middle-east
Key takeaways from UN court’s ruling on Israel’s war in Gaza
The U.N. world court on Friday came down hard on Israel’s war on Hamas in the Gaza Strip, calling on Israel to “take all measures” to prevent a genocide of the Palestinians. But it stopped short of demanding an immediate cease-fire, as the South African sponsors of the case had hoped.
All sides tried to claim victory with the ruling, seizing on different elements that buttressed their positions.
Israel celebrated the court’s rejection of the cease-fire request and said it had endorsed the country’s right to self-defense. Yet harsh criticism of Israel’s campaign in Gaza could further dent its image in the court of public opinion.
The Palestinians welcomed what amounted to an overwhelming rebuke of Israel’s wartime tactics by a lopsided majority of judges over the heavy death toll and humanitarian disaster in Gaza. The six measures in the ruling were approved by margins of 15-2 and 16-1, with even Israel’s representative on the court joining the majority on two of the questions.
As Israel presses ahead with its offensive, Friday’s ruling adds to the growing international criticism of Israel and could put more pressure on it to scale back or halt the operation altogether.
Airstrikes in central Gaza kill 15 overnight while fighting intensifies in the enclave's south
Here are some takeaways from Friday’s ruling:
NO RULING ON GENOCIDE
The court did not rule on the core issue of whether Israel’s devastating military offensive against Hamas amounts to genocide. That question likely won’t be answered by the court for years.
But it did not rule out the possibility that Israel is conducting genocidal acts. In imposing “provisional measures,” the court found that concerns about possible genocide merit further review.
It called on Israel “to take all measures within its power” and “ensure with immediate effect” that its military does not commit genocidal acts, including those causing the unnecessary deaths of Palestinians or humanitarian suffering.
It also called on Israel to prevent “public incitement to commit genocide,” pointing to a series of inflammatory statements by Israeli leaders. Israel was ordered to report back to the court within one month on steps it is taking to meet these demands.
The court said it was gravely concerned about the fate of the hostages and called for their immediate and unconditional release. But the decision focused almost entirely on the plight of Gaza’s Palestinian civilians and urged Israel to do more to facilitate the entry of humanitarian aid.
Yuval Shany, an expert on international law at the Israel Democracy Institute think tank, said the ruling was “not great” but could have been worse.
“The finding that South Africa’s claims are plausible is not good,” he said. “But it’s something that Israel can live with.”
Top UN court stops short of ordering cease-fire in Gaza and demands Israel contain deaths
THE WAR GOES ON
Nothing in the court’s ruling requires Israel to halt the war from a legal standpoint.
Israeli leaders vowed Friday to press aheagotchd with the offensive, insisting that they already are in compliance with international law and committed to allowing humanitarian supplies into the besieged territory.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lashed out at the genocide allegation as “outrageous,” noting that the ruling came on the eve of International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Netanyahu pointed out that Hamas, which killed 1,200 and kidnapped 250 on Oct. 7, seeks Israel’s destruction.
Barak Medina, a human rights expert at Hebrew University’s law school, said the effects of the ruling on the battlefield are “marginal.”
He said calls to ramp up humanitarian aid and crack down on incitement might have some small effects on policies. “But in terms of the main aspect of the military operation, one would not expect any change on the ground,” he said.
INCREASED SCRUTINY
While Israel moves ahead on the battlefield, Friday’s ruling shined an additional bright and critical spotlight on the Israeli offensive.
The war, launched in response to Hamas’ Oct. 7 attack, has killed over 26,000 Palestinians and led to widespread destruction, displacement and disease, according to local health officials and international aid agencies.
The United States, Israel’s closest and most important ally, has repeatedly voiced concerns about the civilian death toll and the broader international community has repeatedly called for an immediate cease-fire. The tough language adopted by the court, coupled with the requirement to report back to it, added to the global scrutiny and puts more pressure to scale back or stop the offensive.
Merav Michaeli, leader of Israel’s opposition Labor Party, called the ruling a “yellow card” against a government that she said “is causing enormous international damage to the country.”
A former head of the Israeli military’s international law department said the decision would worsen Israel’s global standing and undermine legitimacy for the war.
“It’s a huge threat,” said Pnina Sharvit Baruch, now a senior researcher at Israel’s Institute for National Security Studies. “It eventually impacts also our national security. We need our allies. We cannot manage here on our own.”
UN court keeps genocide case against Israel alive as Gaza death toll surpasses 26,000
PRESSURE ON THE US
Despite its concerns about harm to civilians, the United States has so far backed the Israeli war effort, shielding Israel from international criticism and continuing to deliver weapons to the military.
Friday’s ruling draws unwelcome attention to the U.S. position — a stance that has put it at odds with allies and threatened to hurt President Joe Biden’s standing with the Democratic Party’s progressive wing as he seeks re-election.
“States now have clear legal obligations to stop Israel’s genocidal war on the Palestinian people in Gaza and to make sure that they are not complicit,” the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said.
It said the provisional ruling “should serve as a wakeup call for Israel and actors who enabled its entrenched impunity.”
The ministry is part of the Palestinian Authority, the internationally recognized self-rule government in parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank. The U.S. has said it would like to see a revitalized authority, ousted by Hamas in 2007, return to power in Gaza after the war.
Balkees Jarrah, the associate international justice director at Human Rights Watch, a New York-based group that has accused Israel of committing war crimes in past rounds of fighting, said Friday’s “landmark decision puts Israel and its allies on notice.”
“The court’s clear and binding order raises the stakes for Israel’s allies to back up their stated commitment to a global rules-based order by helping ensure compliance with this watershed ruling,” she said.
