrent October 7 terror attacks are deeply concerning.
Australia welcomes UNRWA’s swift response and will engage closely on investigations.
We are speaking with partners and will temporarily pause disbursement of recent funding. pic.twitter.com/Havwserjh3
“We welcome UNRWA’s immediate response, including terminating contracts and launching an investigation, as well as its recent announcement of a full investigation into allegations against the organization,” she added.
Canada’s International Development Minister Ahmed Hussen on Friday announced that Ottawa had “temporarily paused any additional funding to UNRWA while it undertakes a thorough investigation into these allegations”.
“Canada is taking these reports extremely seriously and is engaging closely with UNRWA and other donors on this issue,” he wrote on X.
Canada unequivocally condemns the October 7th attack on Israel. I am deeply troubled by the allegations relating to some UNRWA employees. I have instructed Global Affairs Canada to pause all additional funding to UNRWA pending the outcome of the investigation. Read my statement: pic.twitter.com/YfEbwhKvzx
“Should the allegations prove to be accurate, Canada expects UNRWA to immediately act against those determined to have been involved in Hamas’s terrorist attacks.”
The moves come after the United States halted its funding to UNRWA on Friday, saying the allegations were against 12 employees who “may have been involved” in the Hamas attack that triggered the war in Gaza.
The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees says it has opened an investigation into some employees Israel alleges were involved in the October 7 attacks, and that it has severed ties with those staff members.
“The Israeli authorities have provided UNRWA with information about the alleged involvement of several UNRWA employees in the horrific attacks on Israel on October 7,” Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), said on Friday.
UN chief Antonio Guterres has pledged to conduct an “urgent and comprehensive independent review of UNRWA”.
Established in 1949 following the first Arab-Israeli war, the agency provides services including schooling, primary healthcare and humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.
It is important to note that since the onset of the war on Gaza, Israeli authorities, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have accused it of fuelling anti-Israeli incitement – allegations it denies.
UNRWA says it has provided aid to desperate people in Gaza and used its facilities to shelter those fleeing Israeli attacks.
The agency’s shelters have also been repeatedly targeted by Israeli missiles during the war, despite pleas for safe passages to deliver humanitarian aid and assistance.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has announced its first ruling on South Africa’s genocide case against Israel on Friday evening, calling on Israel to take urgent and effective measure to protect Palestinians, contain death toll and destruction, acknowledging that there is a risk of genocide in Gaza. However, it did not call for an immediate ceasefire.
The hearing took place on Friday with 16 judges out of the court’s 17-member panel, present. Presiding Judge Joan Donoghue asserted that the court has the authority to rule over emergency measures in the case.
The court noted that the charges against Israel fall under the provisions of the Genocide Convention, additionally acknowledging that Israeli military operations have killed as well as injured a large number Palestinians in Gaza, destroyed a number of homes and infrastructure, and resulted in the internal displacement of about 1.7 million people.
It was further acknowledged that the Palestinians’ have the right to be protected from acts of genocide.
The issue of “dehumanising language” used against Palestinians was also highlighted, particularly shedding light on statements by Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant ordering a “complete siege” of Gaza and apprising the soldiers that they are fighting against “human animals”.
The International Court of Justice finds that there is sufficient basis for South Africa’s case against Israel and will not dismiss the case as Israel requested.
This is a historic moment. The Court’s decision makes U.S. complicity more difficult for Biden officials to deny. pic.twitter.com/c5OE2ZQolP
#ICJ Hugely disappointing that the Court has not ordered an immediate cease-fire or an end to Israel’s military campaign, despite acknowledging the ongoing indiscriminate bombardment and attacks against the people in Gaza and the West Bank
#ICJ Hugely disappointing that the Court has not ordered an immediate cease-fire or an end to Israel’s military campaign, despite acknowledging the ongoing indiscriminate bombardment and attacks against the people in Gaza and the West Bank
I know ppl are disappointed the ICJ didn’t order ceasefire. That’s quite understandable. But we’re in a situation where even talking abt the case was a radical act. The case is on record. Israel’s been told to stop killing. It won’t. It was never going to. But it’s all on record.
The ICJ has just ruled that the evidence is “sufficient to conclude that at least some” of South Africa’s claims of genocide against Israel “are plausible”.
They can’t adjudicate at this stage on whether it is genocide.
