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SvennoJ on 10 September 2024

ICC prosecutor seeks to confirm death of Hamas leader Deif

Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court (ICC) are looking into the reported death of Hamas military leader Mohammed Deif and will withdraw their case against him if they can confirm it, legal filings made public show.

Deif, 58, was believed to be one of the masterminds of the October 7, 2023 assault on southern Israel which triggered the Gaza war, and since then directed Hamas military operations against Israeli forces.

Israel said he was killed in an Israeli air attack on Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis on July 13. Hamas has neither confirmed nor denied that.

“The prosecution will withdraw its [arrest warrant] application against Deif if sufficient and reliable information confirms his death,” said the legal document.

Last Friday, the ICC announced it had terminated proceedings against Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh, who was assassinated in Iran on July 31. The ICC is currently weighing a request for arrest warrants against Israeli and Hamas leaders made earlier this year.

ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan is also seeking warrants for the arrest of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity during Israel’s Gaza offensive.

Looking for proof from the IDF? Good luck. All they have is disinformation and fabricated evidence. The IDF has no credibility left.



Israeli court to hear petition seeking permission for lawmakers to visit Palestinian prisoners

The Israeli Supreme Court will hear a petition filed on behalf of a member of the Knesset, Ahmad Tibi, to allow lawmakers to visit Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, the legal rights group Adalah says.

The petition calls for an immediate halt to a policy enforced by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and the Israel Prison Service, which has prevented Tibi from meeting with prisoners for more than a year.

Tibi and Adalah requested a court order to allow him to visit detainees, including prominent Palestinian political leader Marwan Barghouti, who has been in prison since 2002.

The petition argues the policy discriminates against Tibi because during the same period Ben-Gvir permitted lawmakers from the ruling coalition to visit Jewish security prisoners.



Palestinians take new seat at UN General Assembly

The Palestinian envoy to the United Nations, Riyad Mansour, took his place on Tuesday at a table marked “State of Palestine” between Sri Lanka and Sudan. In May, an overwhelming majority of the General Assembly asserted that Palestine deserved full membership, a move that has been blocked by the United States.

“This is not merely a procedural matter. This is a historic moment for us,” said Egyptian Ambassador Osama Mahmoud Abdelkhalek Mahmoud.

During the resolution’s adoption, Israel denounced the move.

“Any decision and or action that improves the status of the Palestinians, either in the UN General Assembly or bilaterally, is currently a reward … for terrorism in general and the Hamas terrorists in particular,” said Jonathan Miller, Israel’s deputy ambassador to the UN.



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SvennoJ on 11 September 2024

Australian police clash with antiwar demonstrators in Melbourne

Australian police have deployed tear gas, rubber bullets and pepper spray during clashes with crowds protesting Israel’s war on Gaza outside a defence exhibition in the city of Melbourne.

The clashes came after thousands of demonstrators chanting pro-Palestine slogans and waving Palestinian flags gathered outside the biennial Land Forces International Land Defence Exposition earlier this morning, according to the ABC and SBS broadcasters.

Protesters tried to shut down the event, by throwing eggs and water at delegates in a bid to prevent them from entering the event, SBS reported. Some protesters were seen throwing horse manure at mounted police while others set fire to dustbins in the area, according to the ABC.

Police arrested several people as they moved to contain the protest, according to ABC and SBS, but the number of detainees has not yet been confirmed. The broadcasters described the police operation as the largest in Melbourne since the World Economic Forum was held in the city in 2000.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese meanwhile called for police officers to be “respected at all times”. “You don’t say you’re opposed to defence equipment by throwing things at police,” he told Australia’s Channel Seven.


Victoria Police clash with antiwar protesters outside a military arms convention in downtown Melbourne on September 11


Gaza war protesters clash with police at Australia arms fair



We reported earlier that people protesting against the Gaza war clashed with police outside an arms fair in Australia.

About 1,200 people attended the protest, picketing the Land Forces 2024 exposition being held in Australia’s second largest city of Melbourne, authorities said. They demanded a change in Canberra’s stance on the Israel-Gaza conflict.

Police used sponge grenades, flash-bang devices and irritant sprays against the crowd, and arrested dozens.