Airstrikes in central Gaza kill 15 overnight while fighting intensifies in the enclave's south
Israeli airstrikes on the Nuseirat urban refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip overnight killed at least 15 people, including a 5-month-old baby, as health authorities in the besieged territory said the death toll since the start of the war has surpassed 26,000.
In southern Gaza, Israeli forces pushed further into the city of Khan Younis, where the intensity of the fighting has increased in recent days. The Israeli military on Friday ordered residents of three neighborhoods and the Khan Younis refugee camp to evacuate to a coastal area.
The camp, like others in Gaza, was initially settled by Palestinians who fled or were driven from their homes during the 1948 war surrounding Israel’s creation and has since been built up into a district of the wider city. The leader of Hamas in Gaza, Yehya Sinwar, and the commander of the group’s military wing, Mohammed Deif, both grew up in the Khan Younis refugee camp.
The intense fighting came as the United Nations’ top court on Friday stopped short of ordering a cease-fire in Gaza, as sought by South Africa, which has accused Israel of genocide in its military offensive. Instead the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, demanded that Israel try to contain death and damage. The court also rejected a request by Israel, which rejects the genocide accusation, that the case be thrown out.
Gaza’s Health Ministry said Friday that the number of Palestinians killed since the start of the war stood at 26,083, with 64,487 Palestinians wounded. The ministry does not differentiate between combatants and civilians in its death toll, but has said about two-thirds of those killed were women and children.
Over the last 24 hours, 183 people were killed and 377 others were wounded, ministry spokesman Ashraf al-Qidra said in a statement.
Israel launched its offensive in Gaza after Hamas’s unprecedented attack into Israel on Oct. 7, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and kidnapping about 250. Israel says about 130 hostages remain in Gaza after a round of releases during a brief cease-fire in November, although about 30 are believed to no longer be alive. Israel blames Hamas for the high civilian death toll for positioning fighters and military hardware in dense residential neighborhoods.
Israel's near-complete seal on Gaza has left almost the entire population of 2.3 million reliant on a trickle of international aid able to enter the territory each day. U.N. officials say about a quarter of the population now faces starvation.
Aid groups have struggled to bring food, medicines and other supplies to northern Gaza, where Israel's ground invasion first targeted and where Israel says it now largely has control.
Uday Samir, a 23-year old Gaza City native, said many of the basic foods such as flour, lentils and rice are now impossible to find across the city.
“Now, what is available is animal feed,” said Samir. “We grind it and bake it.”
All supplies enter Gaza in the south, either through the Egyptian-controlled Rafah border crossing or Israel's Kerem Shalom crossing. Aid groups say fighting and Israeli restrictions have made deliveries to the north difficult. When convoys do travel north, supplies are often snatched by hungry Palestinian before the trucks reach their destination.
Israel's assault is now focused on Khan Younis and a number of refugee camps in central Gaza,
The Israeli military said its troops were engaging in close urban combat with Hamas fighters across neighborhoods of Khan Younis, calling in airstrikes and attack helicopters to hit militants spotted with RPGs and weapons. Earlier this week, it also ordered the evacuation of most of the western half of the city. Hamas has also reported that its fighters are battling Israeli forces in the heart of the city.
Further north, the bodies of 15 people, including seven members of one family, were taken to the Al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital in Deir al-Balah in central Gaza, an AP journalist at the hospital said. The 15 were killed during separate strikes on two apartment buildings in Nuseirat, which lies just below the demarcation line between the northern and southern portions of the territory, drawn by Israel early in the war.
The offensive has decimated large swathes of the territory, and the United Nations and other aid agencies have warned of a humanitarian disaster. More than 80% of Gaza’s 2.3 million population has been displaced.
Top UN court stops short of ordering cease-fire in Gaza and demands Israel contain deaths
The United Nations’ top court stopped short Friday of ordering a cease-fire in Gaza in a genocide case but demanded that Israel try to contain death and damage in its military offensive in the tiny coastal enclave.
South Africa brought the case, which goes to the core of one of the world’s most intractable conflicts, and had asked the court to order Israel to halt its operation.
In the highly anticipated decision made by a panel of 17 judges, the International Court of Justice decided not to throw out the case — and ordered six so-called provisional measures to protect Palestinians in Gaza.
"The court is acutely aware of the extent of the human tragedy that is unfolding in the region and is deeply concerned about the continuing loss of life and human suffering,” Joan E. Donoghue, the court's president, said.
Friday's decision is only an interim one; it could take years for the full case brought by South Africa to be considered. Israel rejects the genocide accusation and had asked the court to throw the charges out.
While the case winds its way through the court, South Africa has asked the judges “as a matter of extreme urgency” to impose provisional measures.
Top of the South African list was a request for the court to order Israel to “immediately suspend its military operations in and against Gaza.” But the court declined to do that.
South Africa also asked for Israel to take “reasonable measures” to prevent genocide and allow access for desperately needed aid.
The court ruled that Israel must try to limit death and damage.
In a statement Thursday, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh said he hoped the decision would “include immediate action to stop the aggression and genocide against our people in the Gaza Strip ... and a rapid flow of relief aid to save the hungry, wounded and sick from the threat of slow death that threatens them."
On Thursday, Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy had said that Israel expected the court to toss out the “spurious and specious charges.”
Israel often boycotts international tribunals and U.N. investigations, saying they are unfair and biased. But this time, it took the rare step of sending a high-level legal team — a sign of how seriously it regards the case and likely the fear that any court order to halt operations would be a major blow to the country’s international standing.
An Israeli official said that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu huddled with top legal, diplomatic and security officials on Thursday in anticipation of the ruling. He said Israel is confident in its case but discussed “all scenarios.” The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was discussing confidential meetings.