They have concluded there’s a plausible risk of genocide.
Peace activists are urging US voters considering candidates for November’s presidential election to instead write “ceasefire” on their ballots in protest over Joe Biden’s handling of the Israeli attacks on Gaza.
“Vote Ceasefire” — a coalition of local anti-war groups — says the effort allows Americans to give voice to their anger at the Democratic president over the mounting toll of civilian deaths in Gaza as Israel responds to the October 7 Hamas attacks.
Voters in New Hampshire will pick their preferred candidate in either the Democratic or Republican nominating contests on Tuesday but the push is aimed at progressives wishing to put the White House on notice.
“For the last three months, as the world has watched the war in Gaza continue to worsen, the Biden administration has refused all demands to call for a ceasefire and to end US support for Israel,” the campaign posted on X, formerly Twitter.
“So we’re taking our fight to the place Democrats care about the most — the polls. While Joe Biden will almost certainly win the Democratic nomination later this year, he must know that the road to get there will be long and hard if he refuses to listen to his constituents.”
“Vote Ceasefire” organizers have not indicated what kind of turnout would constitute a success for the campaign and it is unclear how much affect it will have.
Biden himself is not on the ballot and is largely ignoring the contest, after New Hampshire officials clashed with the national party over scheduling.
A separate campaign is urging supporters to write Biden’s name on the ballot in exactly the same manner that “Vote Ceasefire” is promoting.
The outcome will not affect the nomination process in any case, as the Democratic National Committee has declared the New Hampshire primary illegitimate.
Biden is expected to win the nomination comfortably.
“I’m doing this as over 80 percent of Democratic voters are in favor of a ceasefire for Gaza and are opposed to the continuing slaughter of civilian men, women and children in Palestine, with the United States-supplied weapons,” campaign volunteer and former Democratic state representative Chris Balch said in a video posted to X.
But self-help author Marianne Williamson, who is on the Democratic ballot, said the “Vote Ceasefire” campaign was doing nothing to help the citizens of Gaza.
“A way to actually help create a ceasefire would be to vote for a candidate who has called for one from the very beginning,” she posted in response to the campaign’s social media statements.
Renowned climate justice activist Greta Thunberg recently took to Instagram and posted a recaptcha privacy which needs the user to testify that they stand with Palestine to be recognised as human.
True to her no-holds-barred attitude, she captioned the image, “Verify that you’re a human”.
Greta is an advocate for human rights along with the climate justice campaign. Since Israel started genocide in the Gaza Strip, Thunberg has voiced her support for Palestine multiple times.
Many of the hostages held by Hamas in the Gaza Strip are likely to have been killed, a spokesman for the group said Sunday, blaming the Israeli leadership for their fate.
“The fate of many of the enemy’s hostages and detainees has become unknown in recent weeks and the rest have all entered the tunnel of the unknown due to the Zionist aggression,” Abu Obeida said in a televised statement.
“Most likely, many of them were killed recently, the rest are in great danger every hour and the enemy’s leadership and army bear full responsibility.” Abu Obeida said the group’s allies from the “axis of resistance” had informed Hamas they would “expand their attacks” against Israeli troops in the coming days.
“After 100 days of battle… this is the enemy’s leadership, gulping down pain and wading through the mud of failure and setback,” he said.
100 days back, on October 7, 2023, Hamas took Israel by surprise in a move that came as a consequence of more than seventy years of occupation, killings, destruction, and displacement of the Palestinians.
Israel took this instance of response as an excuse to go all out in attempts to exterminate Gazans from their land: On October 8, Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu declared war against Hamas and butchered, internally displaced, detained, and tortured thousands of Palestinians in Gaza as well as the Occupied West Bank.
Since October 7 alone, more than 23,600 people have been killed and more than 58,000 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza.
Widespread use of and access to social media across the world has exposed Israeli atrocities against the Palestinians more than ever. A number of Palestinians have been reporting from the targeted strip, giving the world insights to the heights of atrocities touched by the Israeli military.
As the Irish lawyer Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh, representing South Africa in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague on January 11 deemed it as “The first genocide in history where its victims are broadcasting their own destruction in real time in the desperate, so far vain hope that the world might do something.”
Nonetheless, the international community has collectively failed to ensure a ceasefire amidst all the loss and blatant violation of human rights..
