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South Africa launches case at top UN court accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza

The exterior view of the International Criminal Court is pictured in The Hague, Netherlands. (File/AP)
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Updated 30 December 2023
Agencies
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South Africa launches case at top UN court accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza

  • South Africa asked the court to order Israel to halt its attacks
  • South Africa’s submission alleges that acts and omissions by Israel are genocidal in character
Updated 30 December 2023
Agencies

LONDON: South Africa launched a case Friday at the United Nations’ top court accusing Israel of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and asking the court to order Israel to halt its attacks. 
South Africa’s submission to the International Court of Justice alleges that “acts and omissions by Israel ... are genocidal in character” as they are committed with the intent “to destroy Palestinians in Gaza” as a part of the broader Palestinian national, racial and ethnic group.
South Africa has been a fierce critic of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza. Many there including President Cyril Ramaphosa have compared Israel’s policies regarding Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank with South Africa’s past apartheid regime of racial segregation.
South Africa asked the Hague-based court to issue an interim order for Israel to immediately suspend its military operations in Gaza. A hearing into that request is likely in the coming days or weeks. The case, if it goes ahead, will take years, but an interim order could be issued within weeks.
South Africa’s filing alleged Israel was violating its obligations under the treaty, drafted in the wake of the Holocaust, which makes it a crime to attempt to destroy a people in whole or in part.

It asked the court to issue provisional, or short-term, measures ordering Israel to stop its military campaign in Gaza, which it said were “necessary in this case to protect against further, severe and irreparable harm to the rights of the Palestinian people.”
No date has been set for a hearing.
While the ICJ in The Hague is considered the UN’s highest court, its rulings are sometimes ignored. In March 2022, the court ordered Russia to halt hostilities in Ukraine, a binding legal ruling that Moscow flouted as it pressed ahead with its attacks.
Israel’s foreign ministry on Friday said it “rejects with disgust” the case launched by South Africa.
“Israel rejects with disgust the blood libel spread by South Africa and its application” to the ICJ, Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Lior Haiat wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
“South Africa’s claim lacks both a factual and a legal basis, and constitutes despicable and contemptuous exploitation of the court.”
Lashing out at South Africa, Haiat accused the country of “cooperating with a terrorist organization,” referring to the Hamas movement.
The statement also said Israel operates according to international law and focuses its military actions solely against Hamas, adding that the residents of Gaza are not an enemy. It asserted that it takes steps to minimize harm to civilians and to allow humanitarian aid to enter the territory.
South Africa can bring the case under the Genocide Convention because both it and Israel are signatories to it.
Whether the case will succeed in halting the war remains to be seen. While the court’s orders are legally binding, they are not always followed. 
South Africa’s foreign ministry said in a statement that the country is “gravely concerned with the plight of civilians caught in the present Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip due to the indiscriminate use of force and forcible removal of inhabitants.”
The ministry added that there are “ongoing reports of international crimes, such as crimes against humanity and war crimes, being committed as well as reports that acts meeting the threshold of genocide or related crimes as defined in the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide, have been and may still be committed in the context of the ongoing massacres in Gaza.”
War began on Oct. 7 when militants of the Islamist group Hamas killed 1,200 people in a cross-border attack and seized 240 hostages by Israel’s count. Israel responded with an assault on Hamas-ruled Gaza, killing more than 21,000 people, Palestinian health officials say.
“Israel, since 7 October 2023 in particular, has failed to prevent genocide and has failed to prosecute the direct and public incitement to genocide,” South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation said in a statement.
South Africa’s president earlier accused Israel of war crimes and acts “tantamount to genocide.” And South Africa last month pushed for the International Criminal Court, which also is based in The Hague, to investigate Israel’s actions in Gaza.
The ICC prosecutes individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, while the International Court of Justice settles disputes between nations.
Balkees Jarrah, associate international justice director at Human Rights Watch, said South Africa’s case “provides an important opportunity for the International Court of Justice to scrutinize Israel’s actions in Gaza using the Genocide Convention of 1948.” She said South Africa is looking to the United Nations’ highest judicial body “to provide clear, definitive answers on the question of whether Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people.”
Jarrah stressed that the ICJ case “is not a criminal case against individual alleged perpetrators, and it does not involve the International Criminal Court (ICC), a separate body. But the ICJ case should also propel greater international support for impartial justice at the ICC and other credible venues.”
(With AP, Reuters and AFP)

