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SvennoJ on 06 February 2024
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What are the odds...

ICJ elects Judge Julia Sebutinde from Uganda as vice president

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has elected Judge Julia Sebutinde from Uganda for a three-year term as vice president. A former judge at the Special Court for Sierra Leone from 2005 to 2011, Sebutinde has been an ICJ judge since February 2012.

Last month, Sebutinde was the only judge on the 17-member ICJ panel to vote against all six measures adopted in a ruling ordering Israel to take action to prevent acts of genocide by its forces in Gaza. Following the ruling, the government of Uganda issued a statement explaining that Sebutinde’s vote was “her own individual and independent opinion, and does not in any way reflect the position of the government of the Republic of Uganda”.

Sebutinde will serve alongside Lebanon’s Judge Nawaf Salam who was elected as president.

However I guess she can be the counter point to

ICJ elects Lebanon’s Judge Nawaf Salam as president

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has elected Judge Nawaf Salam of Lebanon as its new president. Salam was previously Lebanon’s ambassador to the UN in New York before becoming an ICJ judge in February 2018. He was elected president on Tuesday as five judges began new terms on the 15-member court in The Hague.

The cases on the ICJ’s agenda include two related to Israel and Palestine:

  • Israel is expected to deliver a report to the court later this month on measures it is taking to implement an interim ruling from the court in the genocide case filed by South Africa over the war on Gaza.
  • On February 19, the court is expected to hold public hearings in a separate case on Israel’s policies and practices in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem.



War rages on

Civilians killed by Israeli airstrikes on Syria

The Israeli military has launched airstrikes on the city of Homs and its countryside, “killing a number of civilians” and injuring several more, reports Syria’s state-run SANA news agency, citing a military source. Israeli warplanes fired missiles from north of the Lebanese city of Tripoli at around 3am local time, targeting several sites in Homs and the surrounding area, SANA reports.

The attacks targeted Syrian army outposts and the Shayrat airbase, the Reuters news agency reports citing local sources. Israel has escalated its attacks on Syria since October, as regional tensions have grown between Tel Aviv Iran-backed groups in neighbouring Syria and Lebanon.

Israeli raids Jenin and Tulkarem, destroy infrastructure

An Israeli convoy of military vehicles and bulldozers has stormed the city of Jenin in the occupied West Bank tonight, the Wafa news agency reports. Bulldozers have destroyed infrastructure such as roads in Jenin’s Al-Zahraa neighbourhood and next to the Jordanian field hospital. The Israeli military has also stormed the city of Tulkarem, imposing a siege on the Nour Shams camp while bulldozers have destroyed nearby infrastructure.

Raids and arrests have also been reported elsewhere in the occupied West Bank:

  • In the town of Burqa, northwest of Nablus
  • In the village of Kafr Qalil, south of Nablus
  • In the town of Tammoun, north of Tubas
  • A man has been arrested in the village of Dura al-Qara’, north of Ramallah
  • A man has been arrested in the village of Ras Karkar, west of Ramallah
  • Clashes have been reported in the town of Al-Khader, south of Bethlehem

Dozens killed as Israel bombs Jabalia, Rafah, Khan Younis: Wafa

At least 20 people have been killed and 20 more injured after Israeli forces bombed a home east of the Jabalia camp in northern Gaza, the Wafa news agency reports in its daily roundup of attacks in the besieged enclave. Wafa also reports that 14 Palestinians were killed when the Israeli military bombed the Al-Hanawi School, west of Khan Younis in southern Gaza. Six Palestinians were also killed when the Israeli military bombed their vehicle in the Khirbet Al-Adas neighbourhood of Rafah in southern Gaza.

Health Ministry sounds alarm as Israeli siege of Nasser Hospital tightens in Khan Younis

Israeli forces have intensified their siege of the Nasser Hospital – the main medical facility in southern Khan Younis – further endangering the lives of 300 medical staff, 450 patients and an estimated 10,000 displaced people sheltering in the surrounding compound, the UN reports.

Based on an announcement from Gaza’s Ministry of Health, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs also reports that Nasser Hospital has fuel reserves for just four more days of power. There is already a severe shortage of surgical supplies and sutures.

According to the ministry, heavy fighting that started two weeks ago in the vicinity of Nasser and the Al Amal Hospital continues. Between Monday and Tuesday afternoons, a further 107 Palestinians were killed and 143 wounded in Gaza, according to the ministry.

Israeli interference, delays responsible for reduced Gaza aid access: UN

Humanitarian aid missions’ ability to access people in dire need in Gaza worsened in January, compared with October and December, due to Israel’s denial of access to northern areas of the Palestinian territory as well as interference and delays caused by Israeli forces.

Only 10 out of 61 planned aid missions to northern Gaza in January were facilitated by Israeli authorities, while 34 were denied access, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA). “In an emerging pattern, the access of an additional nine missions (15%) was initially facilitated, but subsequently impeded as routes designated by the Israeli military proved to be unpassable, or due to the imposition of excessive delays prior to the departure of the missions or at checkpoints en route,” the UNOCHA said in its report.

Aid missions to areas in Gaza’s south were marginally more successful with 65 of 114 facilitated by Israeli authorities. The UN highlights that Gaza’s health facilities were subject to Israeli interference in aid deliveries. “At times, the Israeli military required the provision of justifications for fuel quantities for health facilities. In other cases, it facilitated access under the condition that no delivery is made to hospitals. In some instances, it imposed reductions on the volume of assistance, such as the quantity of food.”