Australian police use ‘serious weapons’ on pro-Palestine protesters: Report

Earlier, we reported there were clashes between pro-Palestine demonstrators and police outside an arms fair in Melbourne.

The national co-convenor for Students for Palestine Jasmine Duff said the police were to blame for the violence.

“They used serious weapons on peace activists that should be banned for use on demonstrators, including pepper spray, which is classified as a chemical weapon,” Duff said in a statement, according to the AP news agency.

“They hit us with batons, including hitting one man so hard he had to go to hospital and they shot us with rubber bullets,” she added.

The organiser of the convention, AMDA Foundation, said it would not comment on protester activity.



SvennoJ on 11 September 2024

Press freedom group demands ‘immediate entrance’ to Gaza

The Foreign Press Association has denounced Israel’s refusal to allow international journalists into the Gaza Strip and filed a new petition at the Israeli Supreme Court asking for immediate access to the Palestinian enclave.

The FPA, which represents international media groups, said Israel’s behaviour is “shocking” for a country “that professes its commitment to the democratic ideals of a free press”.

“Never before has Israel enforced such a long and strict information blackout,” the FPA said.

The group said it was turning to the Israeli Supreme Court – which upheld the entry ban on security grounds in January – “in hopes to sustain the freedom of the press and democratic fundamental rights”.

It added, “To Israel, we say enough with the excuses. It is time to let us in.”

https://twitterx.com/FPAIsPal/status/1833477229013033259

Israel bombs Khan Younis home, kills at least 13: Reports

The Israeli military has launched an air attack on a home east of Khan Younis in southern Gaza, killing at least 13 people, according to the Quds News Network and the Shehab news agency. The attack targeted the al-Qara family home in the town of Khuza’a, the outlets reported.


Survivors say Israel’s attack on al-Mawasi felt like an earthquake

We have more from witnesses and survivors of Israel’s deadly attack on displaced Palestinians in al-Mawasi.

“We were sitting about a kilometre from the bombing site. We were sleeping when five missiles rained down like a fire belt,” said Ibrahim Al-Bahsheti, a Palestinian living in a tent near the bombing site. “Afterward, the tents looked like they had been hit by an earthquake. The ground was turned upside down,” he said.

Another woman said she felt “unimaginable fear”. “We were sleeping in our tents when the missiles fell beside us. We survived by a miracle. I never imagined I would survive. We’re still in shock,” said Ibtisam Al Shaker, who has been staying in al-Mawasi for the past six months.

“Everything fell on top of us. Our children were buried in the sand. We ran out screaming and we could only see their heads buried beneath the sand,” she told Al Jazeera. “We’ve had enough of this life. I think six missiles fell on us. We couldn’t count them, but the scene was horrific,” she added.


A general view shows the site of Israeli strikes on a makeshift displacement camp in al-Mawasi in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip on September 10


Israel kills at least 4 in air attack on Nuseirat: Report

The Israeli military has carried out an air attack on the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, killing at least four people, the Palestinian Information Center reports. Eleven people were also injured in the attack, which hit the Abu Atwi family home in Block C of the camp, according to the report.


Israeli attacks kill 27 Palestinians overnight

Here’s the breakdown, according to the Wafa news agency:

  • At least 13 Palestinians were killed and several wounded after Israeli forces bombed a residential building in the town of Khuza’a, east of Khan Younis in southern Gaza.
  • A fisherman was killed after the Israeli navy stationed near Khan Younis’s al-Mawasi fired at him.
  • At least nine people, including three children and two women, were killed as Israeli forces bombed a house in Jabalia, in northern Gaza.
  • Four Palestinians were killed and 11 others wounded when Israeli forces attacked a residential building in the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza.


Israeli army says two soldiers killed in Gaza helicopter crash

Two Israeli soldiers were killed after a military helicopter crashed trying to rescue an injured soldier in Rafah, the Israeli army says.

“During the night, an ‘Owl’ helicopter of the Air Force, as part of a mission to evacuate an injured fighter for medical treatment at a hospital, crashed in the Rafah area during landing,” the army posted on X.

It added that, according to initial investigation, “it appears that the crash was not caused by enemy fire”.



SvennoJ on 11 September 2024

Deliberate Israeli attacks on families inside their homes

What we are seeing right now is deliberate attacks on families inside residential homes. These attacks are systematic. They happened at a certain point of time, all past midnight in the early hours of this morning.