Topics: South Africa genocide Israel

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US envoy has first meeting in Sudan with army chief

US Special Envoy for Sudan Tom Perriello (C) is welcomed by local officials upon his arrival in Port Sudan on November 18, 2024.
Updated 8 sec ago
AFP
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US envoy has first meeting in Sudan with army chief

  • Experts say both sides have stonewalled peace efforts as they vie to gain a decisive military advantage, which neither has managed to hold for long
Updated 8 sec ago
AFP

PORT SUDAN, Sudan: A US special envoy on Monday made his first visit to Sudan for talks with the country’s army chief and de facto leader to discuss aid and how to stop the war.
Tom Perriello met Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan in the Red Sea city for what Burhan’s ruling Sovereignty Council called “long, comprehensive and frank” talks.
It said Burhan and Perriello discussed “the roadmap for how to stop the war and deliver humanitarian aid.”
The envoy’s visit came as Russia on Monday vetoed a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate end to hostilities in Sudan.
Sudan’s war erupted in April 2023 between the regular army led by Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) led by his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
It has resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands of people and the displacement of 11 million, according to the United Nations.
The conflict has also resulted in what has been described as one of the world’s worst humanitarian crises in recent history.
A US State Department release said Perriello “engaged in frank dialogue with Sudanese officials.”
It said these centered “on the need to cease fighting, enable unhindered humanitarian access, including through localized pauses in the fighting to allow for the delivery of emergency relief supplies, and commit to a civilian government.”
Monday’s visit was the special envoy’s first to Port Sudan, the Red Sea city where government offices and the UN have relocated since fleeing the war-torn capital Khartoum.
It is also the first diplomatic overture in months, since Sudan’s military opted out of US-brokered negotiations in Switzerland.
Experts say both sides have stonewalled peace efforts as they vie to gain a decisive military advantage, which neither has managed to hold for long.
Perriello’s trip comes after repeated failed efforts at mediation.
The statement from Burhan’s office said Perriello expressed the “shared ambition for an end to the war to put a stop to the atrocities and violations we have witnessed recently.”

Writing on social media platform X, the US envoy welcomed “recent progress to expand humanitarian access.”
“As the largest aid donor to Sudan, we will work around the clock to ensure that food, water and medicine can reach people in all 18 states plus refugees,” Perriello posted.
Peace efforts, including by the United States, Saudi Arabia and the African Union, have only succeeded in marginally increasing access to humanitarian aid, which both the military and the RSF are accused of blocking.
International pressure has managed to secure government authorization for aid to be delivered through Adre, a key border crossing with Chad and the only access point to famine-stricken Darfur in western Sudan.
However, on Monday Burhan told Perriello his government rejects “the exploitation of the Adre crossing to deliver weapons to the rebels,” a reference to the RSF’s reported use of the border as a weapons supply route.
Monday’s Russian veto at the UN came with the Security Council largely paralyzed in its ability to deal with conflicts because of splits between permanent members, notably Russia and the United States.
 

