Israeli president Herzog: genocide claim at international court ‘atrocious and preposterous’
Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, said on Tuesday that “there is nothing more atrocious and preposterous” than the lawsuit filed in the international court of justice (ICJ) accusing Israel of genocidal actions against Palestinians in the Gaza war.
Speaking to the visiting US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, Reuters reports Herzog censured South Africa for bringing the case, which is due to begin hearings on Thursday, and thanked Washington for its support of Israel.
More than 23,000 Palestinians are said by the health ministry there to have been killed by Israeli military action in the 13-and-a-half weeks since 7 October, with more than 85% of Palestinians in Gaza displaced from their homes by order of the Israeli military. Independent experts estimate as much as 40% of the housing in Gaza has already been damaged or destroyed by the Israeli assault.
The UN has previously said that 40% of the population in Gaza is at risk of starvation, with limited humanitarian aid getting into the territory. Israel insists on inspecting all aid delivered, and has periodically cut off utilities and communications within Gaza.
Key events
An Israeli actor known for his role on the hit Netflix show “Fauda” has been seriously injured while fighting in the Gaza Strip, according to Israeli media reports.
Idan Amedi, 35, was wounded from shrapnel and airlifted from Gaza to Sheba medical centre at Tel Hashomer, where he was sedated and is undergoing treatment, the Jerusalem Post reported. His injuries are serious but not life-threatening, the outlet said.
Amedi had been carrying out reserve duty in the Combat Engineering Corps when he was injured, the Times of Israel reported.
Amedi played rookie undercover agent Sagi Tzur in “Fauda”, which follows a team of undercover agents from Israel’s domestic security agency, Shin Bet, in their operations against Palestinians.
While the show is critically acclaimed, some Palestinians say it trivialises their experience under Israel’s open-ended military occupation of the West Bank, according to AP.
Two British hostages still held in Gaza
Two British nationals are still being held in Gaza, the UK’s foreign secretary, David Cameron, has confirmed.
Cameron, addressing the foreign affairs committee, said:
There are two British nationals who remain as hostages. I don’t want to make any further comment on them.
Asked whether it is known if they are still alive, he replied:
I just don’t want to say any more. We don’t have any information to share with you.
Summary of the day so far …
It is 5pm in Gaza City, Tel Aviv and Beirut. Here are the latest headlines …
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The Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah has launched explosive drones at a key Israeli command base, declaring the attack part of its response to recent high-level Israeli assassinations in Lebanon. Hezbollah announced it launched “a number of explosive attack drones” at the Israeli northern military command in Safed, the first time it has targeted the site. An Israeli army spokesperson said there had been no damage or casualties.
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Shortly afterwards, Israel killed two more Hezbollah members, including one at the funeral of a senior commander in the group’s elite Radwan force who had been killed the day before. The escalating violence came as the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, tours the Middle East in an attempt to prevent the war between Israel and Hamas from spreading regionally.
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Hezbollah deputy leader, Naim Qassem, said in a televised speech on Tuesday that his group did not want to expand the war from Lebanon, “but if Israel expands, the response is inevitable to the maximum extent required to deter Israel”. Qassem added that Israel’s wave of targeted killings “cannot lead to a phase of retreat but rather to a push forward for the resistance”. Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, told a senior UN official on Tuesday that his country was ready for talks on long-term stability with Israel.
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Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, said on Tuesday that “there is nothing more atrocious and preposterous” than the lawsuit filed in the international court of justice (ICJ) accusing Israel of genocidal actions against Palestinians in the Gaza war. Herzog censured South Africa for bringing the case, which is due to begin hearings on Thursday. Herzog added Israel must win “because it is a war that affects international values and the values of the free world”.
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A total of 23,210 Palestinians have been killed and 59,167 have been wounded in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement. About 126 Palestinians were killed and 241 were wounded in the previous 24 hours. The health ministry in Gaza is run by Hamas.
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Israel’s military has said it has expanded its ground operation in the city of Khan Younis inside the Gaza Strip. The IDF claims that “dozens of terrorists were killed” and “large quantities of weapons and underground terror tunnel shafts were located”. The claims have not been independently verified.