There was an attack on Bureij refugee camp in the eastern part of the central area, followed by an Israeli raid on the Nuseirat refugee camp in the western part of the region.

One of the worst attacks took place at a home belonging to the al-Qara family in eastern Khan Younis, where 13 people were killed. Three generations of the same family were residing there, including the grandparents, parents and children.

Israel ‘systematically’ attacking families

Palestinian families are the core of the social fabric of the social structure, and judging from the systematic patterns of attacks on families the Israeli military is conducting seems to be something that will cause a change in the demography of the Gaza Strip.

Within the past few hours, another air strike targeted a home in the western part of Rafah city.

The initial reports we received from people close to the area that the house was full of people, including a whole displaced family that was sheltering inside the house.

These examples keep repeating over and over, but in the past couple of months these attacks are happening without any prior warning whatsoever, which means people are … being attacked without being given the opportunity to seek shelter elsewhere for safety.


At least 4 killed in Israeli air attack on family home in Gaza’s al-Mawasi area

Israeli aircraft have bombed the Abu Shalouf family home in the al-Mawasi area near Rafah city, killing at least four people and injuring 15. That’s according to local sources cited by the Wafa news agency and our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic.


Child killed in Israeli attack on southern Gaza

Our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic report that a child has been killed and several others injured in an Israeli raid on a home southeast of Khan Younis.


Israel killed 64 Palestinians in Gaza in past 24 hours: Ministry

At least 64 people have been killed and 104 others wounded in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip during the past 24 hours, according to the latest update by the Health Ministry in the besieged and bombarded territory.

The latest killings brought the total toll to 41,084, with 95,029 people also wounded since October 7, the statement said.


Israeli air attack on Gaza school-turned-shelter kills at least 3

According to the Palestinian news agency Wafa, an air attack on a school in Nuseirat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip has killed at least three people and wounded many others.

Wafa reported that Israel struck al-Jaouni school in the camp.

Footage verified by Al Jazeera showed bodies being brought to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir el-Balah. Wounded people were also being evacuated to the hospital, videos shared on social media platforms showed.

Death toll in Israeli strike on school rises to 9

A spokesperson for the Palestinian Civil Defence has said that at least nine people, including women and children, have been killed in Nuseirat camp in the Central Gaza Strip. Israeli jets struck Al Jaouni, a school-turned-shelter for the internally displaced. The civil defence said its teams are still recovering bodies and looking for survivors.



Almost 530,000 children in Gaza received polio vaccine, says UNRWA

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has said that nearly 530,000 children have now received the vaccine across the Gaza Strip. UNRWA also said its staff are working “around the clock to reach all children under 10”.

It added that the vaccination campaign is ongoing in north Gaza “against all challenges and thanks to the dedication of our health workers”.



SvennoJ on 11 September 2024

Family slams Israeli inquiry into US-Turkish activist’s killing

The family of Aysenur Ezgi Eygi has denounced the Israeli military’s preliminary inquiry into the 26-year-old activist’s killing as “wholly inadequate”.

“We are deeply offended by the suggestion that her killing by a trained sniper was in any way unintentional. The disregard shown for human life in the inquiry is appalling,” they said in a statement.

“We reiterate our demand for the US government leaders – President Biden, Vice President Harris, and Secretary of State Blinken – to order an independent investigation into the Israeli military’s deliberate targeting and killing of a US citizen,” they added.


Slain activist’s partner rejects Biden’s claim that her death was accidental

Hamid Ali criticised the US president for failing to reach out to Eygi’s family following her killing by an Israeli sniper and dismissed his claims that the American-Turkish activist’s death appeared to be an accident.

“For four days, we have waited for President Biden to pick up the phone and do the right thing: To call us, offer his condolences, and let us know that he is ordering an independent investigation of the killing of Aysenur,” Ali said in a statement published by the advocacy group, the Institute for Middle East Understanding.

“She was fatally shot in the head by an Israeli sniper positioned 200 metres away. This was no accident and her killers must be held accountable,” he said.



