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Tag: Rafah invasion looms

  • Live updates: Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, ICJ genocide ruling, Rafah invasion looms

    Live updates: Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, ICJ genocide ruling, Rafah invasion looms

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    The International Court of Justice is expected to rule today in a case against Israel that was brought by South Africa.

    South Africa filed an urgent request on May 10 for additional measures in its genocide case against Israel, accusing it of using forced evacuation orders in the southern Gaza city of Rafah to “endanger rather than protect civilian life.”

    The allegation was rejected by Israel. Deputy Attorney General for International Law Gilad Noam said the picture South Africa painted was “completely divorced from the facts and circumstances.” 

    South Africa filed its claim to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), not the International Criminal Court (ICC).

    The ICJ is the main legal arm of the United Nations. It is based in The Hague, in the Netherlands, and was set up by the UN in 1945. It is a civil court and seeks to settle disputes between states.

    Conversely, the ICC is a permanent, autonomous court — not affiliated with the United Nations — that prosecutes individuals.

    The court can only prosecute individuals from countries that have ratified the Rome Statute — which gives it jurisdiction — or if a crime has taken place in a country that is a signatory.

    This week, the ICC said it is seeking arrest warrants for the Hamas leader in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity over the October 7 attacks on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza.

    Israel doesn’t recognize the ICC so the court has no jurisdiction over it.

    Israel, however, is a signatory to the Genocide Convention, which gives the ICJ jurisdiction.

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  • Live updates: Israel-Hamas war, Rafah invasion looms, Arab League summit in Bahrain

    Live updates: Israel-Hamas war, Rafah invasion looms, Arab League summit in Bahrain

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    Israeli delegation members sit at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) as part of an ongoing case South Africa filed at the ICJ in December last year accusing Israel of violating the Genocide Convention during its offensive against Palestinians in Gaza, in The Hague, Netherlands, on May 17. Yves Herman/Reuters

    At the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Friday, Israel responded to a public emergency hearing called for by South Africa, accusing Israel of violating the 1946 Genocide Convention by dismissing its claims.

    “This case, even by its very name… suggests an inversion of reality… and the obscene exploitation of the most sacred convention… calling something a genocide again and again doesn’t make it genocide. Repeating a lie does not make it true,” Israel’s Deputy Attorney General for International Law Gilad Noam said in his opening remarks.

    Noam said the picture South Africa has been painting over the last five months is “completely divorced from the facts and circumstances.” He spoke of the “difficult and tragic armed conflict” Israel is engaged in, asking the court to “respect the predicament” it is in.

    “Armed conflict is not synonymous to genocide,” he said.

    He said that Israel was surprised by South Africa’s emergency hearing notification and requested a postponement to ensure adequate representation. However, the court denied this request.

    South Africa told the ICJ on Thursday that Rafah is the last refuge for civilians in Gaza. In response, Noam stated that while civilians have been evacuated to Rafah, it is also a “focal point for ongoing terrorist activity.” 

    South Africa told the court on Thursday that “if Rafah falls, so too does Gaza,” to which Israel said the opposite is true.

    He accused South Africa of “exploiting the court and its authority” with its “baseless claims” and “evidence that does not exist,” saying “not every media report represents facts.”

    Remember: As in previous hearings at the ICJ, Israel insisted it is acting in accordance with international law in Gaza.

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  • Live updates: Israel-Hamas war, Rafah invasion looms, Gaza aid crisis worsens

    Live updates: Israel-Hamas war, Rafah invasion looms, Gaza aid crisis worsens

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    A damaged United Nations vehicle is seen in front of a hospital after a UN employee was killed in an attack on a vehicle in Gaza, according to Israeli media. Ali Jadallah/Anadolu/Getty Images

    The US has assessed that Israel has amassed enough troops on the edge of Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah to launch a full-scale incursion in the coming days, but senior American officials are unsure if a decision to carry out the offensive has been made, two senior administration officials told CNN.

