Hezbollah claims 3 separate attacks on northern Israel

Lebanon’s Hezbollah armed group has claimed to have attacked Israel’s Ruwaisaat al-Alam military site in the occupied Lebanese hills of Kfarchouba “with a heavy barrage of missiles”.

The group said it used a self-manufactured missile in the 9:30am (06:30 GMT) attack, “which led to a direct hit on the site, destroying part of it, and setting it on fire”.

Separately, Hezbollah claimed to have targeted the Abirim settlement in northern Israel “for the first time” with Katyusha rockets “in response to the Israeli enemy attacks that targeted civilians in the villages of Safad el-Battikh, Majdal Selem, and Chaqra” in southern Lebanon.

Also today, a Hezbollah-affiliated Lebanese paramilitary group – Lebanese Resistance Brigades – targeted the Rahib military site in northern Israel with rockets and artillery at 9am (06:00 GMT), according to Hezbollah’s Telegram statement.

“The Lebanese Resistance Brigades vow to continue the fight until victory and liberation are achieved,” it added.

Hezbollah praises Houthis for Tel Aviv attack

Lebanon’s Hezbollah armed group has called a deadly drone attack on Tel Aviv that had been claimed by Yemen’s Houthi rebels as “a triumph for the oppression of the Palestinian people and their fighters”.

It said the Yemeni fighters were supporting “the heroic” Palestinian fighters in Gaza who in turn are defending “all our people and countries of our Arab and Islamic nations”.

The group said the fight will not stop until “the aggression and the siege of the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip is stopped”.

Tit-for-tat strikes pushing Israel, Hezbollah into fiercer conflict

There is widespread destruction in the southern Lebanese town of Safad el-Battikh, near the Israeli border, with a four-storey building hit by an Israeli strike overnight.

At least two people were killed here, two members of Hezbollah. We understand from security sources that one of them was a field commander with its elite unit, the Radwan Force. Nineteen civilians were also injured.

This is part of the ongoing violence along the border between the Israeli military and Hezbollah. We cannot rule out further escalation. Hezbollah officials believe Israel is not able to widen the scope of its attacks. They say the Israeli army is bogged down in Gaza and its resources have been exhausted. But the Israelis are threatening.

What Israel wants is for Hezbollah to pull back from the border at least 8-9km so that 70,000-80,000 Israeli citizens can return to their homes in the north.

Hezbollah is refusing to discuss any new arrangement on the border until after the war on Gaza ends. The longer these tit-for-tat strikes continue, you cannot rule out the possibility of this conflict widening.

Hezbollah claims three more attacks on Israeli targets

We have reported earlier today that the Lebanese armed group claimed three separate attacks on Israeli targets.

Since then, Hezbollah announced hitting three more, including “a direct hit” on Israeli soldiers which resulted in a fire in an area in the vicinity of the Ramim military barracks with a Burkan missile.

It also claimed to have shelled an Israeli military site near Metula in northern Israel, before targeting “the enemy’s artillery positions in Khirbet Ma’ar” with dozens of Katyusha and Al-Falaq rockets. ‏

Israeli military launches dawn raids on occupied West Bank’s Nablus

Troops stormed the Nablus city neighbourhoods of Rafidia, Jabal al-Shamali, al-Maajin, the al-Hurriya street area, and al-Mureij, the Wafa news agency reports.

No arrests were made, the news agency said, while east of Nablus the villages of Salem and Deir al-Hatab were also raided and Palestinian homes searched and security cameras confiscated.

Illegal Israeli settlers attack Palestinians in Nablus: Report

Illegal Israeli settlers have stormed and attacked several Palestinian neighbourhoods in the occupied West Bank, according to the Wafa news agency.

Near the city of Nablus, settlers threw rocks at Palestinian cars and blocked a road that connects to a nearby illegal Israeli settlement, Wafa reported.