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SvennoJ on 11 September 2024

Three killed in Israeli attack on Tubas

The Wafa news agency is reporting that Palestinian Red Crescent crews have recovered the bodies of three people after Israeli forces bombed the area near the Al-Tawhid Mosque in the city of Tubas in the occupied West Bank.

Israel confirms deadly attack on Tubas

The Israeli military said its soldiers are operating in the city of Tubas and the town of Tammun in the occupied West Bank and launched an air attack on fighters there a short while ago.

Death toll from Israel’s attack on Tubas rises to five

Medics from the Palestinian Red Crescent have retrieved the bodies of five Palestinians from the site of an Israeli air attack in the occupied West Bank city, according to the Wafa news agency.

The medics were able to transfer their bodies to the hospital, but Israeli forces are preventing ambulances from reaching other wounded people in Tubas, the agency added.

Israeli military continues siege on Tubas

As we’ve been reporting, the Israeli military has placed the occupied West Bank city of Tubas under siege for several hours, including carrying out an air strike that has killed five Palestinians.

The Wafa news agency reports that the siege continues following the bombing, with all entrances to the city remaining closed and the Turkish Governmental Hospital still locked down.

Israeli forces are obstructing the work of Palestine Red Crescent crews and subjecting ambulances entering the medical facility to inspections, Wafa reports.

Palestinian armed groups have also struck an Israeli military vehicle with an explosive device in the city, according to the Quds News Network and the Palestinian Information Center. No casualties have been reported.

The bodies of five people killed in the Israeli air raid on Tubas have been identified, all of them below the age of 25, Wafa reports. Two of them were teenagers – Jamil Basharat, 18, and Mohammad Saeed Hussein Sawafta, 19, the agency said.


Hospital in occupied West Bank city besieged

The Turkish government hospital in Tubas city has been besieged by Israeli forces, our Al Jazeera Arabic colleagues on the ground report.



SvennoJ on 11 September 2024

Israeli forces carry out arrests in Bethlehem, Ramallah

Three teenagers have been arrested following separate raids in Bethlehem governorate in the occupied West Bank, the Wafa news agency reports. Israeli forces arrested a 16-year-old and an 18-year-old in the town of Tuqu, while a 15-year-old was arrested in the town of Janatah, according to Wafa.

Two more Palestinians were also arrested during separate raids on the town of Beit Rima and the village of Rantis, northwest of Ramallah.


Israeli forces arrest 17 Palestinians in Hebron amid West Bank raids

The Israeli military has arrested 17 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank’s Hebron governorate and set up military checkpoints in several areas, Wafa reports.

At dawn, the army apprehended two brothers from Kafr Ra’i village, south of Jenin, raiding their home. Two men were arrested during the raids on the towns of Beit Rima and Rantis, northwest of Ramallah city.


Israeli man critically wounded in car ramming near West Bank settlement

The Israeli army says it has responded to a car-ramming incident near the settlement of Givat Assaf in the occupied West Bank, adding that it has “neutralised” the assailant.

Local media reports said a truck hit a bus stop and critically wounded a man in his 20s. He is yet to be identified.

Israeli outposts in the occupied West Bank are illegal under international law. In July, the International Court of Justice found that Israel’s occupation was illegal and ruled that Israel had “an obligation to cease immediately all new settlement activities and to evacuate all settlers” from the occupied territory.


Israeli forces raid West Bank home of Palestinian man over car-ramming attack

More details are emerging on the car-ramming attack near the settlement of Givat Assaf, in the occupied West Bank.

Al Jazeera correspondent Nida Ibrahim, reporting from the scene of the incident, said the Israeli forces raided the house of the driver, a 58-year-old man from the town of Rafat, southwest Ramallah.

The truck rammed into a military checkpoint near the settlement of Givat Assaf injuring two Israeli soldiers stationed there, one of them critically.

While the Israeli military said the attacker had been “neutralised,” Ibrahim said the army often uses the term to mean both killed and injured. “We are receiving news from medical sources that the driver is in serious condition,” the reporter added.


Israeli settlers set fire to olive trees in West Bank’s Burin

Israeli settlers from the illegal outpost of Yitzhar have damaged dozens of olive trees belonging to a Palestinian farmer in the village of Burin, in the occupied West Bank, the Israeli watchdog Yesh Din has said.

