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Three-quarters of Gaza’s telecom towers out of service
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WFP suspends food distribution in Rafah
The UN’s food agency says it has run out of stocks in southern Rafah and has suspended food aid distributions there since May 11.
The UN’s food agency says it has run out of stocks in southern Rafah and has suspended food aid distributions there since May 11.
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At least 600,000 Palestinians have fled the Rafah district since the start of the Israeli military incursion.
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More than 15,000 children killed in Gaza: Red Crescent
The Palestine Red Crescent Society has reported that more than 15,000 children have been killed in Gaza.
Since October 7, more than 35,000 people have been killed by Israeli attacks on the besieged enclave. About 500 Palestinians have also been killed in attacks by Israeli forces and settlers across the occupied West Bank.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society has reported that more than 15,000 children have been killed in Gaza.
Since October 7, more than 35,000 people have been killed by Israeli attacks on the besieged enclave. About 500 Palestinians have also been killed in attacks by Israeli forces and settlers across the occupied West Bank.
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The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is holding hearings to discuss a request by South Africa seeking additional emergency measures over Israel’s offensive on Rafah, a city in southern Gaza where more than one million displaced Palestinians sought shelter from Israel’s war.
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South Africa began presenting its public oral argument at The Hague-based court at 13:00 GMT. Israel is scheduled to provide its views on Friday at 08:00 GMT.
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Attack on Rafah is ‘final blow’ to Palestinians
Continuing his statement on behalf of South Africa’s delegation, Professor Dugard has called Gaza’s southern province of Rafah, where Israel’s military is currently operating, the “last viable part” of the enclave for civilians.
By going ahead with its long-sought invasion there, Israel has severed off “critical border crossings”, stopping the flow of humanitarian aid, medical supplies, and fuel upon which the population depends”, he said.
Israel’s actions violate fundamental principles of humanitarian law and constitute a “final blow” to suffering Palestinians in Gaza, said Dugard. They also provide evidence of the “crime of genocide”.
Continuing his statement on behalf of South Africa’s delegation, Professor Dugard has called Gaza’s southern province of Rafah, where Israel’s military is currently operating, the “last viable part” of the enclave for civilians.
By going ahead with its long-sought invasion there, Israel has severed off “critical border crossings”, stopping the flow of humanitarian aid, medical supplies, and fuel upon which the population depends”, he said.
Israel’s actions violate fundamental principles of humanitarian law and constitute a “final blow” to suffering Palestinians in Gaza, said Dugard. They also provide evidence of the “crime of genocide”.
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Self-defence is not license to commit ‘unlimited violence’: Lowe
Lowe says Israel’s argument that it is acting in self-defence in Gaza fails due to three main points:
A state’s right to self-defence does not give it the right to “unlimited violence”.
Self-defence cannot justify genocide. “The prohibition on genocide is absolute”, says Lowe.
A state’s right to self-defence does not apply to a territory it occupies.
Lowe says Israel’s argument that it is acting in self-defence in Gaza fails due to three main points:
A state’s right to self-defence does not give it the right to “unlimited violence”.
Self-defence cannot justify genocide. “The prohibition on genocide is absolute”, says Lowe.
A state’s right to self-defence does not apply to a territory it occupies.
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Israel cannot claim lack of evidence after ‘blocking investigations’
Lawyer Vaughan Lowe, speaking for the South African delegation, says it is inconsistent for Israel to block investigators in Gaza while simultaneously arguing against the ICJ proceeding due to “insufficient evidence”.
“The court has to deal with the case based on the best evidence available to it,” he says.
Lawyer Vaughan Lowe, speaking for the South African delegation, says it is inconsistent for Israel to block investigators in Gaza while simultaneously arguing against the ICJ proceeding due to “insufficient evidence”.
“The court has to deal with the case based on the best evidence available to it,” he says.
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Professor Vaughan Lowe is now speaking
South Africa’s second representative has taken the floor.
He says that since South Africa made the request, “it has become increasingly clear that Israel’s actions in Rafah are part of the end game in which Gaza is utterly destroyed”.
“This is the last step in the destruction of Gaza and its Palestinian people,” he says.
“It was Rafah that brought South Africa to the court, but it is all Palestinians as a national ethnic and racial group who need the protection from genocide that the court can order” he says.
