Deepening divisions in Israeli war cabinet over Netanyahu’s lack of planning for post-war Gaza

A public spat has laid bare the divisions in Israel’s war cabinet.

On Wednesday at a news conference in Tel Aviv, Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant stated publicly that Israel should not be involved in military rule in Gaza once the war is over. He also called on Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to publicly reject that scenario as well.

Not too long after that, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the Palestinian Authority won’t rule Gaza and added that as long as Hamas remains, no other party will govern in Gaza.

Also responding, a third member of the war cabinet in Israel, Benny Gantz, backed Gallant and said that Gallant speaks the truth and that it is the leadership’s responsibility to do the right thing for the country at all costs.

This is all really showing deepening divisions among members of the war cabinet at a very critical time. At a time when more critics of Netanyahu are stating that he has not expressed any clear plan for how Gaza should be governed once the war is over, in a so-called “day after” scenario.

Reports that Israeli military ‘worried’ political leadership not heeding US advice on Gaza

Hassan Barari, a professor of International Affairs at Qatar University, says today’s hearing at the International Court of Justice is a continuation of South Africa’s effort that began late last year when it went to the court accusing Israel of violating its obligations under the Genocide Convention during its war on Gaza.

Speaking to Al Jazeera, Barari said the new request for additional provisional measures also provides “much evidence” for international powers to step in and “put real pressure on Israel”.

“When I say ‘real pressure’ I’m saying [placing] a price tag, because if you keep saying that ‘Israel should do this’ or ‘Israel should not do that’, the Israelis would listen to that but then they would continue business as usual. But when you place a price tag, Israel would rethink its position,” he added.

Barari concluded that the hearing is “very important” but also noted: “The question whether it’s going to being an end to the war, I think, this is maybe far-fetched.”

‘We cannot leave case halfway,’ says South African minister on new ICJ appeal

A lawyer for South Africa at the genocide case at the World Court says there has been one child killed or wounded in Gaza every 10 minutes since Israeli’s military attacks began.

Blinne Ni Gralaigh also quoted an Israeli reservist active in Gaza as saying soldiers treat Israel-ordered evacuation areas as “extermination zones”.

“The evidence before the court indicates that the extent of the carnage in Gaza is of a much-greater magnitude than that pertained to Ukraine and Russia. Indeed, the carnage in Gaza is in an order which exceeds by far the necessities of war and the limits imposed by the laws of war,” said Gralaigh.

South Africa told the United Nations’s top court the situation in Gaza has reached “a new and horrific stage” as it sought emergency measures to halt Israel’s military operation in Rafah.

It was the third time the International Court of Justice held hearings on the conflict in Gaza since South Africa filed proceedings at The Hague-based court in December accusing Israel of genocide.

“Seven months ago, South Africa could not have imagined that Gaza would be largely wiped off the map,” the country’s ambassador to the Netherlands, Vusimuzi Madonsela, told the panel of 15 international judges.

South Africa argues Israeli attacks have far surpassed self-defence. “Israel’s actions in Rafah are part of the end game. This is the last step in the destruction of Gaza,” lawyer Vaughan Lowe said.

According to the latest request, the previous preliminary orders by The Hague-based court were not sufficient to address “a brutal military attack on the sole remaining refuge for the people of Gaza”. Israel will be allowed to answer the accusations on Friday.

Israel claims South Africa is “presenting biased and false claims” based on “unreliable Hamas sources” when it called on the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to order a halt to the Israeli invasion of Rafah.

“Israel acts in accordance with international law and its humanitarian obligations while implementing measures to minimize harm to civilians and civilian facilities,” a statement from the Israeli Foreign Ministry said.

It also called on the World Court “to reject South Africa’s appeal and bring the abuse of the Court to an end”.

South Africa provided evidence of Israel committing genocide in Gaza on Thursday, including deliberate moves to “wipe Gaza off the map” with more than 35,000 Palestinians killed since October.

Juliette McIntyre, a lecturer in law at the University of South Australia, said South Africa has told judges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that this is a “last chance to stop what appears to be genocide” in Gaza.

“This is now the fourth time that South Africa has applied to the court. And each of those times, South Africa has asked for some form of ceasefire order. And what we really saw in the hearings today is that they are putting pressure on the court,” McIntyre told Al Jazeera

“They added evidence of genocidal rhetoric and of course various acts that we have all seen on the news, to really say to the court, look, it’s now or never. If you don’t order Israel to pull out of Rafah, it will be too late,” McIntyre said.