Israel launched its massive air and ground assault on Gaza after Hamas militants stormed through Israeli communities on Oct. 7 killing some 1,200 people, mainly civilians, and abducting another 250.
The offensive has decimated vast swaths of the territory and driven nearly 85% of its 2.3 million people from their homes.
More than 26,000 Palestinians have been killed, the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run enclave said on Friday. The ministry does not differentiate between combatants and civilians in its death toll, but has said about two-thirds of those killed were women and children.
The Israeli military claims at least 9,000 of those killed in the nearly four-month conflict are Hamas militants.
U.N. officials have expressed fears that even more people could die from disease, with at least one-quarter of the population facing starvation.
Ahead of the ruling, Marieke de Hoon, an associate professor of international law at the University of Amsterdam, said she thought the court was unlikely to throw the case out since the legal bar South Africa has to clear at this early stage is lower than the one that would be applied for ruling on the merits of the accusation.
“The standard ... is not, has there been genocide? But a lower standard," she said. “Is it plausible that there could have been a risk of genocide that would invoke Israel’s responsibility to prevent genocide?”
But De Hoon also did not expect the world court to order an end to Israel's military operation.
“I think that they will shy away from actually calling for a full cease-fire, because I think they will find that beyond their abilities right now,” she said in a telephone interview.
Provisional measures by the world court are legally binding, but it is not clear if Israel will comply with them.
How the U.S., Israel's top ally, responds to any order will be key, since it wields veto power at the U.N. Security Council and thus could block measures there aimed at forcing Israel's compliance.
The U.S. has said Israel has the right to defend itself, but also spoken about the need for the country to protect civilians in Gaza and allow more aid in.
The genocide case strikes at the national identity of Israel, which was founded as a Jewish state after the Nazi slaughter of 6 million Jews during World War II.
South Africa’s own identity is key to it bringing the case. Its governing party, the African National Congress, has long compared Israel’s policies in Gaza and the West Bank to its own history under the apartheid regime of white minority rule, which restricted most Black people to “homelands” before ending in 1994.
UN court keeps genocide case against Israel alive as Gaza death toll surpasses 26,000
The death toll from the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip surpassed 26,000 on Friday as the International Court of Justice was set to give its decision on whether to order Israel to halt its offensive in the Palestinian territory.
The Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza said that 26,083 people have been killed and more than 64,400 wounded since Oct. 7, the day militants from the territory launched a surprise attack in southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages.
South Africa has accused Israel of genocide and asked the world court in The Hague, Netherlands, to impose interim measures as the case proceeds. The requested measures include ordering Israel to stop its offensive, to allow Gaza residents access to aid and to take "reasonable measures" to prevent genocide.
Israel has denied committing genocide and asked the court to throw out the case.
Currently:
— Israel vows to fight Hamas all the way to Gaza's southern border. That's fueling tension with Egypt.
— How genocide officially became a crime, and why South Africa is accusing Israel of committing it.
— Georgia lawmakers, in support of Israel, pass a bill that would define antisemitism in state law.
— The U.S. and the U.K. sanction four Yemeni Houthi leaders over Red Sea shipping attacks.
— Find more of AP's coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war.
Israel vows to fight Hamas all the way to Gaza’s southern border. That’s fueling tension with Egypt
Here's the latest:
TOP UN COURT REFUSES TO THROW OUT GENOCIDE CASE AGAINST ISRAEL
The United Nations' top court has refused to throw out the genocide case that South Africa filed against Israel.
The International Court of Justice is not deciding Friday whether Israel has committed genocide in the Gaza Strip but only ruling on South Africa's request for interim measures, including an order for Israel to halt its military offensive in Gaza.
While Israel asked the court to throw out the case, court president Joan E. Donoghue said a panel of 17 judges concluded that it has appropriate jurisdiction and therefore "cannot accede to Israel's request for the case to be removed."
Donoghue opened the hearing in The Hague, Netherlands, by noting that Israel's war against Hamas "is causing massive civilian casualties, extensive destruction of civilian infrastructure and the displacement of the overwhelming majority of the population in Gaza.
"The court is acutely aware of the extent of the human tragedy that is unfolding in the region and is deeply concerned about the continuing loss of life and human suffering," the judge said.
HAMAS OFFICIAL SAYS GROUP WOULD ABIDE BY A COURT-ORDERED CEASE-FIRE
RAMALLAH, West Bank — A Palestinian delegation plans to be in The Hague when the International Court of Justice announces whether it is ordering Israel to suspend its offensive against Hamas militants and to take other steps to protect Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
The world court is delivering its preliminary decisions in a genocide case that South Africa brought against Israel. The court is set to rule Friday only on South Africa's request for interim measures to ease the suffering in Gaza while the case proceeds, a process expected to take several years.
"By moving quickly and issuing the ruling only two weeks after the oral hearings, the court acknowledges the urgency of the situation on the ground," the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Meanwhile, a top official with Hamas says his group will abide by a cease-fire if the court in the Netherlands calls for one.
Osama Hamdan said Thursday that Hamas also would be ready to release the remaining hostages it is holding if Israel releases Palestinian prisoners.
Hamdan says Hamas is open to all initiatives for an exchange but that the hostages would not return home until there was "a comprehensive cease of the aggression against our people." He added that any delays or procrastination "means more deaths among (Israelis)."
Photojournalist Motaz Azaiza from Gaza says ‘Last time you see me with this heavy, stinky vest’
ISRAELI STRIKES ON A REFUGEE CAMP KILL 15 PALESTINIANS
DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Fifteen Palestinians, including an infant, were killed in Israeli airstrikes on two apartment buildings in the central Gaza Strip, according to an Associated Press journalist who saw the bodies at a local hospital Friday.