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The Israeli military said on Tuesday nine more soldiers had been killed in Gaza, bringing its total war losses there to 187. Earlier on Tuesday, the military said four soldiers had been killed. The updated figure of nine, all killed on Monday, followed notification of families. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
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Families of some of the hostages protested at the Kerem Shalom border crossing, stating that their aim was to prevent humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip. It is estimated that at least 130 hostages are still being held captive by Hamas since being seized inside southern Israel and abducted on 7 October.
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A US airstrike on a rocket launcher late on Monday foiled an attack on Ain al-Asad airbase, which hosts US and other international forces in western Iraq.
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The global shipping company Hapag-Lloyd has said it will continue to route cargo via the Cape of Good Hope as it still considers the situation in the Red Sea “dangerous”.
Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister, Najib Mikati, told a senior UN official on Tuesday that his country was ready for talks on long-term stability with Israel.
Mikati’s office said in a statement he met the UN undersecretary general for peace operations, Jean-Pierre Lacroix, in Beirut to reiterate “Lebanon’s readiness to enter negotiations to achieve a long-term process of stability in southern Lebanon”.
Israel and Lebanon have been divided for over two decades by the blue line drawn by the UN in 2000.
“We seek permanent stability and call for a lasting peaceful solution – but in return we receive warnings through international envoys about a war on Lebanon,” Reuters reports Mikati said.
“The position I repeat to these delegates is: Do you support the idea of destruction? Is what is happening in Gaza acceptable?”
Violence has forced tens of thousands of people to flee on both sides of the blue line.
Israel has said it is giving a chance for diplomacy to prevent Hezbollah firing on people living in its north and to push Hezbollah back from the border, warning that the Israeli army will otherwise take action to achieve these aims.
Mikati’s statement did not specify the type of negotiations to which Lebanon would be open.
Here is a map illustrating where two of the key events have been today in the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah across the UN-drawn blue line that separates Israel and Lebanon.
Hezbollah attacked an Israeli military base in Safed with drones. Israel’s military reported no casualties. Hezbollah says three of its fighters were killed in an Israeli strike in the village of Ghandouriyeh in southern Lebanon.
A few hours after the drone strike on Safed, an Israeli attack hit a car in the village of Kherbet Selm, where senior Hezbollah figure Wissam al-Tawil’s funeral was taking place. It is believed to have killed one person close to the home of Tawil’s brother, according to the village head.
Palestinian news agency Wafa is reporting multiple activites by Israeli security forces in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. It reports a Palestinian youth was shot by Israeli forces on Tuesday afternoon near the Ein Sinya checkpoint, north of the city of Ramallah.
Israeli forces also, it says, blew up the homes of two Palestinians in the town of Sur Baher, south of Jerusalem. Security forces had closed the two houses last month by welding the doors and windows to prevent entry into them. The two brothers the houses belonged to, Murad, 38, and Ibrahim Nimr, 30, were killed by Israeli security forces in November.
Wafa also reports 14 citizens were injured on Tuesday morning by Israeli forces east of Nablus.
Thousands of mourners have attended the funeral of the Hezbollah commander Wissam Tawil in south Lebanon. His coffin was draped in Hezbollah’s yellow flag as it was carried through the streets of his village.
Air France will resume flights to Israel from 24 January, Reuters reports. Many foreign carriers halted flights to Israel at the outset of the war. Lufthansa, Swiss and Austrian resumed flights to Israel this week.
Associated Press are carrying some more quotes from World Health Organization (WHO) officials about the perilous state of healthcare inside the Gaza Strip after weeks of Israeli bombardment.
Speaking to a UN briefing in Geneva by video from the southern Gaza city of Rafah, Sean Casey, WHO’s emergency medical teams coordinator based in southern Rafah, decried dire food shortages in the north. He said some health workers are now fleeing out of fear for their own lives – after sticking it out for months to treat patients.
“I’ve been in Gaza for five weeks. I have not seen a lowering of the intensity of the conflict,” he said. “I went to Nasser medical complex just a few days ago and saw multiple explosions just in the few minutes that I was driving down the roads.”
