More than 30 Palestinians were killed in the Gaza Strip
The Gaza Strip has a genocidal enemy: Israel’s failure to defend itself at a time when Israel is fighting genocide
He pointed out that the court is not told of the extensive Israeli efforts to reduce civilian harm in Gaza and the practice of theft by Hamas.
In Israel’s opening arguments before the court on Friday, Israeli lawyer Tal Becker said Israel is “singularly aware” of why the Genocide Convention was adopted, referring to the systematic murder of 6 million Jews in the Holocaust, which gave birth to the convention invoked in these proceedings.
Netanyahu replied to South Africa’s testimony. “The hypocrisy of South Africa knows no bounds,” he said in a video statement immediately following the first day of testimony in The Hague. “The state of Israel is accused of genocide at a time when it is fighting genocide.”
“This is related to the command by God to destroy an entire group of people, and Netanyahu’s reference is meant to justify genocide,” said South Africa’s Legal Scholar Tembeka Ngcuaitobi, who said Netanyahu’s reference was meant to justify genocide.
South Africa’s delegation said that the genocidal intent is shown by the way Israel has launched its campaign and by comments from leaders like Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. In late October in an address to Israeli forces, Netanyahu invoked the story of Amalek, a figure in the Hebrew Bible who tried to destroy the Jewish people.
RAFAH, Gaza Strip — More than 30 Palestinians, including young children, were killed in two Israeli airstrikes overnight into Saturday in the Gaza Strip, officials said, as concerns continued to grow over a lack of fuel and supplies for overburdened hospitals. The video provided by Gaza’s Civil Defense department shows rescue workers searching through the rubble in a flashlight, after it was hit by an Israeli attack. Footage showed them carrying a young girl wrapped in blankets with injuries to her face, and at least two other children who appeared dead. A boy covered in dust is about to be taken to the hospital. The home in the Daraj neighborhood was attacked and killed at least 20 people. Another strike near the southern city of Rafah on the Egyptian border killed 13 people, including two children. The bodies of those killed, mostly from a family from central Gaza, were taken to the hospital where they were seen by an Associated Press reporter. The Gaza Health Ministry said Saturday that 135 Palestinians were killed over the course of the last 24 hours. The figure doesn’t differentiate between combatants and civilians, but the ministry says most of the dead are women and children. The ministry said the total number of war-wounded surpassed 60,000.Israel has argued Hamas is responsible for the high civilian casualties, saying its fighters make use of civilian buildings and launch attacks from densely populated urban areas.
Hassim said the Israeli military dropped thousands of bombs on Gaza in the first few weeks of the campaign, and then dropped 2,000-pound bombs on areas declared safe by Israel.
A ruling may not come for a long time. South Africa spent three hours Thursday speaking to the court to convince them to order Israel to stop military operations in Gaza and allow more aid to be sent to Palestinians. It’s unclear if Israel would follow a ruling like that.
A two-day hearing in a case brought by South Africa against Israel concluded on Friday, with South Africa accusing Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians. The case is being heard before the United Nations’ International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands. The court’s 15 judges were joined by one judge each from South Africa and Israel.
Legal scholar and the author of the book “Analysis of International Court of Justice provisional rulings over the years”, Matei Alexianu, has found that states only comply with half of the rulings. Alexianu points out, though, that there are indirect effects.
“They declare certain values of the international order,” said Alexianu, “It is valuable for other states and for the world community in general to have those values and those obligations reaffirmed in the long term.”
The End of the Gaza War Revealed by the UN Humanitarian Affairs Agency: “The Status of the Hospitals in the Gaza Strip”
With the war in Gaza entering its 100th day on Sunday, the World Health Organization has said only 15 of the territories’ 36 hospitals still partially functional, according to OCHA, the United Nations’ humanitarian affairs agency. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the city of Deir al-Balah ran out of fuel and went dark on Friday. While the staff were at work they received a small emergency shipment of fuel and were able to keep the ventilators and incubators running with solar charged batteries. Fuel was expected to run out again on Saturday unless the WHO is able to deliver a promised shipment, hospital officials said. Aid deliveries were being disrupted by a renewed drop in telecommunications connectivity in much of Gaza, which began late Friday. In its Oct. 7 attack that sparked the war, Hamas and other militants killed some 1,200 people in Israel, mostly civilians. More than half of the 250 hostages are believed to be still in captivity, while some have been released or confirmed dead. The military has reported that at least 186 Israeli soldiers have been killed and over 1000 injured in the Gaza Strip. The population of Gaza has been displaced by Israel’s air and ground offensive and large parts of the territory have been leveled. Recent developments, including U.S. and British military strikes on Houthi-controlled sites in Yemen, have stoked growing fears of the war broadening into a regional conflict. The strikes came in response to the attacks on ships in the Red Sea that they said was in response to Israel’s offensive in Gaza. The daily report by OCHA says that Israel’s severe constraints on humanitarian missions and denials have increased at the beginning of the year, amid already severe shortages of food, clean water and fuel in Gaza. In the last year only a fraction of planned deliveries of food, medicine, water and other supplies have reached northern Gaza. The agency said the denials paralyze the ability of the humanitarian partners to respond meaningfully to widespread humanitarian needs. Efforts by the United States and other nations to alleviate the suffering of Palestinian civilians have met with little success. At the same time, Shifa Hospital in Gaza City, the territory’s main hospital that had been shut down since November, had begun partially functioning again, the WHO said Friday. Tedros Ghebreyesus said his organization has given 9,300 liters of fuel to the town, which will allow a 60-person medical team to treat hundreds of patients. South Africa has opened a case at the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of genocide due to the lack of adequate humanitarian aid for civilians in Gaza. In its complaint, South Africa argues Israel has failed to ensure that the medical needs of Palestinians are met, and accuses Israel of ” directly attacking Palestinian hospitals, ambulances and other healthcare facilities in Gaza. South Africa demanded that the court immediately order Israel to stop its offensive and provide access to a ” adequate fuel, shelter, clothes, hygiene and sanitization” as well as medical supplies and assistance. Israel’s legal team accused Hamas of using hospitals and other civilian facilities to launch attacks and shelter their fighters. Israel has argued that it is doing everything possible to protect civilians and that is has been working with hospitals to provide assistance. Israel called for the case to be dismissed. It was not known when a decision would be made.
South Africa has opened a case at the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of genocide owing to the lack of adequate humanitarian aid for civilians in Gaza Strip. South Africa’s delegation said that the genocidal intention is shown by the way Israel has launched its campaign and by comments from leaders like Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.