    The White House believes an Israeli ground offensive in Rafah would be a mistake and is “urgently” working toward a ceasefire, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Monday.

    The Biden administration is urging Israel to connect their military operations to a “clear” end game for the war, Sullivan told reporters. And, a top State Department official said the US and Israel are “struggling over what the theory of victory is” for Israel in Gaza, and that the US does not believe that the kind of total victory Israel says it is fighting for against Hamas is “likely or possible.”

    Here are the major developments:

    Unclear military strategy: The Israeli military has renewed its fighting in northern Gaza where it previously claimed to have dismantled Hamas’ command structure. But it now says the Palestinian militant group is trying to “reassemble” in the area, raising doubts about whether Israel’s goal to eradicate the group in the enclave is realistic and renewing questions about its long-term military strategy.

    Hamas treated in Turkey: Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said that “more than 1,000 Hamas members are currently under treatment” in Turkish hospitals. He said he does not see Hamas as a “terrorist organization” but as a “resistance organization.”

    Death toll unchanged: The United Nations has clarified the war’s death toll in Gaza, tallied by the enclave’s Health Ministry, remains unchanged at over 35,000, after its casualties report caused confusion.

    Aid ransacked: Israeli activists opposed to helping Palestinians in Gaza intercepted and ransacked an aid shipment. Video from a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank shows at least two trucks ransacked. Other footage showed activists blocking the path of the trucks, throwing packages on the ground and stomping on boxes. It’s unclear whether the aid was coming from Jordan or the Palestinian Authority.

    United Nations staffer killed and wounded: At least one UN aid worker was killed and another wounded after a vehicle marked as belonging to the agency was attacked in Rafah, according to a UN secretary-general spokesperson, who did not assign blame to either Israel or Hamas for the attack.

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  • Live updates: Israel-Hamas war, Rafah invasion looms, new Gaza aid crossing opens

    Live updates: Israel-Hamas war, Rafah invasion looms, new Gaza aid crossing opens

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    Intense shelling and gunfire have continued in much of the Jabalya refugee camp in northern Gaza after Israeli forces began a ground operation there on Saturday.

    Videos from the area uploaded Sunday and Monday show civilians streaming out of the area against a background of constant drone flights, automatic gunfire, and explosions. Panicked families carrying whatever they can are seen leaving a UN school in the refugee camp amid heavy explosions.

    In one video showing the rooftops of Jabalya, the sound of heavy gunfire is constant.

    Communications from much of Gaza have been sporadic in the last few days. But CNN footage from Jabalya filmed early Monday showed terrified and exhausted families trying to leave the area. One child is seen carrying another child. There are also people being pushed in wheelchairs.

    One child said there were Israeli tanks behind the schools. “They are coming for us, we are going to the other schools.”

    An unidentified man also said that tanks were close to the schools, where thousands have taken shelter.

    “They are bombarding the area and randomly shooting everyone. Those people are running away, they were in the schools, hoping they were safe. Where will they go now?”

    Fares Afarna, director of ambulance services in northern Gaza, told the Al Jazeera network Monday that “ambulances are having a hard time to evacuate the dead and injured in the north.”

    He alleged that “more than once our ambulances have been targeted by Israeli occupation forces…”

    Afarna said that since the Israeli operation began on Saturday, ambulance crews had evacuated more than 50 wounded and 20 bodies. He told Al Jazeera that only two hospitals (Kamal Adwan and Al-Awada) were operating “and that’s where we are evacuating the dead and injured to and to some medical field points in the area.”

    CNN is reaching out to the Israeli military for a response to the allegation that ambulances are being targeted.

    “Following calls to the civilian population to temporarily evacuate from the area of Jabalya to shelters in western Gaza City, IDF troops began an operation overnight based on intelligence information regarding attempts by Hamas to reassemble its terrorist infrastructure and operatives in the area,” the military said.

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