While the breaches and enormities by Israel are innumerable and immeasurable to say the least, here are some of the most important moments and developments to have taken place the past 100 days.
Israel had declared a “complete siege” on Gaza on October 9 2023, hindering the supply of electricity, food, water and fuel into the strip. While a few aid trucks were permitted on 21 October 2023, the aid has been inadequate, and starkly lower than the quantity sent before October 2023.
Additionally, fuel imports are “well below the minimum requirements for essential humanitarian operations”.
The UN Secretary-General has asserted that the level of destruction in Gaza is now so catastrophic that “[t]he conditions for the effective delivery of humanitarian aid no longer exist . . . But even if sufficient supplies were permitted into Gaza, intense bombardment and hostilities, Israeli restrictions on movement, fuel shortages, and interrupted communications, make it impossible for UN agencies and their partners to reach most of the people in need.”
No Facilities
The majority of Gazan hospitals are out of order due to the Israeli air raids and the blockade. According to WHO, 15 out of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are partially functional; nine in the south and six in the north.
Additionally, there is lack of electricity, desalination facilities, and bakeries to shut down and contributed to telecommunications blackouts.
Looming Fears of Famine and Diseases
Credit: Reuters
Due to lack of health facilities and access to water and sanitation, WHO has warned that Gaza is now heading towards proliferation of disease. As of January 1, nearly 200,000 respiratory infections and tens of thousands of cases of scabies, lice, skin rashes, and jaundice were reported whereas the number of diarrhoea cases among children under five has increased 20-fold since October 7.
Additionally, the World Health Organization has warned that “[a]n unprecedented 93% of the population in Gaza is facing crisis levels of hunger, with insufficient food and high levels of malnutrition” and that “[a]t least 1 in 4 households are facing ‘catastrophic conditions’:
“Israeli forces are deliberately blocking the delivery of water, food and fuel, while wilfully impeding humanitarian assistance, apparently razing agricultural areas, and depriving the civilian population of objects indispensable to their survival,” Human Rights Watch has stated.
Internally Displaced
Among the total population of 2.3 million, 1.9 million Palestinians — approximately 85 per cent of the total population — have been internally displaced. People living in Northern Gaza were initially forced to flee their homes on short notice for “safety” to the south, but they were bombed again in the so-called safe south, and were once again forced to flee to
further south or the south west, and have been to live in makeshift tents with no water, sanitation or other facilities.
This situation has thus been declared as the Second Nakba as it resembles the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians by the Israelis in 1948.
Women of Gaza
Credit: Al Jazeera
The United Nations has estimated 50,000 pregnant women presently living in Gaza, with more than 180 births taking place every day despite the lack of health facilities.
Similarly, women have also resorted to norethisterone tablets (that are usually prescribed in times of severe menstrual bleeding, endometriosis, and painful periods) as they are internally displaced, living in poor conditions among a large number of people with no privacy, and having no access to water or menstrual hygiene products like sanitary napkins and/or tampons.
November was deemed as the deadliest month for journalists when at least 50 were killed. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CJP), as of January 11, 79 journalists and media workers have been killed among whom are 72 Palestinian, 4 Israeli, and 3 Lebanese whereas three journalists are reported missing and 21 arrested.
Additionally, multiple assaults, threats, cyberattacks, censorship, and killings of family members have also been recorded.
Moreover, literary figures like Heba Abu Nada and Dr Refaat Alareer, who were vocal against Israel, have also been killed in targeted attacks.
Hostages
Hamas took Israeli hostages on October 7 in order to prompt Israel to return Palestinian hostages who have been in Israeli captivity since years.
While Israel has portrayed Hamas as barbaric, Israeli hostages released have had different stories to tell. Danielle Aloni and her daughter Emilia were held hostage by Hamas for 49 days and on their release on November 24, Aloni wrote a “thank you” letter to Hamas saying, “I thank you from the bottom of my heart for your extraordinary humanity shown towards my daughter, Emilia.”
Similarly, in an interview, Hin and Ajam, another mother-daughter duo, told that they were kept together and that the militants were respectful to them, taking every precaution to make them comfortable.
On the contrary, Palestinians have returned from Israeli captivity physically and mentally tortured while some have reportedly died in detention.
Back in December, Israeli troops even “mistakenly” killed three Israeli hostages in the course of combat with Hamas in the Gaza Strip on Friday.