Dr Rik Peeperkorn, WHO representative for the occupied Palestinian territory, said from Jerusalem that in addition to the more than 23,000 people killed, nearly 59,000 people had been injured.
He cited multiple trauma cases: “Spinal trauma, crush injuries, severe burns, amputees … I’ve never seen so many amputees in my life, including among children.”
“This will have such a long-term impact for everything,” he said.
Emissions from Israel’s war in Gaza have ‘immense’ effect on climate catastrophe
Nina Lakhani
The planet-warming emissions generated during the first two months of the war in Gaza were greater than the annual carbon footprint of more than 20 of the world’s most climate-vulnerable nations, new research reveals.
The vast majority (99%) of the 281,000 metric tonnes of carbon dioxide (CO2 equivalent) estimated to have been generated in the first 60 days following the 7 October Hamas attack can be attributed to Israel’s aerial bombardment and ground invasion of Gaza, according to a first-of-its-kind analysis by researchers in the UK and US.
According to the study, which is based on only a handful of carbon-intensive activities and is therefore probably a significant underestimate, the climate cost of the first 60 days of Israel’s military response was equivalent to burning at least 150,000 tonnes of coal.
The analysis, which is yet to be peer reviewed, includes CO2 from aircraft missions, tanks and fuel from other vehicles, as well as emissions generated by making and exploding the bombs, artillery and rockets. It does not include other planet-warming gases such as methane. Almost half the total CO2 emissions were down to US cargo planes flying military supplies to Israel.
What is the ICJ and what is South Africa’s claim against Israel?
Helen Livingstone
As we have reported, Israel’s president has criticised the claim of genocide brought by South Africa to the international court of justice. But what exactly is the ICJ and what impact could the case against Israel have?
What is the ICJ?
The international court of justice (ICJ) – not to be confused with the international criminal court (ICC), which tries individuals for war crimes – is the UN’s top court. Established in 1945, it is based in The Hague and rules on disputes between countries as well as giving advisory opinions.
It has 15 judges – which will be expanded by an additional judge from each side in the Israel case – elected for nine-year terms by the UN general assembly and the security council.
What is the case that South Africa has brought against Israel?
South Africa has accused Israel of genocide in its campaign against Hamas in Gaza, saying among other things that it has the “specific intent … to destroy Palestinians in Gaza as a part of the broader Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group”.
In its 84-page filing it also says Israel has failed to prevent genocide and failed to prosecute officials who have publicly incited genocide.
Read on here:
Hani Mahmoud, reporting for Al Jazeera from Rafah, has described the health situation there as “dire”.
He writes that he can see wounded being taken into the Kuwaiti hospital there, but notes that with more than half of Gaza’s population squeezed into the tiny area, “there are no large hospitals, only mid-sized hospitals or smaller centres and clinics”.
Earlier today a spokesperson for the World Health Organization warned of “an intensification of hostilities” near the European Gaza hospital in Khan Younis, farther north in the Gaza Strip, saying that “we are seeing the health system collapse at a very rapid pace”.
We reported earlier that family members of some of those kidnapped on 7 October and still being held by Hamas in Gaza were protesting at the Kerem Shalom border crossing between Israel and Gaza. Here are some pictures from the protest.
An estimated 240 people were seized from southern Israel on 7 October and abducted into Gaza. Just over 100 of those have subseqently been released. The status and health of those remaining in captivity is unclear.
The Israeli military said on Tuesday nine more soldiers had been killed in Gaza, bringing its total war losses there to 187.
Earlier on Tuesday, the military said four soldiers had been killed. The updated figure of nine, all killed on Monday, followed notification of families.
Reuters reports most of the latest fatalities were said to be from engineering units operating in south and central Gaza.
Summary of the day so far …
It has just gone 12.30pm in Gaza City and in Tel Aviv. Here are the headlines …
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Israel’s president, Isaac Herzog, said on Tuesday that “there is nothing more atrocious and preposterous” than the lawsuit filed in the international court of justice (ICJ) accusing Israel of genocidal actions against Palestinians in the Gaza war. Speaking to the visiting US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, Reuters reports Herzog censured South Africa for bringing the case, which is due to begin hearings on Thursday. Herzog added Israel must win “because it is a war that affects international values and the values of the free world”.