 

Topics: Sudan Unrest Sudan US

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Yemen’s Houthi militants linked to ship attacks in Red Sea and Gulf of Aden

Updated 1 min 32 sec ago
AP;
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Yemen’s Houthi militants linked to ship attacks in Red Sea and Gulf of Aden

  • The ship’s captain saw a missile splashing in close proximity to the vessel twice, once in the Red Sea and the second time in the Gulf of Aden.
Updated 1 min 32 sec ago
AP;

DUBAI: Suspected attacks by Yemen’s Houthi militants targeted a Panama-flagged bulk carrier traveling through the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden, though no damage or injuries were reported, authorities said Monday.
The attacks come as the the militant group continue their months long assault targeting shipping through a waterway that typically sees $1 trillion in goods pass through it a year over the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza and Israel’s ground offensive in Lebanon.
The bulk carrier Anadolu S first had been contacted over VHF radio by someone claiming to be authorities in Yemen, demanding the ship turn around, said the Joint Maritime Information Center, a multinational task force overseen by the US
“The vessel did not comply with the order and continued its transit,” the center said.
The ship’s captain later saw that “a missile splashed in close proximity to the vessel” as it traveled in the southern Red Sea near the Bab el-Mandeb Strait connecting to the Gulf of Aden in the first attack late Sunday night, the British military’s United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations center said in an alert. The attack happened some 30 miles (48 kilometers) west of Yemen port city of Mocha.
On Monday, another attack some 70 miles (112 kilometers) southeast of Aden in the Gulf of Aden similarly saw a missile splash down close to the vessel, the UKMTO said.
“The vessel and crew are safe and proceeding to its next port of call,” the UKMTO added.
The Houthis did not immediately claim the attacks. However, it can take the group hours or even days to acknowledge their assaults.
The Houthis have targeted more than 90 merchant vessels with missiles and drones since the war in Gaza started in October 2023. They seized one vessel and sank two in the campaign, which also killed four sailors. Other missiles and drones have either been intercepted by a US-led coalition in the Red Sea or failed to reach their targets, which have included Western military vessels as well.
The Houthis maintain that they target ships linked to Israel, the US or the UK to force an end to Israel’s military campaign against Hamas in Gaza. The Joint Maritime Information Center said the Anadolu S had an “indirect association to Israel.” However, many of the ships attacked have little or no connection to the conflict, including some bound for Iran.
The Houthis have shot down multiple American MQ-9 Reaper drones as well.
In their last attack on Nov. 11, two US Navy warships targeted with multiple drones and missiles as they were traveling through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, but the attacks were not successful.

Topics: Red Sea Houthi attacks Gaza Lebanon;

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Nearly 100 food aid trucks violently looted in Gaza, UN agencies say

Updated 29 min 47 sec ago
Reuters
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Nearly 100 food aid trucks violently looted in Gaza, UN agencies say

  • This is one of the worst aid losses during 13 months of war in the besieged enclave
  • 98 of 109 trucks in convoy were raided and some transporters were injured
Updated 29 min 47 sec ago
Reuters

GENEVA/CAIRO: Nearly 100 trucks carrying food for Palestinians were violently looted on Nov. 16 after entering Gaza in one of the worst aid losses during 13 months of war in the enclave, where hunger is deepening, two UN agencies told Reuters on Monday.
The convoy transporting food provided by UN agencies UNRWA and the World Food Programme was instructed by Israel to depart at short notice via an unfamiliar route from Kerem Shalom border crossing, said Louise Wateridge, UNRWA Senior Emergency Officer.
Ninety-eight of the 109 trucks in the convoy were raided and some of the transporters were injured during the incident, she said, without detailing who carried out the ambush.
“This ... highlights the severity of access challenges of bringing aid into southern and central Gaza,” she told Reuters.
“⁠The urgency of the crisis cannot be overstated; without immediate intervention, severe food shortages are set to worsen, further endangering the lives of over two million people who depend on humanitarian aid to survive.”
The Hamas TV channel Al-Aqsa quoted Hamas interior ministry sources in Gaza as saying that over 20 gang members involved in looting aid trucks were killed during an operation carried out by Hamas security forces in coordination with tribal committees.
It said anyone caught aiding such looting would be treated with “an iron fist.”
A WFP spokesperson confirmed the looting and said that many routes in Gaza were currently impassable due to security issues.
An Israeli official said Israel had been working to address the humanitarian situation since the start of its war against Hamas, adding that the main problem with aid deliveries was UN distribution challenges.
A UN aid official said on Friday that access for aid to Gaza had reached a low point, with deliveries to parts of the Israeli-besieged north of the enclave all but impossible. Israel’s devastating military campaign in Gaza was triggered by the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel. 