The strikes hit the Nuseirat refugee camp on Thursday evening, and the dead were taken to the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Hospital in the nearby town of Deir al-Balah.
One of the bombardments killed seven members of the Rawah family, including a 5-month-old baby.
The strikes came as the Israeli army continued to expand its assault on the southern half of war-stricken Gaza, with a focus on Khan Younis, Gaza's second-largest city.
The Israeli military said its troops were engaging in close, urban combat with Hamas fighters in neighborhoods of Khan Younis. The military says it is calling in airstrikes and attack helicopters to hit militants allegedly spotted with rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons.
Earlier this week,the military ordered civilians to evacuate most of the western half of the city and the Khan Younis refugee camp.
Hamas has reported that troops from the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the group's military wing, are battling Israeli forces in the heart of the city.
MORE THAN 26,000 PEOPLE HAVE BEEN KILLED IN GAZA SINCE THE ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR STARTED, HEALTH MINISTRY SAYS
RAFAH, Gaza Strip — The number of Palestinians killed in Gaza since the start of the Israel-Hamas war has surpassed 26,000, the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Friday.
The ministry said the total number of dead is 26,083, with 64,487 Palestinians wounded since the start of the war on Oct. 7. The ministry does not differentiate between combatants and civilians in its death toll, but has said about two-thirds of those killed were women and children.
In the past 24 hours, 183 people were killed and 377 others were injured, ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qidra said in a statement.
Israel's blistering ground and air offensive has decimated vast swaths of Gaza during the nearly 4-month-old war. The conflict broke out on Oct. 7 when Hamas militants stormed southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted some 250.
21 Israeli soldiers are killed in the deadliest single attack on the army since the war began
SOUTH AFRICA ISSUES A STATEMENT AHEAD OF THE INTERNATIONAL COURT'S INTERIM RULING EXPECTED FRIDAY
CAPE TOWN, South Africa — South Africa's foreign ministry said in a statement that it was seeking an interim ruling that "Israel immediately cease its military operations in Gaza, take reasonable measures to prevent the genocide of Palestinians, ensure that the displaced return to their homes and have access to humanitarian assistance, including adequate food, water, fuel, medical and hygiene supplies, shelter and clothing."
The statement late Thursday also said Israel should "take necessary steps to punish those involved in the genocide and preserve the evidence of genocide." Israel has denied the allegations of genocide.
South Africa will be represented at the ruling at The Hague by Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor, who spoke with United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken by phone Thursday, according to the State Department. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Blinken spoke about the need to protect civilians in the war in Gaza and ensure there was humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians, while working toward lasting regional peace that "ensures Israel's security and advances the establishment of an independent Palestinian state."
"The secretary reaffirmed support for Israel's right to ensure the terrorist attacks of Oct. 7 can never be repeated," Miller said.
Israel vows to fight Hamas all the way to Gaza’s southern border. That’s fueling tension with Egypt
Israel faces a growing risk of damaging its peace with neighboring Egypt as its military pushes the offensive against Hamas further south in the Gaza Strip. Already, the two sides are in a dispute over a narrow strip of land between Egypt and Gaza.
Israeli leaders say that to complete their destruction of Hamas, they must eventually widen their offensive to Gaza’s southernmost town, Rafah, and take control of the Philadelphi Corridor, a tiny buffer zone on the border with Egypt that is demilitarized under the two countries’ 1979 peace accord.
In a news conference last week, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Hamas continues to smuggle weapons under the border – a claim Egypt vehemently denies — and that the war cannot end “until we close this breach,” referring to the corridor.
That brought a sharp warning from Egypt that deploying Israeli troops in the zone, known in Egypt as the Salaheddin Corridor, will violate the peace deal.
“Any Israeli move in this direction will lead to a serious threat to Egyptian-Israeli relations,” Diaa Rashwan, head of Egypt’s State Information Service, said Monday.
EGYPT’S CONCERNS
Egypt fears that an Israeli attack on Rafah will push a massive wave of Palestinians fleeing across the border into its Sinai Peninsula.
More than 1 million Palestinians – nearly half of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million — are crowded into Rafah and its surroundings on the border, most driven there after fleeing Israeli bombardment and ground offensives elsewhere in Gaza.
If Israeli troops assault Rafah, they have nowhere to flee. Palestinians have broken through before: In 2008, early in the blockade imposed on Gaza by Israel and Egypt after the Hamas takeover, Hamas blew open the border wall. Thousands of people stormed into Egypt.
Egypt told the Israelis that before any ground assault on Rafah, Israel must let Palestinians return to northern Gaza, a senior Egyptian military official involved in coordination between the two countries told The Associated Press. He spoke on condition of anonymity to talk about the internal discussions.
Israel says it has largely driven Hamas out of northern Gaza but is likely to resist allowing Palestinians back in the near term. Israel’s bombardment and ground assault have reduced much of the north to rubble, leaving many without homes.
ISRAEL’S DILEMMA
The dispute puts Israel in a bind. If it stops its offensive without taking Rafah, it falls short on its top war goal of crushing Hamas. If its military pushes to the border, it risks undermining its peace deal with Egypt — a foundation of stability in the Mideast for decades — and upsetting its closest ally, the United States.
Israel and the U.S. are already divided over Gaza’s post-war future. The Israeli military is working to create an informal buffer zone about a kilometer (half a mile) wide inside Gaza along the border with Israel to prevent militants from attacking nearby communities. The U.S. says it opposes any attempt by Israel to shrink Gaza’s territory.