On Friday, the court will hear from Israel.

“It is likely that Israel will continue the same line of defence, which it has to date, which is essentially that there is no genocidal intent here,” McIntyre said, adding that they will also likely argue that Israel is complying with the court’s previous order to ensure that humanitarian aid is reaching Gaza.

“Israel is likely to take the line that they are complying with the court’s orders to date and that they are engaged in active warfare against Hamas and that is likely to lead to civilian casualties, McIntyre added.

The Israeli military says it allowed 365 humanitarian aid trucks into Gaza through the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) and the Beit Hanoon (Erez) crossings.

It said this included 38 trucks of flour and 76,000 litres of fuel sent to the World Food Programme (WFP) to provide supplies to its bakeries.

This comes as WFP announced it had to suspend aid operations in Rafah after all its stocks were depleted in the aftermath of the Israeli ground invasion of the southernmost Gaza city – and the closure of its vital border crossing.

The UN and international aid organisations continue to say Israel is significantly blocking aid to Gaza as famine spreads.

The Government Media Ofice has published a list of the names of scholars, academics, university professors and researchers killed since Israel began its war on Gaza last October.

“In addition, the occupation completely destroyed more than 103 universities and schools, in addition to partially destroying 311 universities and schools,” a statement from the office adds.

The statement calls on “All universities and educational sectors in all countries of the world to condemn this crime, which comes within the framework of the crime of genocide”.

The UN said on Wednesday that about 600,000 Palestinians have fled Rafah since the Israeli army began issuing evacuation orders on May 6 in the run-up to its invasion of the city.

Al Jazeera has obtained satellite images that show the scale of yet another mass displacement in the Gaza Strip.

The World Food Programme (WFP), which as of May 11 has been forced to suspend aid operations in Rafah, says the invasion of the southern city has caused “a significant setback to recent modest progress on access” to Gaza.

“The threat of famine in Gaza never loomed larger,” it said, adding that rates of acute malnutrition among children aged under two doubled from 15 percent in January to 30 percent in March.

“We have seen the impact of prolonged closures in northern Gaza, and despite recent improvements in access to help mitigate a famine there, we are now also deeply concerned about the fate of hundreds of thousands in the south, if a full-scale operation and closures continue.”

UN highlights danger of mass displacement from Rafah for Gaza’s vulnerable

The Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of Hamas, says via a statement that it attacked four Israeli army Merkava tanks in the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip.

It added that, working with the Quds Brigades, the fighting force of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, it attacked an additional tank in Jabalia and clashed with a group of Israeli soldiers that accompanied it, killing and wounding them.

Additionally, Al Jazeera’s correspondent has reported constant shelling of residential neighbourhoods in Jabalia over the last several hours.

Video posted on Instagram – and verified by Al Jazeera – by Palestinian journalist Ahmed Hamdan shows the recovery of injured residents from one such attack earlier today by a Red Crescent ambulance crew.

Video posted on Instagram and verified by Al Jazeera shows smoke rising just beyond the gate of Kuwati Hospital in Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city. Israeli forces have been stepping up attacks on Rafah as they proceed with their offensive on the city, where more than 1 million displaced Palestinians are sheltering.

This assault has taken a toll on Rafah’s already stressed medical system. This week, Doctors Without Borders announced its teams had decided to evacuate the Indonesian Hospital in the city due to the frequency and proximity of Israeli attacks there. It said it referred the 22 patients still at the hospital to other care centres and it “could no longer guarantee their safety”.

Palestinian fighters are claiming dozens of new attacks on Israeli troops and armoured vehicles every day as the Israeli military is advancing on the Jabalia refugee camp in the north.

In Jabalia on Thursday afternoon so far, Hamas and other groups, including the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, have claimed to:

• Target an Israeli artillery emplacement with mortar shells
• Destroy a command headquarters for ground troops with heavy-calibre mortar shells
• Attack multiple Merkava tanks with Yassin-105 shells
• Hit an observation site east of Jabalia with mortar shells
• Destroy tanks with planted explosive devices
• Use anti-armour shells to incapacitate D9 military bulldozers

The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor reports that Israeli forces are intentionally destroying more schools and medical facilities during a ground invasion of the Zeitoun neighbourhood in Gaza City and Jabalia in northern Gaza.