Video footage published by the organisation, which campaigns against settler violence, showed five masked individuals holding chainsaws leaving the olive grove as fires engulfed several trees.

“We demand that the military properly prepare to prevent violence against farmers and damage to the trees, and to ensure the harvest takes place,” the organisation said.

The incident occurred at about 6am [03:00 GMT]. In a second post on X, it said settlers later returned to the area and set fire to more trees.



SvennoJ on 11 September 2024

Israeli forces detain Red Crescent crew in Tulkarem

Israeli forces have detained five members of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society’s (PRCS) ambulance crew in the Tulkarem camp in the occupied West Bank, according to Al Jazeera Arabic.

Citing the PRCS, AJA added that the group has lost contact with the crew now.

The incident comes as the Israeli military continues an offensive in the north of the occupied West Bank. The assault targeting Jenin, Tulkarem and Tubas began on August 28 and is the military’s largest assault on the occupied territory since the second Intifada in the early 2000s.

The group says the emergency workers continue to be in detention since dawn today, and were apprehended while transporting several people, including children, from Tulkarem refugee camp.


Israeli forces destroy street during raid in occupied West Bank city

An Israeli bulldozer destroyed a street and other infrastructure during a raid in Tulkarem.


The destruction from an Israeli forces raid in Tulkarem




Israeli forces turn Palestinian home near Ramallah into military outpost

Israeli forces have seized a house west of Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank, and turned into a military outpost, the Palestinian news agency Wafa has reported.

The army detained the Palestinian family that lived in the house as well as a 28-year-old resident, it added.

Separately, the news agency reported that the Israeli military demolished a house and three commercial shops in the town of Biddu, northwest of occupied Jerusalem.

The Commission of Detainees of and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society said in a joint statement that at least 30 people were detained in the West Bank in the past 24 hours.



SvennoJ on 11 September 2024

‘Belt of fire’ in southern Lebanon as Israeli jets drop bombs

Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA) is reporting that Israeli jets carried out more than 15 air attacks on southern parts of the country, targeting forested areas and orchards between the towns of Zebqin, al-Shaitiya and al-Qleila.

The bombings caused a “belt of fire” stretching between the towns, the agency reported.


Israel claims attacks on 30 Hezbollah sites overnight

The Israeli military said the sites targeted in southern Lebanon included rocket launchers and “military infrastructure”. It listed the areas hit as al-Jebbayn, Naqoura, Deir Sirkin and Zibqin.

The statement came after Lebanon’s NNA news agency reported that Israeli air attacks in southern parts of the country at dawn has caused a “belt of fire” to erupt between the towns of Zibqin, al-Shaitiya and al-Qleila. The agency also said that Israeli air attacks on Alma ash-Shaab in the morning sparked intense fires in the forests, and that Israeli jets also raided the area between the towns of Deir Siryan and Zawtar al-Sharqiya.


Israel striking deeper into Lebanon

The overnight strikes were heavy and extensive. Huge explosions were heard across southern Lebanon, with at least 20 Israeli air strikes in a span of just a few hours.

The Israeli army is saying it hit about 30 rocket launchers as well as other military infrastructure belonging to Hezbollah in four different locations in southern Lebanon, adding that they pose a direct threat to Israeli civilians.


In recent days we have been seeing an increase in the frequency of Israeli strikes. And they’re no longer just confined to the border area – which has become a de facto military zone.

They’re striking deeper inside Lebanon up to the Litani River. The river flows through southern Lebanon to the border. So Israel seems to be carrying out a strategy here to degrade Hezbollah’s military capabilities in this border region up to the Litani.


At least one killed in Israeli raid on motorcycle in southern Lebanon: Report

Israel has carried out a drone strike in southern Lebanon’s Meiss el-Jabal town, according to Lebanon’s National News Agency (NNA).

The Lebanon 24 broadcaster reported that the target was a motorcycle. It cited the Health Ministry’s emergency centre as saying that at least one person was killed and another injured in the attack.


Mapping 11 months of Israel-Lebanon cross-border attacks

Israel, Hezbollah and other Lebanese groups have exchanged more than 9,613 attacks between October 7 and September 6.

About 82 percent of these attacks – 7,845 – were carried out by Israeli forces and killed at least 646 people in Lebanon.