 

Topics: Gaza Israel

UNESCO ‘enhanced protection’ for 34 Lebanon heritage sites

Updated 40 min 1 sec ago
AFP
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UNESCO ‘enhanced protection’ for 34 Lebanon heritage sites

  • Baalbek and Tyre ‘will receive technical and financial assistance from UNESCO’
Updated 40 min 1 sec ago
AFP

PARIS: Dozens of heritage sites in Lebanon were granted “provisional enhanced protection” by UNESCO on Monday, offering a higher level of legal shielding as fighting continues between Israel and Hezbollah militants.
The 34 cultural properties affected “now benefit from the highest level of immunity against attack and use for military purposes,” the United Nations cultural body said in a statement.
Several Israeli strikes in recent weeks on Baalbek in the east and Tyre in the south — both strongholds of Iran-backed Hezbollah — hit close to ancient Roman ruins designated as World Heritage sites.
UNESCO said the decision “helps send a signal to the entire international community of the urgent need to protect these sites.”
“Non-compliance with these clauses would constitute ‘serious violations’ of the 1954 Hague Convention and... potential grounds for prosecution,” it added.
Hezbollah and Israel have been at war since late September, when Israel broadened its focus from fighting Hamas in the Gaza Strip to securing its northern border, even as the Gaza war plows on.
UNESCO’s move followed an appeal Sunday by hundreds of cultural professionals, including archaeologists and academics, to activate the enhanced protection.
Baalbek and Tyre “will receive technical and financial assistance from UNESCO to reinforce their legal protections, improve risk anticipation and management measures, and provide further training for site managers,” the body said.

Topics: Battlefield Lebanon Lebanon UNESCO Israel Hezbollah

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Refugees who escaped from war-torn Tuti Island speak of hunger, disease

A Sudanese army soldier mans a machine gun on top of a military pickup truck outside a hospital in Omdurman on November 2, 2024.
Updated 48 min 52 sec ago
AFP
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Refugees who escaped from war-torn Tuti Island speak of hunger, disease

  • Charity kitchens have been forced to close in Tuti and elsewhere in the capital Khartoum due to lack of funding and supplies, and high prices
Updated 48 min 52 sec ago
AFP

JUBA: Mohammed Awad and his family are among dozens who escaped Sudan’s Tuti Island earlier this year amid a siege by the Rapid Support Forces, finding refuge at a shelter after surviving for months on scant food and the risk of disease.
The island in the middle of the Nile serves as a microcosm for the devastation unleashed by a war that began in April 2023.
More than 61,000 people are estimated to have died in Khartoum state during the first 14 months of Sudan’s war, significantly more than previously recorded, according to a new report.
Activists report that the Rapid Support Forces charged people large sums to evacuate them.

HIGHLIGHT

More than 61,000 people are estimated to have died in Khartoum state during the first 14 months of Sudan’s war.

“There is no good food, and there’s a lot of diseases, there is no sleep, no safety,” Awad said, holding one of his children at the shelter for displaced residents in Omdurman, an army-controlled refuge. The island is one of 14 places across Sudan at risk of famine, according to experts. Dengue fever has ravaged Tuti, a close-knit farming community.
Sarah Siraj, a mother who left with her two children, said six or seven people were dying daily, and that she was only able to have her children treated for dengue, a mosquito-borne disease, once she reached Omdurman.
Charity kitchens have been forced to close in Tuti and elsewhere in the capital Khartoum due to lack of funding and supplies, and high prices.
Rabeea Abdel Gader, a nutrition guide, has been treating newly arrived families at a city shelter.
“We ask the mother about what they eat ... Sometimes the mother responds with her tears,” she said.
Meanwhile, Russia vetoed a UN Security Council resolution on Monday calling for an immediate end to hostilities in Sudan.

 

Topics: Sudan Unrest Sudan

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