Israel vows to expunge the militants from the entire Gaza Strip and has done so by a strategy of systematic destruction, at a huge cost in civilian lives. Starting in north Gaza, it leveled large swaths of the urban landscape, saying it was eliminating Hamas tunnels and infrastructure while battling militants. It is working its way down the territory, doing the same in central Gaza and the southern city of Khan Younis.
Netanyahu has said Israel intends to keep open-ended security control over Gaza to ensure Hamas cannot repeat its Oct. 7 attacks that triggered Israel’s assault. He has been vague on what form that would take but said ensuring control over the Philadelphi Corridor is crucial.
“There are a few options on how we can close it, we are checking all of them, and we haven’t made a decision, except for one thing: It must be closed,” he said.
Egypt warned Israel and the U.S. that any military operations in the zone “could tear apart our peace,” a second Egyptian official said. “We will not tolerate such a move.” The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the press.
IMPORTANCE OF THE PHILADELPHI CORRIDOR
The corridor is a narrow strip – about 100 meters (yards) wide in parts – running the 14-kilometer (8.6-mile) length of the Gaza side of the border with Egypt. It includes the Rafah crossing into Egypt, Gaza’s sole outlet not controlled by Israel.
The corridor is part of a larger demilitarized zone along both sides of the entire Israel-Egypt border. Under the peace accord, each side is allowed to deploy only a tiny number of troops or border guards in the zone. At the time of the accord, Israeli troops controlled Gaza, until Israel withdrew its forces and settlers in 2005.
Hamas has had free rein of the border since its 2007 takeover.
Smuggling tunnels were dug under the Gaza-Egypt border to get around the Israeli-Egyptian blockade. Some of the tunnels were massive, large enough for vehicles. Hamas brought in weapons and supplies, and Gaza residents smuggled in commercial goods, from livestock to construction materials.
That changed over the past decade, as Egypt battled Islamic militants in the Sinai. The Egyptian military cracked down on the tunnels and destroyed hundreds of them, saying they were being used to funnel weapons into the Sinai. It bolstered its border wall above and below ground and cleared the population from a 5-kilometer-deep (3-mile) area adjacent to Gaza where only military and police forces are allowed.
During the fight against Sinai militants, Egypt negotiated with Israel and the U.S. to allow the deployment of its military in Zone C, as the demilitarized zone is known on its side of the border.
DEVELOPMENTS DURING THE WAR
In mid-December, Israel made an official request to Egypt to deploy its forces in the Philadelphi corridor, the Egyptian military official said. Egypt rejected the request. Egypt’s main fear is that any ground operation in the area would result in thousands of Palestinians storming into Sinai, he said.
Since the war began, Egypt has pushed back hard against calls that it take in a mass exodus of Palestinians. It fears Israel won’t allow them to return to Gaza and says it doesn’t want to abet ethnic cleansing. It also warned that militants from Gaza could enter the Sinai with those fleeing, bringing the potential for cross-border exchanges with Israel that could wreck the peace accord.
Israel contends it must have control over the border to prevent weapons smuggling to Hamas.
Rashwan, of Egypt’s State Information Service, called Israeli claims of continued smuggling “lies” aimed at justifying a takeover of the corridor. After destroying 1,500 tunnels, Egypt has “complete control” over the border, he said.
Kobi Michael, senior researcher with Israeli think tanks Institute for National Security Studies and the Misgav Institute, said the quantity of Hamas weapons found during the offensive shows smuggling continues and Israel must have power to monitor the border.
“The only way such quantities of weapons could have reached the Gaza Strip are via the Philadelphi Corridor,” he said.
But Alon Ben-David, military affairs correspondent for Israel’s Channel 13 TV, said 90% of the weapons in Gaza were produced in Gaza and that Egypt’s crackdown largely shut down smuggling.
“The tunnels were really taken care of comprehensively by the Egyptians,” he said.
Photojournalist Motaz Azaiza from Gaza says ‘Last time you see me with this heavy, stinky vest’
Palestinian photojournalist Motaz Azaiza has announced his departure from the conflict-ravaged Gaza Strip. “I had to evacuate for many reasons,” Azaiza shared on platform X, expressing his gratitude and urging prayers for Gaza.
Azaiza has emerged as a crucial media figure in the embattled Gaza Strip. With over 18 million Instagram followers and a significant presence on X, he has been a primary source of live updates during the Israel-Hamas conflict, as reported by Al Arabiya.
In a heart-wrenching Instagram video, Azaiza, clad in his blue press vest – a symbol of a journalist’s non-combatant status in war zones – declared, “This is the last time you will see me with this heavy, stinky vest.” The video poignantly captures his farewell to Gaza, surrounded by friends and family who assist in removing his press vest and embrace him in a final goodbye.
Read more: States are obliged to prevent crimes against humanity and genocide, UN Committee stresses
Azaiza's impactful presence on social media has given millions worldwide a personal glimpse into the Gaza war, fostering a deep emotional bond between him and his followers. His absence, particularly when not posting for extended periods, prompts a flood of concerned comments about his safety. Azaiza has courageously documented Israeli airstrikes, often amid the devastation of destroyed homes.
Originally focusing on everyday life in Gaza, Azaiza’s work shifted to covering Israel’s military operations, including the wars in 2014 and 2021. Remarkably, his Instagram following skyrocketed from 25,000 to 18 million in just over 100 days since the onset of Israel’s military action following Hamas’ attack on October 7. “We are a nation that is getting killed and we’re trying not to be ethnically cleansed,” Azaiza stated in a post.