Addressing the claims made by Israel that it is doing everything in its power to avoid civilian deaths and denials that there is a famine in the enclave, he says, “There is no credible argument that this catastrophe is not real.”
South Africa’s second representative has taken the floor.
He says that since South Africa made the request, “it has become increasingly clear that Israel’s actions in Rafah are part of the end game in which Gaza is utterly destroyed”.
“This is the last step in the destruction of Gaza and its Palestinian people,” he says.
“It was Rafah that brought South Africa to the court, but it is all Palestinians as a national ethnic and racial group who need the protection from genocide that the court can order” he says.
Addressing the claims made by Israel that it is doing everything in its power to avoid civilian deaths and denials that there is a famine in the enclave, he says, “There is no credible argument that this catastrophe is not real.”
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South African ambassador: Ongoing genocide ‘shocks conscience of humanity’
Ambassador Madonsela says South Africa has returned to the court to “do what it can to stop the genocide”, which he says has almost “knocked Gaza off the map” and “shocked the conscience of humanity”.
He says that since the ICJ first ordered Israel to implement measures to prevent genocidal acts, Israel has “willfully breached the binding orders of the court”, escalating its attacks on Palestinians.
The gravity of the attacks requires the court’s “urgent and speedy proceedings to preserve the rights of the Palestinian people, a commitment that South Africa takes seriously”.
Ambassador Madonsela says South Africa has returned to the court to “do what it can to stop the genocide”, which he says has almost “knocked Gaza off the map” and “shocked the conscience of humanity”.
He says that since the ICJ first ordered Israel to implement measures to prevent genocidal acts, Israel has “willfully breached the binding orders of the court”, escalating its attacks on Palestinians.
The gravity of the attacks requires the court’s “urgent and speedy proceedings to preserve the rights of the Palestinian people, a commitment that South Africa takes seriously”.
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South Africa begins opening remarks
Vusi Madonsela, South Africa’s ambassador to the Netherlands, is now delivering the South African delegation’s opening statement in today’s hearing.
He thanked the court for setting the hearing at the “earliest possible date” given the “urgency of the situation” in Gaza’s southern province of Rafah, where an Israeli military operation is under way.
We’ll bring you more of his opening remarks shortly.
Vusi Madonsela, South Africa’s ambassador to the Netherlands, is now delivering the South African delegation’s opening statement in today’s hearing.
He thanked the court for setting the hearing at the “earliest possible date” given the “urgency of the situation” in Gaza’s southern province of Rafah, where an Israeli military operation is under way.
We’ll bring you more of his opening remarks shortly.
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‘Israel has defied court by trapping, besieging and bombarding overcrowded Rafah’
Professor Max du Plessis has now taken the floor.
Here are his opening remarks:
My task is to address this court on the new facts and the grave changes in the situation in Rafah that is fast leading to the deadliest phase of this ongoing genocide.
Those are the circumstances that compel South Africa to return to the court to seek urgent further or modified provisional measures against Israel.
Judges of this court have recognised that the underlying reason for the court’s January and March orders was that the very right of existence of the Palestinian population in Gaza is currently at risk of irreparable prejudice and that the only effective way of preserving the right of existence of the protected group is through the function of prevention.
South Africa seeks these provisional measures before it’s too late for prevention to be possible, let alone effective
This court noted that the situation in Rafah was already perilous in its decision of February 16.
And instead of complying with this court’s decisions of January, February and March, Israel has defied this court by trapping, besieging and bombarding an overcrowded Rafah exacerbating the security and the safety of 1.5 million highly vulnerable Palestinians.
No one in Gaza is safe because as the United Nations has repeatedly made it clear: Nowhere in Gaza is safe.
Professor Max du Plessis has now taken the floor.
Here are his opening remarks:
My task is to address this court on the new facts and the grave changes in the situation in Rafah that is fast leading to the deadliest phase of this ongoing genocide.
Those are the circumstances that compel South Africa to return to the court to seek urgent further or modified provisional measures against Israel.
Judges of this court have recognised that the underlying reason for the court’s January and March orders was that the very right of existence of the Palestinian population in Gaza is currently at risk of irreparable prejudice and that the only effective way of preserving the right of existence of the protected group is through the function of prevention.
