South Africa asks ICJ to order Israel to withdraw from Gaza’s Rafah
South Africa has asked the International Court of Justice to order Israeli forces to cease their attack and withdraw from Rafah.
As part of an ongoing case brought by South Africa, which accuses Israel of acts of genocide against Palestinians, the court has been asked to take additional emergency measures over Israel’s assault on Rafah where some 1.4 million people are sheltering after fleeing other parts of the Palestinian territory.
South Africa said in its request that additional measures were necessary because of Israel’s “assault on Rafah and the extreme risk it poses for humanitarian supplies and basic services into Gaza … and to the very survival of Palestinians in Gaza as a group”.
UAE denounces Netanyahu’s ‘invitation’ to participate in Gaza administration
The United Arab Emirates has denounced Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent remarks about “inviting” the UAE “to participate in civil administration of Gaza”.
In a statement published on the UAE’s Foreign Ministry social media account, the country’s foreign minister said Netanyahu “does not have any legal capacity to take this step”, and the UAE would not be “drawn into any plan aimed at providing cover for the Israeli presence in the Gaza Strip”, which is “under Israeli occupation”.
“The UAE affirms that when a Palestinian government is formed that meets the hopes and aspirations of the brotherly Palestinian people and enjoys integrity, competence and independence, the state [UAE] will be fully prepared to provide all forms of support to that government,” UAE Foreign Minister Sheikh Abdullah bin Zayed said the statement.
Report on Israel’s use of US weapons in Gaza a ‘passing the buck’ exercise: Analyst
Saul Takahashi, professor of human rights and peace studies at Osaka Jogakuin University in Japan, said the US State Department’s finding that Israel’s use of American weapons in Gaza was “inconsistent” with international humanitarian law was “probably the understatement of the year”.
The State Department’s report, which stopped short of stating that Israel had violated international law in Gaza, was a “bureaucratic, passing the buck exercise” by the US, Takahashi told Al Jazeera. “It’s incontrovertible. Clear as the light of day that Israel has been committing a litany of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide,” Takahashi said.
“But nobody wants to be the one who points to the elephant in the room,” he said. “I think what happened is the bureaucrats have passed the buck on and now its supposedly a political decision. But, really, the buck has got to stop … and Biden has to find his courage and stand up for what’s right,” he added.
“He is very much damaging, if not already decimated, his prospects for re-election in November.”
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