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A total of 23,210 Palestinians have been killed and 59,167 have been wounded in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement. About 126 Palestinians were killed and 241 were wounded in the previous 24 hours. The health ministry in Gaza is run by Hamas, and it has not been possible for journalists to independently verify casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
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An Israeli army spokesperson said a northern base was hit in an aerial attack but there had been no damage or casualties, after Hezbollah claimed to have targeted the Israeli army headquarters in Safed with drones. Hezbollah said its drones had hit the Israeli army headquarters in Safed as part of retaliation for last week’s killing of deputy Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut, and in response to Monday’s killing of a Hezbollah commander.
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Three Hezbollah fighters killed on Tuesday died in an Israeli strike on their vehicle in the town of Ghandouriyeh in the south of Lebanon. Israel’s military said its fighter jets attacked “terrorist infrastructures” in southern Lebanon on Tuesday morning.
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Israel’s military has said it has expanded its ground operation in the city of Khan Younis inside the Gaza Strip. The IDF claims that “dozens of terrorists were killed” and “large quantities of weapons and underground terror tunnel shafts were located”. The claims have not been independently verified. The Israeli military has also published the names of four more soldiers who have died in Gaza, bringing the total number of those killed in the territory to 182.
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Israel’s military announced a “temporary tactical suspension of military activities for humanitarian purposes” in south-east Deir al-Balah inside the Gaza Strip. It says the pause will run from 10am (0800 GMT) and 2pm (noon GMT) “for the purpose of supply”.
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The Times of Israel is reporting that “a high-level Israeli delegation” arrived for talks in Cairo on Monday night, which it says is an indication that “indirect talks” about freeing hostages held by Hamas in Gaza are “back on track”.
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Families of some of the hostages protested at the Kerem Shalom border crossing, stating that their aim was to prevent humanitarian aid entering the Gaza Strip. It is estimated that at least 130 hostages are still being held captive by Hamas since being seized inside southern Israel and abducted on 7 October.
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A US airstrike on a rocket launcher late on Monday foiled an attack on Ain al-Asad airbase, which hosts US and other international forces in western Iraq.
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The global shipping company Hapag-Lloyd has said it will continue to route cargo via the Cape of Good Hope as it still considers the situation in the Red Sea “dangerous”.
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The UN rights office has said it is “very concerned” by the number of journalists killed in the war in Gaza, a day after two Al Jazeera reporters were killed in an alleged Israeli strike on their car. The killing of journalists “must be thoroughly, independently investigated to ensure strict compliance with international law, and violations prosecuted”, the UN office said on Monday.
Israel says ‘no damage or casualties’ after Hezbollah drone attack on an army base in northern Israel
An Israeli army spokesperson said a northern base was hit in an aerial attack but there had been no damage or casualties, after Hezbollah claimed to have targeted the Israeli army headquarters in Safed with drones.
Reuters reports Hezbollah said its drones had hit the Israeli army headquarters in Safed as part of retaliation for last week’s killing of the deputy Hamas leader Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut, and in response to Monday’s killing of a Hezbollah commander.
A source familiar with Hezbollah operations said it marked the first time the group had attacked Safed, about 14km (8 miles) from the border, during hostilities that began three months ago after Hamas attacked Israel. More than 130 Hezbollah fighters have been killed in Lebanon since 7 October.
Three Hezbollah fighters killed on Tuesday died in a strike on their vehicle in the town of Ghandouriyeh in the south of Lebanon, the sources said, without identifying them.
The Hezbollah commander killed on Monday, Wissam al-Tawil, was a commander in Hezbollah’s elite Radwan force and the most senior Hezbollah officer killed so far in the conflict.
The Hezbollah deputy leader, Naim Qassem, in a televised speech on Tuesday, said his group did not want to expand the war from Lebanon, “but if Israel expands, the response is inevitable to the maximum extent required to deter Israel”.
Emily Foster is a globe-trotting journalist based in the UK. Her articles offer readers a global perspective on international events, exploring complex geopolitical issues and providing a nuanced view of the world’s most pressing challenges.