Tragically, over 80 journalists, predominantly Palestinians, have lost their lives in Israeli strikes since October 7, as per Reporters Without Borders (RSF). The United Nations Human Rights Commissioner has raised alarms over the unprecedented death toll among journalists in Gaza. The US-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reported that the first 10 weeks of the war have been the deadliest for journalists in a single location in recent history.
Israel has consistently denied targeting journalists, asserting its focus on Hamas. Meanwhile, on January 9, Israel’s Supreme Court declined an international media request for unrestricted access to Gaza.
Read more: Israeli strikes across Gaza kill dozens of Palestinians, even in largely emptied north
21 Israeli soldiers are killed in the deadliest single attack on the army since the war began
The Israeli army said Tuesday that 21 soldiers were killed in the Gaza Strip in the deadliest attack on its forces of the 3-month-old war against the militant Hamas group.
The reservists were preparing explosives to demolish two buildings in central Gaza on Monday when a militant fired a rocket-propelled grenade at a tank nearby, Rear Adm. Daniel Hagari, the chief military spokesperson, said. The blast triggered the explosives, causing both two-story buildings to collapse on the soldiers inside.
Read: Families of hostages held in Gaza storm Israel's parliament meeting demanding deal for release
The heavy death toll could add new momentum to calls for Israel to pause the offensive or even halt it altogether. Large numbers of Israeli casualties have put pressure on Israel’s government to halt past military operations.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to press ahead until Israel crushes the ruling Hamas militant group and wins the freedom of over 100 hostages held captive in Gaza. Israelis are increasingly divided on the question of whether it’s possible to do either.
Families of the hostages and many of their supporters have called for Israel to reach a cease-fire deal, saying that time is running out to bring the hostages home alive. On Monday, dozens of hostages’ relatives stormed a parliamentary committee meeting, demanding a deal to win their loved ones’ release.
Read: Saudi Arabia says it won’t recognize Israel without a path to a Palestinian state
Israel launched the offensive after Hamas’ Oct. 7 cross border attack that killed over 1,200 people and abducted some 250 others. More than 100 were released in November in exchange for a weeklong cease-fire and the release of 240 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel.
The offensive has caused widespread destruction, displaced an estimated 85% of Gaza's population and left over 25,000 Palestinians dead, according to health officials in the Hamas-run territory. The United Nations and international aid agencies say the fighting has unleashed a humanitarian disaster, with a quarter of the area's 2.3 million people facing starvation.
Families of hostages held in Gaza storm Israel's parliament meeting demanding deal for release
Dozens of family members of hostages held by Hamas stormed a committee meeting in Israel’s parliament Monday, demanding a deal to win their loved ones’ release, as European foreign ministers joined growing international calls for Israel to negotiate on the creation of a Palestinian state after the war.
The developments showed the increasing pressure on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who has dug in on both fronts. He has insisted to the Israeli public that pursuing the devastating offensive in Gaza is the only way to bring the hostages home. At the same time, he has rejected the United States’ vision for a postwar resolution, saying he will never allow a Palestinian state.
The dispute over Gaza’s future pits Israel against its top ally and much of the international community. It also poses a major obstacle to plans for postwar governance or reconstruction of the coastal territory, large parts of which have been left unlivable by Israeli bombardment.
As fears grow that Israel’s war in Gaza will spark a wider regional conflict, the U.S. and British militaries bombed eight locations in Yemen used by the Houthi rebels. It's the eighth time the U.S. has bombed Houthi sites since Jan. 12, U.S. officials said late Monday, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss a military operation. The Iranian-backed Houthis have attacked shipping in the region’s waterways, saying they aim to end the Israeli offensive in the Gaza Strip.
In southern Gaza, Israeli strikes and shelling intensified in and around the city of Khan Younis, sending Palestinian families fleeing south in pickup trucks and donkey carts loaded with possessions.
In the city, which has been a battle zone for weeks, people dug graves for the dead inside the yard of Al-Nasser Hospital as staff struggled to deal with dozens of newly killed and wounded, including children. Health care workers said strikes hit at least four schools sheltering displaced people on the city's western edges, including two inside a coastal strip that Israel had declared a safe zone for people fleeing.
Gaza's internet and phone networks collapsed again Monday for the 10th time during the war. The repeated blackouts severely hamper distribution of aid that's essential for the survival of the territory's population of 2.3 million, U.N. officials said. The loss of service also prevents Palestinians from communicating with each other and the outside world.
Netanyahu has vowed to continue the offensive until “complete victory” over Hamas and to return all remaining hostages after the Oct. 7 rampage in southern Israel that triggered the war. In that attack, some 1,200 people were killed and Hamas and other militants abducted around 250 people.
Israelis are increasingly divided on the question of whether it’s possible to do either.
Around 100 hostages were freed under a weeklong cease-fire deal in November in exchange for the release of Palestinians imprisoned by Israel. Around 130 remain captive, but a number have since been confirmed dead. Hamas has said it will free more captives only in exchange for an end to the war and the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners.
Netanyahu has ruled out such an agreement, but anger is rising among hostages’ families. Relatives and other protesters set up a tent camp outside Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem, vowing to remain until a deal is reached.
On Monday, dozens of family members of the hostages stormed into a gathering of the Knesset’s finance committee, holding up signs and yelling, “You won’t sit here while they are dying there!”
“These are our children!” they shouted. Some had to be physically restrained, and at least one person was escorted out.
OVER 25,000 KILLED IN GAZA
Israel’s offensive has killed at least 25,295 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded more than 60,000, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but says around two-thirds of those killed were women and children.
Residents in Khan Younis reported bombardment on all sides of the city. At Nasser Hospital, Ayman Abu Abaid, the head of surgery, told Al Jazeera TV early Monday that at least 50 dead and more than 100 wounded had been brought to the facility.