In the Palestinian town of Beit Jala to the north, where settlers previously set up an illegal outpost, dozens more settlers stormed in and raised Israeli flags at a school, according to Wafa.

Palestinian group says Israeli armoured vehicle destroyed in Rafah

Palestinian fighters with the National Resistance Brigades reported destroying an Israeli armoured personnel carrier using an improvised explosive device (IED) in Rafah city’s Kaf al-Mashrou area on Thursday, war monitors report.

US-based defence think tanks the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and the Critical Threats Project (CTP) report also that mortars were fired at Israeli troops in Rafah’s Tal as-Sultan neighbourhood.

Israeli forces came under fire on the Netzarim Corridor, located south of Gaza City, while Hamas fighters launched a barrage of rockets at southern Israel’s Mefalsim and Nir Am areas, also on Thursday, the monitors said.

UK’s new Labour government to resume funding to UNRWA

Britain’s foreign minister, David Lammy, has told parliament he is reassured that the UN Palestinian refugee agency had taken steps to “ensure it meets the highest standards of neutrality”.

Britain was one of several countries to halt their funding to UN Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA following accusations by Israel that some of the agency’s staff were involved in the October 7 Hamas attack on Israel that triggered the Gaza war.

“I can confirm to the House that we are overturning the suspension of UNRWA funding, Britain will provide 21 million [pounds, $27m] in funds” to the agency, he said.

Hamas, PIJ call on PLO to withdraw recognition of Israel

Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) have issued a joint statement calling on the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) to withdraw its official recognition of Israel in retaliation for the Knesset’s resolution rejecting Palestinian statehood.

The leaders of the two armed Palestinian groups met in the Qatari capital, Doha, on Thursday and agreed that they must fight Israeli attempts to “erase the Palestinian issue”.

The statement said Israel is trying to deny Palestinians their right of having an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital and the right of return for Palestinian refugees.

The PLO recognised Israel in 1993 when its leader Yasser Arafat signed the first Oslo Accord with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin.

HRW welcomes British funding restoration to UNRWA

Yasmine Ahmed, the head of Human Rights Watch (HRW) in the UK, has welcomed the British government’s decision to restore funding to UNRWA, saying it will save lives in Gaza.

“The Israeli government is using starvation as a weapon of war and collectively punishing the people of Gaza. As a result, Gaza is facing catastrophic food insecurity as well as massive shortages of medical supplies. UNRWA’s networks, experience and capacity is vital to alleviating this suffering,” she said.

“Withholding funding only exacerbated the horrific consequences of what has been a concerted campaign by the Israeli government to malign, discredit and undermine UNRWA’s critical and lifesaving work.”

Ahmed said this is a first step that must be followed up by blocking arms supplies to Israel.

The 🇬🇧 @DavidLammy decision 2 reinstate funding to @UNRWA will save lives & should be applauded. It hopefully heralds a more robust & mature approach to British foreign policy

🇮🇱is using starvation as a weapon of war & collectively punishing the Palestinians in Gaza 🧵

— Yasmine Ahmed (@YasmineAhmed001) July 19, 2024

Yemen’s Houthi rebels claim attack on Singapore-flagged vessel off Aden

We reported earlier that a vessel has been hit by unknown projectiles 83 nautical miles (153km) southeast of the Yemeni city of Aden, according to UK Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) and the British security firm Ambrey.

The crew on the vessel, which UKMTO and Ambrey have not identified, were reported to be safe.

Yemen’s Houthi militia has now claimed responsibility for the attack. Its military spokesperson Yahya Saree said its fighters used ballistic missiles as well as drones and achieved a direct hit on the Singapore-flagged vessel Lobivia off Aden.

He added that the attack was carried out because the company that owns the ship “violated the decision to ban entry into the ports of occupied Palestine”.

“The Israeli enemy’s continuation of committing massacres in Gaza will only push us to further support operations for the oppressed Palestinian people,” said his statement published on Telegram.