Hezbollah and other armed groups were responsible for 1,768 attacks that killed at least 32 Israelis.


Hezbollah claims four attacks on Israeli military sites

Lebanon’s Hezbollah armed group has said its fighters targeted a group of Israeli soldiers near the Raheb military site near the Lebanese-Israeli border with rockets, without elaborating on the results of the 08:30am (05:30 GMT) attack.

In a separate statement published on Telegram, the group also claimed to have attacked the Ruwaisat al-Qarn military site in the occupied Lebanese Shebaa Farms at 10:25am (07:25 GMT) with rockets. It did not say what the results were.

The third Hezbollah attack of the day came at the same time and the same area targeting the Zabadin barracks in Shebaa Farms.

At 12:25pm (09:25 GMT), the group hit a bunker where Israeli soldiers were positioned in the Matla military site “with appropriate weapons”.

There was no immediate comment on the attacks from the Israeli army.


White phosphorous attack reported in southern Lebanon

Lebanon’s state-run news agency NNA is reporting an Israeli strike on the southern town of Khiam using phosphorus, a chemical substance dispersed in artillery shells, bombs, and rockets that ignites when exposed to oxygen.

The use of white phosphorous by Israel has been documented by watchdogs including Human Rights Watch. Under international humanitarian law, the use of this type of incendiary ammunition is unlawful in populated areas and does not meet the legal requirement to minimise civilian harm.



SvennoJ on 11 September 2024

Israel offers Yahya Sinwar safe exit in exchange for captives held in Gaza

Gal Hirsch, Israel’s envoy on the captives held in the Gaza Strip, announced the offer for the leader of Hamas in an interview with Bloomberg News in Washington, DC.

“I’m ready to provide safe passage to Sinwar, his family, whoever wants to join him,” Hirsch said. “We want the hostages back. We want demilitarization, de-radicalization of course – a new system that will manage Gaza.”

Hirsch told Bloomberg that he put the offer on the table a day and a half ago, but declined to characterise the response so far.

Sinwar, who Israel claims masterminded the October 7 attacks, became the leader of Hamas after his predecessor, Ismail Haniyeh, was assassinated in the Iranian capital, Tehran. Iran blames Israel for the killing.


ICC prosecutor seeks ‘urgent’ arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant, Hamas leaders

The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has called on its judges to issue arrest warrants for the Israeli leaders as well as Hamas’s Sinwar and Mohammed Deif “with utmost urgency”, according to legal filings.

Karim Khan cited “the worsening situation in Palestine” in his renewed appeal.

Khan had first sought the arrest warrants in May, accusing Netanyahu, Gallant and the Hamas leaders of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity. But the case has been beset by various procedural delays, including the court’s decision to let the United Kingdom submit observations on the court’s jurisdiction over the case.

The British government ultimately opted not to file those observations.

Khan had also initially sought an arrest warrant for the late Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh, but said he was withdrawing the case following the politician’s assassination in Tehran in August. The prosecutor also said he would withdraw the request for Deif, the Hamas military commander Israel claimed to have killed earlier this year, if his death is confirmed.


South Africa to submit memorial in ICJ case against Israel

South Africa will file a memorial in the genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in October, the presidency says in a statement.

“South Africa intends to provide facts and evidence to prove that Israel is committing the crime of genocide in Palestine,” it said. “This case will continue until the court makes a finding. While the case is in progress, we hope that Israel will abide by the court’s provisional orders issued to date.”

The remarks come amid reports that Israeli diplomats are lobbying members of the US Congress to pressure South Africa into dropping the case.

“The case represents a growing global effort towards ensuring peace in the Middle East,” the statement added. Nicaragua, Palestine, Turkey, Spain, Mexico, Libya and Colombia have joined the South African case against Israel.


Iraqi PM rejects widening Gaza war in meeting with Iran president

Mohammed Shia al-Sudani, speaking alongside visiting Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, says both governments are opposed to any widening of Israel’s war in Gaza.

“In light of the escalation that the region has been going through, we have spoken a lot about the importance of stability; this stability is threatened by the Zionist aggression in Gaza,” al-Sudani said.

“We have stated more than once our rejection of any extension of the conflict,” he added, underlining the two governments’ “common position” on the war.