After the Israeli military withdrawal on Wednesday from Zeitoun – which was attacked for a third time – it revealed the destruction of Ain Jalut, Atta al-Shawa and Hassan al-Nakhalah schools, as well as the Zeitoun Medical Clinic, according to the Geneva-based organisation.

In the Sabra neighbourhood in Gaza City, Israeli warplanes hit a four-story clinic run by UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees.

Israeli forces also bombed or opened fire on six UNRWA schools in Jabalia, according to the human rights group.

“As part of its military assault on the Gaza Strip, ongoing for nearly eight months, the Israeli army has worked methodically to militarise civilian objects, turning places like hospitals, schools, and other educational institutions into military bases, in clear violation of international law and the conventions on war.”

Thousands of Palestinians in northern Gaza have been cut off from water and food for nearly a week as Israeli forces carry out an increasingly deadly incursion.

“We have been receiving dozens of appeals from the residents of the city of Beit Hanoon who have been besieged for the fifth day,” the Gaza government’s media office says.

Beit Hanoon is northeast of Jabalia. Israeli forces resumed ground and air attacks on northern Gaza’s densely populated Jabalia refugee camp this week. Israel said in January it pulled its troops out of the devastated north – where famine has taken hold – after claiming it “dismantled” Hamas.

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has said additional forces will be joining the ground operation in Rafah and that they are “wearing Hamas down”.

“This operation will continue as additional forces will enter [the area]. Several tunnels in the area have been destroyed by our troops and additional tunnels will be destroyed soon,” Gallant said in a statement.

“This activity will intensify – Hamas is not an organisation that can reorganise; it does not have reserve troops, it has no supply stocks and no ability to treat the terrorists that we target. The result is that we are wearing Hamas down,” he said.

Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, whose country has mediated in the truce talks, says Israel continues to evade responsibility and efforts to reach a ceasefire with Hamas.

The Egyptian president was speaking at an Arab League summit in Bahrain’s capital Manama.

There was a very public statement by the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, who basically blamed Egypt for keeping the Rafah crossing closed. That’s what led to very angry words from Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, effectively saying, “This is not our fault. Agreements were already in place.”

Israel and Egypt have a complicated security arrangement. It began in 1978 with the Camp David Accords. Rafah is supposed to be a demilitarized zone and supposed to be run on the Gaza side by the Palestinians.

It’s down to the Israelis because they violated those accords, Egypt says, and it won’t be reopened because Palestinians need to be in charge. We are expecting Israeli reaction to come to el-Sisi’s comments.


Fuck my country of birth, what has happened to it. (Not that racism wasn't always an issue in The Netherlands)

The future right-wing coalition in the Netherlands plans to move the country’s embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

The coalition agreement, which right-wing populist Geert Wilders has presented together with three other right-wing parties in The Hague, states that the date of such a move should be investigated. The decision should take into account diplomatic interests and a possible solution to the Middle East conflict, it says.

The strike hit a vehicle travelling near the southern Lebanese town of Seddiqine, killing two people, reports Lebanon’s Annahar news site. Lebanon’s National News Agency also reported that two people were killed in a raid in the area.

Israel’s military and Hezbollah have lately escalated cross-border attacks, with the Lebanese group firing dozens of rockets at the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights earlier today.

Hezbollah has claimed an attack on the “Metula site” belonging to the Israeli military, “its garrison, and its vehicles”.

Israeli local broadcaster Channel 7 reports that three Israeli soldiers were wounded, one of them seriously, in this attack, citing an announcement from Ziv Hospital in Safed. Hezbollah claimed that its attack killed at least one of the soldiers.

This was the sixth attack claimed by the armed Lebanese group today.

Israel’s air force says it has targeted fighters in southern Lebanon who were preparing cross-border attacks. “Earlier today, Air Force aircraft attacked a squad of terrorists in the Kana region of Lebanon who were on their way to carry out an immediate terrorist plan towards the country,” it said in a statement on X.

“At the same time, fighter jets of the Air Force attacked and destroyed throughout the day a wide range of targets of the Hezbollah terrorist organization in Lebanon.”

Other air strikes hit Ayta al-Shaab and Kfar Kila, it said.

Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah said recently that residents of northern Israel would not be able to return home for the start of the next school year if their government presses on with its assault on the Gaza Strip. Tens of thousands of civilians from Lebanon and Israel living along the border have evacuated since fighting began in October.