Yemenis hold pro-Palestinian rally in Houthi-held Sanaa

_{The protest was held in the Yemeni capital, which the Houthis control}

UN chief says Houthis’ drone attack on Tel Aviv poses risk of escalation

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has condemned a drone strike on Tel Aviv claimed by Yemen’s Houthis, expressing concern over a possible further escalation.

“The Secretary-General remains deeply concerned about the risk such dangerous acts pose for further escalation in the region,” spokesperson Farhan Haq said, calling for “maximum restraint”.

Yemen’s Houthi rebels claim they used an undetectable drone to strike a building near the US embassy’s office in Tel Aviv early today.

EU condemns ‘indiscriminate shelling’ of civilians after Houthi drone attack in Israel

EU spokeswoman Nabila Massrali says the bloc “firmly condemns” the “indiscriminate” Houthi-claimed drone attack on Tel Aviv that killed one person earlier today.

“International Humanitarian Law strictly prohibits indiscriminate shelling of civilian population centres and applies to all actors at all times without exception,” Massrali said.

How significant are the Houthi drone strikes in Tel Aviv?

Despite being just 80km (50 miles) from Gaza, Tel Aviv has been almost untouched by the carnage unfolding within the enclave since October.

The drone strike within Tel Aviv, the centre for much of Israel’s diplomatic functions, points to the growing reach of the Houthi arsenal, say analysts.

“The Houthis have claimed many attacks on Israel before, but there’s little evidence to indicate most of those came anywhere close to hitting, and certainly not kill and injure like this one,” independent Yemen analyst Nick Brumfield told Al Jazeera.

“Notably, this is the first publicly confirmed Houthi strike in the Mediterranean rather than the Red Sea or Gulf of Aden.”

Detection of polio virus in Gaza sewage raises risk of international spread

Hamid Jafari, the director of polio eradication at the World Health Organization (WHO), tells Al Jazeera that the detection of the polio virus in sewage in Gaza means infections are already taking place and the virus is circulating.

“The risk of transmission is intensifying in Gaza, and the risk of an international spread is consequently also high,” Jafari said.

He added that overcrowding and the lower rates of child vaccinations since the war started are raising concerns among WHO’s partner organisations.

Polio detected in Gaza sewage water, threatening new health disaster

https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/19/middleeast/israel-gaza-polio-detected-water-sewage-intl/index.html

_{Garbage builds up along a non-functioning sewage dump in Gaza City in May.}

The highly infectious polio virus has been found in sewage samples in Gaza, putting thousands of Palestinians at risk of contracting a disease that can cause paralysis.

Gaza’s Ministry of Health and the World Health Organization (WHO) both said they had carried out tests and found samples of the virus in sewage water. “Poliovirus type 2 (VDPV2) had been identified at six locations in sewage samples collected on 23 June from Khan Younis and Deir al Balah,” WHO said Friday.

....

WHO chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said polio vaccination rates prior to the conflict were “optimal,” but that Israel’s war against Hamas had created “the perfect environment for diseases like polio to spread.”

“The decimation of the health system, lack of security, access obstruction, constant population displacement, shortages of medical supplies, poor quality of water and weakened sanitation are increasing the risk of vaccine-preventable diseases, including polio,” Tedros warned.

Wild polio was eradicated from Gaza more than 25 years ago, with pre-war vaccination coverage reaching 95% in 2022, according to WHO.

Poliovirus can emerge when poor vaccination coverage allows the weakened form of the orally administered vaccine virus strain to mutate into a stronger version capable of causing paralysis, a spokesman from WHO’s global Polio Eradication program said.

Six killed in Israeli attacks in Nuseirat camp

At least six Palestinians have been killed in two separate attacks in the central Gaza refugee camp, according to the Wafa news agency.

Four were killed in an attack on a house in Nuseirat.

Two others were killed where a group of people were targeted on Al-Rashid Street to the west of the camp, according to the news agency.