Ashraf Al-Qudra, spokesman for the Health Ministry, said Israeli troops had stormed Al-Khair Hospital and detained the medical staff, the latest hospital that troops have seized during the conflict. The hospital is just inside the safe zone at Muwasi, a rural coastal strip west of Khan Younis, where the Israeli military had said it would not carry out operations.
Volunteers with the Red Crescent said strikes hit four schools west of Khan Younis — two of them inside the Muwasi zone — causing an unknown number of casualties. They said the organization's ambulances couldn't reach the sites.
Families streamed out of Khan Younis along the coastal highway, some walking, some loading blankets and possessions into vehicles. They headed toward Rafah, the tiny sliver at the extreme southern end of Gaza where well over 1 million people are already crowded, many living in tents that have filled the streets.
As he fled Khan Younis with his family, Ahmad Shurrab said he had been displaced multiple times. “Where should I go? Should I go to Rafah? Rafah is like one street. What do they want from us?” he shouted.
Some 85% of the Gaza population has been driven from their homes by the war. U.N. officials say 1 in 4 people in Gaza is starving as the fighting and Israeli restrictions hinder the delivery of humanitarian aid. Only 15 bakeries are working across the Gaza Strip, all of them in either Rafah or the central town of Deir al-Balah, the U.N. said.
The Israeli military says it has killed around 9,000 militants in its offensive, without providing evidence, and blames the high civilian death toll on Hamas because it operates in dense residential areas.
The war has also stoked tensions across the region, with Iran-backed groups in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen attacking Israeli and U.S. targets.
NETANYAHU UNDER MOUNTING PRESSURE
Netanyahu, whose popularity has plummeted since Oct. 7, faces pressure from the U.S. to shift to more precise military operations and do more to facilitate humanitarian aid into Gaza.
The United States is also calling for a reformed Palestinian Authority to govern Gaza after the war and for negotiations to start on a two-state solution. The authority currently governs pockets of the Israeli-occupied West Bank and was ejected from Gaza in 2007 when Hamas took power.
Netanyahu has rejected both the entry of the Palestinian Authority and the creation of a Palestinian state. His governing coalition is beholden to far-right parties that want to step up the offensive, encourage the emigration of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from Gaza and reestablish Jewish settlements there.
At a meeting in Brussels, European Union foreign ministers added their voices to the calls for a Palestinian state, saying it was the only way to achieve peace.
French Foreign Affairs Minister Stephane Sejourne said Netanyahu’s rejection of statehood was “worrying. There will be a need for a Palestinian state with security guarantees for all.”
“Which are the other solutions they have in mind?" EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said of Israel. “To make all the Palestinians leave? To kill them off?”
In an interview with CNN late Sunday, Saudi Arabia's foreign minister, Prince Faisal bin Farhan, said the kingdom will not normalize relations with Israel or contribute to Gaza’s reconstruction without a credible path to a Palestinian state. His comments were notable because before the war, the U.S. had been trying to broker a landmark normalization agreement between Saudi Arabia and Israel.
The Palestinians seek a state including Gaza, the West Bank and Israeli-annexed east Jerusalem, territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war. Peace talks broke down nearly 15 years ago.
Saudi Arabia says it won’t recognize Israel without a path to a Palestinian state
Saudi Arabia’s top diplomat said the kingdom will not normalize relations with Israel or contribute to Gaza’s reconstruction without a credible path to a Palestinian state — a nonstarter for Israel’s government.
Prince Faisal bin Farhan’s remarks in an interview with CNN broadcast late Sunday were some of the most direct yet from Saudi officials.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu — who faces mounting domestic pressure over the plight of Israeli hostages, including an angry protest inside a parliamentary committee meeting on Monday — has rejected Palestinian statehood and described plans for open-ended military control over Gaza.
The dispute over Gaza’s future — as the war rages with no end in sight — pits Israel against its top ally, the United States, as well as much of the international community, and poses a major obstacle to any plans for postwar governance or reconstruction of the impoverished coastal enclave that is home to 2.3 million Palestinians.
Before the Oct. 7 Hamas attack on Israel that triggered the war, the U.S. had been trying to broker a landmark agreement in which Saudi Arabia would normalize relations with Israel in exchange for U.S. security guarantees, aid in establishing a civilian nuclear program and progress toward resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
In September, Netanyahu had said Israel was on “the cusp” of such a deal.
In the interview with “CNN’s Fareed Zakaria GPS,” the host asked: “Are you saying unequivocally that if there is not a credible and irreversible path to a Palestinian state, there will not be normalization of relations between Saudi Arabia and Israel?”
“That’s the only way we’re going to get a benefit,” Prince Faisal replied. “So, yes.”
Earlier in the interview, when asked if oil-rich Saudi Arabia would finance reconstruction in Gaza — where Israel’s offensive has caused unprecedented destruction — Prince Faisal gave a similar answer.“As long as we’re able to find a pathway to a solution ... then we can talk about anything,” he said. “But if we are just resetting to the status quo before Oct. 7, in a way that sets us up for another round of this, as we have seen in the past, we’re not interested in that conversation.”
The Palestinians seek a state that would include Gaza, the Israeli-occupied West Bank and annexed east Jerusalem, territories Israel captured in the 1967 Mideast war.
Israel views all of Jerusalem as its capital and the West Bank as the historical and biblical heartland of the Jewish people. It has built scores of settlements across both territories that are home to hundreds of thousands of Jewish settlers. The last of several rounds of peace talks broke down nearly 15 years ago.At a meeting about the war on Monday, European Union foreign ministers said the creation of a Palestinian state was the only way to achieve peace and expressed concern about Netanyahu’s rejection of the idea.