South Africa seeks these provisional measures before it’s too late for prevention to be possible, let alone effective
This court noted that the situation in Rafah was already perilous in its decision of February 16.
And instead of complying with this court’s decisions of January, February and March, Israel has defied this court by trapping, besieging and bombarding an overcrowded Rafah exacerbating the security and the safety of 1.5 million highly vulnerable Palestinians.
No one in Gaza is safe because as the United Nations has repeatedly made it clear: Nowhere in Gaza is safe.
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‘The necessity could not be starker’
Here are the final remarks from Professor Max du Plessis:
Fears for the Emirati hospital are particularly acute. This is one of the last partially functioning maternity hospitals in the whole of Gaza which was until recently handling almost half of Gaza’s daily total of 180 births.
It has already been forced to stop admitting patients and medics warn that without a doubt every single one of the 45 babies in the neonatal intensive care unit and the special intensive care unit will day if the hospital is occupied.
And then on May 13, medical staff at the Kuwaiti received an evacuation order from Israeli forces. As one of the last remaining hospitals in Rafah, it had only around 16 beds available for the more than one million people sheltering in Rafah. Its closure will mean the complete collapse of the limping healthcare system in Rafah.
Israel’s ground incursion into Rafah has been described by the UN as one of the darkest morning in this seven-month nightmare.
With Rafah’s destruction ongoing as South Africa speaks to this court today, the destruction of Gaza itself will be complete.
The change in the situation in Gaza and the new facts in Rafah that I have described demand the provisional measures.
The necessity could not be starker. The magnitude and the gravity of the situation facing the Palestinian people in Gaza is now exemplified in Rafah.
South Africa has thus been motivated to come urgently to this court to prevent the destruction of the final Palestinian governorate of Gaza with its homes, its hospitals, its schools, its libraries, its businesses, shelters, mosques to which Israel has not yet laid complete waste.
South Africa has come quickly as possible to the court to ensure that the exhausted Palestinian men women and children who have sought refuge in Rafah are protected from a bloodbath.
Here are the final remarks from Professor Max du Plessis:
Fears for the Emirati hospital are particularly acute. This is one of the last partially functioning maternity hospitals in the whole of Gaza which was until recently handling almost half of Gaza’s daily total of 180 births.
It has already been forced to stop admitting patients and medics warn that without a doubt every single one of the 45 babies in the neonatal intensive care unit and the special intensive care unit will day if the hospital is occupied.
And then on May 13, medical staff at the Kuwaiti received an evacuation order from Israeli forces. As one of the last remaining hospitals in Rafah, it had only around 16 beds available for the more than one million people sheltering in Rafah. Its closure will mean the complete collapse of the limping healthcare system in Rafah.
Israel’s ground incursion into Rafah has been described by the UN as one of the darkest morning in this seven-month nightmare.
With Rafah’s destruction ongoing as South Africa speaks to this court today, the destruction of Gaza itself will be complete.
The change in the situation in Gaza and the new facts in Rafah that I have described demand the provisional measures.
The necessity could not be starker. The magnitude and the gravity of the situation facing the Palestinian people in Gaza is now exemplified in Rafah.
South Africa has thus been motivated to come urgently to this court to prevent the destruction of the final Palestinian governorate of Gaza with its homes, its hospitals, its schools, its libraries, its businesses, shelters, mosques to which Israel has not yet laid complete waste.
South Africa has come quickly as possible to the court to ensure that the exhausted Palestinian men women and children who have sought refuge in Rafah are protected from a bloodbath.
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Attacks on Rafah show ‘genocidal intent’
Continuing his statement, Professor Max du Plessis says ongoing Israeli attacks on Rafah, the area it previously ordered civilians to evacuate to, clearly indicate “genocidal intent”.
Continuing his statement, Professor Max du Plessis says ongoing Israeli attacks on Rafah, the area it previously ordered civilians to evacuate to, clearly indicate “genocidal intent”.
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Al Jadeed: For the first time in history, a Hezbollah drone launches a missile towards an Israeli position.
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GMO: By the murder of Dr Anwar Shaladan in Al Zaytoun neighbourhood, Israeli occupation has MURDERED over 100 scientists and academics including many had worked in NASA and other international institutions since the start of the ongoing onslaught in #Gaza!
#GazaGenocide
#GazaGenocide