ICJ says Israel’s settlement policies in breach of international law

The UN’s highest legal body for hearing disputes between states issued its advisory opinion today in response to a 2022 request from the General Assembly.

This case is separate from South Africa’s genocide case against Israel, which has led to previous damning interim rulings by the International Court of Justice that Israel has so far ignored.

The International Court of Justice says that Israel’s settlement policies and exploitation of natural resources in the Palestinian territory were in breach of international law. The nonbinding advisory opinion on Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory comes despite calls by Israel and a handful of other countries against it.

The ICJ specifically answered two questions today:

• What are the legal consequences arising from the ongoing violation by Israel of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, from its prolonged occupation, settlement and annexation of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem, and from its adoption of related discriminatory legislation and measures?
• How do the policies and practices of Israel referred to … above affect the legal status of the occupation, and what are the legal consequences that arise for all states and the United Nations from this status?

PRESS RELEASE: the #ICJ delivered its Advisory Opinion in respect of the Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem https://t.co/CVnr5gqKDR pic.twitter.com/8Q9EVWHVX7

— CIJ_ICJ (@CIJ_ICJ) July 19, 2024

What does the ICJ advisory opinion say?

Here are the landmark conclusions arrived at by 15 judges of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the legal consequences arising from the policies and practices of Israel in occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem:

ICJ opinion ‘utterly damning’ for Israel

Geoffrey Nice, a human rights barrister who led the prosecution of former Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic at an international criminal tribunal, has told Al Jazeera that the opinion issued by the highest UN court will surely affect Israel’s standing in the world.

“For a long time, there has been real concern that the so-called world order supported by the world legal system has been prepared to play second fiddle to and be cowed down by political pressure,” he said, adding that the ICJ and the International Criminal Court are changing things now.

“As a result of what’s happened in Russia and Ukraine, and more particularly perhaps in Israel and Gaza, the two senior international courts have emerged from periods of slow or no activity and they’ve shown that they are prepared to do that which they were set up to do,” Nice said.

“It’s something the public would want, and it puts countries that are suppressing the application of international law, in particular the US and also Britain, in a difficult position.”

Nice said the UN General Assembly could now potentially move forward with suspending Israel’s activities at the organisation.

“Israel is going to suffer. Is it going to suffer because of trade sanctions or matters of that sort? It’s hard to tell at this stage. But it’s going to suffer almost inevitably in the approach that is going to be taken by countries to the ongoing war between Israel and Gaza,” he said.

Palestinian ambassador says will create “masterpiece” of UNGA resolution after ICJ ruling

Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian ambassador to the UN, has responded to the ICJ’s ruling, saying he was “grateful” and calling it an “additional force…to add to the arsenal that we have in order to continue resisting this illegal occupation”.

“Our people want to put an end to this occupation,” he said from the Hague. “What happened today is a significant step in the direction of ending occupation and attaining the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, including their right to self determination, statehood and the right of the refugees to return.”

He said Palestinian officials would study “all the nuances” of the ruling, develop a plan, and eventually “produce a masterpiece of a resolution in the General Assembly in line with this historic decision of the ICJ”.

‘Triumph for justice’: Palestinian presidency welcomes ICJ ruling

The Palestinian presidency has “warmly welcomed” the ICJ opinion, calling it a “triumph for justice, affirming that the Israeli occupation is illegal”.

“The presidency viewed the ICJ decision as a reaffirmation of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination, their land, and their statehood,” it said.

“The presidency emphasised that amidst the ongoing Israeli aggression and genocide against our people in Gaza and the West Bank, including Jerusalem, the ICJ ruling renews hope among our people for a future free from colonisation, on the path to achieving their absolute and non-negotiable right to self-determination and liberation.”

Palestinian Presidency welcomes the ICJ ruling and called on the international community to compel Israel to rapidly end its unlawful presence in Palestine: pic.twitter.com/cwdpkLH5F2

— State of Palestine (@Palestine_UN) July 19, 2024