The armed Lebanese group has released videos showing how it has monitored an Israeli Sky Dew blimp deployed in northern Israel to detect incoming missiles.

Hezbollah said it launched an explosive-laden drone at the aircraft and achieved a direct hit. The Israeli military confirmed the drone struck “a balloon that was on the ground” at a military base in northern Israel.

Israeli military spokesman Daniel Hagari said there were no casualties and the military has suffered no hits to its ability to image the area by air.

In a televised speech, Abdulmalik al-Houthi announced the planned escalation by the Yemeni group, saying attacks on commercial shipping would extend to any area its military capabilities could reach and will no longer be limited to the Red Sea.

Since the early days of Israel’s war on Gaza, the Houthis have been targeting commercial ships they say are linked to Israel and military ships belonging to an international coalition meant to defend them. They say the attacks are being carried out in sympathy with Palestinians in Gaza.

The Houthis say the attacks will end when a ceasefire is achieved.

Iran denies to UN Security Council it is arming Yemen’s Houthis

Spain has refused permission for an Israel-bound ship carrying arms to call at the southeastern port of Cartagena, Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares says.

Albares confirmed reports the Marianne Danica vessel is carrying a cargo of arms to Israel and requested permission to dock at Cartagena on May 21. He said refusing permission was consistent with Spain’s policy to ban the exports of all arms to Israel since the outbreak of the war in Gaza in October.

“We have detected this ship, we have refused to allow it to dock, and I can tell you that this will be a consistent policy with any ship carrying Israeli arms and arms cargo that wants to dock in Spanish ports,” Albares told reporters in Brussels.

Marianne Danica is carrying nearly 27 tonnes of explosive material from Madras, India, the El Pais newspaper reported.

The US House of Representatives passed legislation aimed at forcing the administration of US President Joe Biden to reverse his decision to halt a shipment of bombs to Israel amid its invasion of Rafah.

The bill proposes slashing budgets for the offices of the defence secretary, secretary of state and the National Security Council unless Biden chooses to send the 3,500 heavy-duty bombs in the delayed shipment.

The measure passed 224-187, with 16 Democrats joining Republicans in supporting it and three Republicans voting against the bill.

But the bill is believed to be largely symbolic and an attempt to display bipartisan anger with the decision to hold the bombs. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer says he does not plan to allow a vote on the bill, and Biden has pledged to veto it.

The Biden administration has stressed it is not altogether stopping weapons exports to Israel and is reportedly preparing to send another shipment worth over $1bn to Israel that includes tank ammunition.

Rep. @MarioDB reminds us how we got here.

The Biden Administration has broken their commitment to Israel by withholding vital security resources appropriated in U.S. law.

These tools are not only critically needed, but they were also requested by President Biden himself. pic.twitter.com/txFXWfbwA5

— House Appropriations (@HouseAppropsGOP) May 16, 2024

Israel to abolish free trade deal with Turkey in retaliatory move

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich says Israel will abolish its free trade agreement with Turkey and also impose a 100 percent tariff on other imports in retaliation for Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan’s decision to halt exports to Israel.

The plan, he said, would be submitted to the cabinet for approval.

Earlier this month, Turkey said it was stopping exports to Israel during the duration of Israel’s war on Gaza citing a “worsening humanitarian tragedy” in the Palestinian territory.

“His [Erdogan’s] announcement of the stoppage of imports to Israel constitutes a declaration of an economic boycott and a serious violation of international trade agreements to which Turkey has committed,” Smotrich said in a statement.

He noted Israel’s actions would only last as long as Erdogan remained in power. “If, at the end of Erdogan’s term, the citizens of Turkey elect a leader who is sane and not a hater of Israel, it would be possible to return the trade route with Turkey.”

Erm, how is this retaliatory? He's only further cementing sanctions against Israel.

Bahrain’s king has called for an international Middle East peace conference at the start of an Arab League summit held under the shadow of the war in Gaza.

“[We] call for an international conference for peace in the Middle East, in addition to supporting full recognition of the State of Palestine and accepting its membership in the United Nations,” King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, the summit’s host said.

Palestinian Authority calls on Arab countries for financial support

UN chief calls for Arab unity in summit address

Arab League condemns ‘Israel’s obstruction of ceasefire efforts’