As of January 11, the arrests of Palestinians in the Occupied West Bank reached up to 5,810 since October 7.
According to figures released in December, at least 8,800 Palestinians, including 80 women, were held at Israeli prisons.
These arrests are reportedly “marked by abuse, severe beatings, and threats against detainees and their families, in addition to widespread acts of sabotage and destruction of citizens’ homes”. Many are even targeted and shot by the Israeli soldiers.
Additionally, in November 2023, it was reported that around 390,000 Palesinians jobs were lost — 182,000 in Gaza and 208,000 in the occupied West Bank.
In December, the US State Department approved the emergency sale to Israel of nearly 14,000 rounds of tank ammunition — a sale of 13,981 high-explosive 120mm tank cartridges and related equipment worth $106.5 million.
The State Department said the secretary of state had determined that “an emergency exists that requires the immediate sale to the Government of Israel” of the weaponry, thereby waiving the normal requirement of Congressional review.
Israel vs Middle East
Since the war began, Hezbollah, a close ally of the Palestinian group Hamas, and Israel have been engaged in intense fighting.
In December, The United States announced a 10-nation coalition to end Houthi attacks on ships transiting the Red Sea, with Britain, France, Bahrain and Italy among countries joining the “multinational security initiative.”
The U.S. and British Air Force, in fact, have launched airstrikes against Yemen in retaliation which the American president Joe Biden called it a success, adding that he will “not hesitate to direct further measures to protect our people and the free flow of international commerce as necessary.”
On the other hand, Israel and Hezbollah have been exchanging fires across the Lebanese border, the West Bank since 7 October.
On Day 60 since October 7, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres, in a rare move, invoked Article 99 of the UN Charter “to bring to the attention of the Security Council a matter, which in my opinion, may aggravate existing threats to the maintenance of international peace and security.” He also reiterated his call in the letter he sent to the rotating president of the Council for a “humanitarian ceasefire” and urged the Council to “avert a humanitarian catastrophe.”
Nonetheless, like any other UN action, it was merely a political move with no legal implications — same as the UN Resolutions calling for a ceasefire in Gaza the past few months since October 7. With more than 100 countries voting in support of the ceasefire, the resolution ended in vain since the US and a couple of its allies chose to vote against it.
On the other hand, while powerful Muslim countries have sided with Palestine, their support has, however, been shallow. For instance, in November, the Saudi Minister of Investment, Khalid bin Abdulaziz al-Falih, remarked that the Kingdom was still willing to consider normalising relations with Israel, depending on a peaceful solution to the Palestinian issue. And when asked if Saudi Arabia would use economic devices like oil to push for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, he reportedly laughed and replied: “This is not on the table today. Saudi Arabia is trying to achieve peace through talks that seek peace.”
South Africa vs Israel
Credit: Al Jazeera
South Africa filed a case in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, Netherlands, asking the court to look into the genocide being committed by Israel against Palestinians.
The imposition of charges did not only pertain to the crimes perpetrated during the last few months since October 7 that have killed more than 23,000 people till now, but also the 75-year long apartheid, 56-year hostile occupation, and 16-year blockade on Gaza.
Israel was accused of committing genocidal acts during their military operations which included mass killings of Palestinians, bodily and mental harm, forced displacement and food blockade, destruction of the healthcare system, and preventing Palestinian births.
It is, however, pertinent to note, that while this case can take years, an “interim measure” intended to halt Israel’s attack in Gaza can be taken “within weeks”. If the interim measure is implemented, Israel will be legally obligated to put an end to its offences. And while the “court’s rulings are final”, it has no authority to impose them, nonetheless.
On the other hand, if the court does not implement an interim measure, “it could still decide it has jurisdiction and proceed with the case”.
Post-war Gaza Plans
Israel’s defence minister publicly presented proposals for the post-war administration of Gaza i.e. after it has dismantled Hamas’s “military and governing capabilities” and secured the return of hostages.
According to the minister, after the objectives are achieved — for which the proposal sets no timeline — Palestinian “civil committees” will begin assuming control of the territory’s governance.
“Hamas will not govern Gaza, (and) Israel will not govern Gaza’s civilians,” the plan said, while offering little concrete detail.
“Palestinian bodies will be in charge, with the condition that there will be no hostile actions or threats against the State of Israel.”