OVER 25,000 KILLED IN GAZAThe current war between Israel and Hamas — the fifth and by far deadliest — began when Palestinian militants broke through Israel’s defenses and rampaged through several nearby communities, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and taking around 250 people hostage.
Israel’s offensive has killed at least 25,295 Palestinians in Gaza and wounded more than 60,000, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants but says around two-thirds of those killed were women and children.
Medics reported heavy fighting in the southern city of Khan Younis, saying dozens of dead and wounded people were brought to the city’s already overwhelmed Nasser Hospital. Families could be seen fleeing south, to areas already packed with hundreds of thousands of displaced people.
The Israeli military says it has killed around 9,000 militants, without providing evidence, and blames the high civilian death toll on Hamas because it positions fighters, tunnels and other militant infrastructure in dense residential areas.
Some 85% of Gaza’s people have fled their homes, seeking elusive shelter in the south as Israel continues to strike all parts of the besieged enclave. U.N. officials say one in four people in Gaza are starving as the fighting and Israeli restrictions hinder the delivery of humanitarian aid.
The war has also stoked tensions across the region, with Iran-backed groups in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen attacking Israeli and U.S. targets.
NETANYAHU UNDER MOUNTING PRESSURE
Netanyahu has vowed to continue the offensive until “complete victory” over Hamas and to return all of the remaining hostages after nearly half were released in a cease-fire deal in November.
But Israelis are increasingly divided on the question of whether it’s possible to do both.
Hamas is believed to be holding the hostages in tunnels deep underground and using them as shields for its top leaders. Israel has only successfully rescued one hostage, while Hamas says several have been killed in Israeli airstrikes or during failed rescue operations. Those claims could not be independently confirmed.
On Monday, dozens of family members of the hostages stormed a committee meeting in Israel’s Parliament, yelling: “You won’t sit here while they are dying there!”
Some had to be physically restrained as they shouted at the lawmakers, and at least one person was escorted out. The meeting was briefly suspended but later reconvened.
Relatives of the hostages, as well as other protesters, have set up a tent camp outside Netanyahu’s residence in Jerusalem and vowed to remain until a deal is reached to bring the rest of the captives home. Other protests have called for new elections.
Hamas has said it will only free more captives in exchange for an end to the war and the release of thousands of Palestinian prisoners. Netanyahu has ruled out such an agreement.The long-serving prime minister, whose popularity has plummeted since Oct. 7, faces pressure from the U.S. to shift to more precise military operations and do more to facilitate humanitarian aid.
But Netanyahu’s governing coalition is beholden to far-right parties that want to step up the offensive, encourage the “voluntary” emigration of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from Gaza, and re-establish Jewish settlements there.
Strike kills Hezbollah fighter, civilian in Lebanon, amid seeming Israeli shift to targeted killings
An Israeli airstrike hit two vehicles near a Lebanese army checkpoint in south Lebanon on Sunday, killing a Hezbollah member in one car and a woman in the other and wounding several other people, Lebanese state media and health officials reported.
The strike appeared to be part of a shift in Israeli strategy toward targeted killings in Lebanon after more than three months of near-daily clashes with Hezbollah militants on the border against the backdrop of the war in Gaza.
Hezbollah announced that one of its members, identified as Fadel Shaar, had been killed in the strike in the town of Kafra.
Several hours later, Lebanon’s National News Agency reported that a civilian woman wounded in the strike, Samar al-Sayyed Mohammed, had died of her injuries.
Local civil defense and hospital officials said several others were wounded.
Video from the scene showed a passenger sedan in flames next to a small truck stopped in the middle of the road.
The Israeli military did not comment on the strike.
Since the outbreak of the Israel-Hamas war on Oct. 7, Hezbollah forces have engaged in near-daily clashes with Israeli troops along the border.
While the clashes had previously been limited mainly to a narrow strip within a few kilometers (miles) from the border, Israel in recent weeks appears to have moved to a strategy of targeted killings of figures from Hezbollah and allied groups, sometimes hitting in areas relatively far from the border, as was the case in Sunday’s strike.
On Saturday, another strike near the Lebanese port city of Tyre killed two people in a car — one of them a Hezbollah commander — and two people in a nearby orchard. The commander, Ali Hudruj, was buried Sunday in south Lebanon. The other occupant of the car, tech sector businessman Mohammad Baqir Diab, was identified as a civilian and was buried in Beirut on Sunday.
On Jan. 2, a presumed Israeli airstrike killed a top Hamas official, Saleh Arouri, in a suburb of Beirut, the first such strike in Lebanon’s capital since Israel and Hezbollah fought a brutal one-month war in 2006.
Speaking at Hudruj’s funeral Sunday, Hezbollah Member of Parliament Hussein Jeshi said Israel had “resorted to the method of assassinating some members of the resistance" to compensate for being unable to reach a military victory against Hamas after more than 100 days of war in Gaza.
The Lebanese militant group said in a statement later Sunday that it had launched an attack against the town of Avivim in northern Israel in retaliation for the strike in Kafra and for other “attacks that targeted Lebanese villages and civilians.”
Israel did not comment on the strike specifically but announced it had struck Hezbollah targets in several locations in Lebanon on Sunday. It later said that an anti-tank missile had hit a house in Avivim and no injuries were reported.
With dangers of a regional conflict flaring on multiple fronts, officials from the United States and Europe have engaged in a flurry of shuttle diplomacy in recent weeks between Israel and Lebanon, attempting to head off an escalation of the conflict into a full-on war on the Lebanese front.