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A few dozen anti-war activists gathered at Times Square in New York City and outside the White House late on Thursday to protest against the US and British strikes against Houthi military targets in Yemen, Reuters has reported, saying the step threatened to widen the war in Gaza.
Protesters at Times Square chanted slogans such as “hands off the Middle East,” “hands off Yemen,” and “hands off Gaza”.
The demonstrators near the White House waved Palestinian flags and carried banners that read “Free Palestine” and “stop bombing Yemen.”
Summary of events so far
It’s currently 6:28am in Sana’a and 5:28am in Gaza and Tel Aviv. Here is a summary of the latest so far:
The United States and Britain have carried out strikes against targets linked to Houthis in Yemen. It’s the first time strikes have been launched against the Iran-backed group since it started targeting international shipping in the Red Sea late last year.
An official from Yemen’s Houthis has reacted to the bombings on X. Abdul Qader al-Mortada said: American-Zionist-British aggression against Yemen launches several raids on the capital, Sanaa, Hodeidah governorate, Saada, and Dhamar
The US and British militaries have used warship-launched Tomahawk missiles and fighter jets in the strikes, several US officials told the Associated Press. The military targets include logistical hubs, air defence systems and weapons storage locations.
US president Joe Biden has released a statement on the strikes – where he highlights the countries involved in the military action – including Australia, Bahrain, Canada, and the Netherlands. Biden said: These targeted strikes are a clear message that the United States and our partners will not tolerate attacks on our personnel or allow hostile actors to imperil freedom of navigation in one of the world’s most critical commercial routes. I will not hesitate to direct further measures to protect our people and the free flow of international commerce as necessary.
Britian’s prime minister Rishi Sunak has also released a statement on the military action, describing it as “limited, necessary and proportionate action in self-defence” and saying that the Netherlands, Canada and Bahrain offered “non-operational support”.
The UK’s Ministry of Defence said in a statement that “particular care was taken to minimise any risks to civilians” and that “early indications are that the Houthis’ ability to threaten merchant shipping has taken a blow”
Ten countries were involved in the strikes, according to a joint statement released by the White House from the government’s of Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, United Kingdom, and the United States saying they will “not hesitate to defend lives and protect the free flow of commerce in one of the world’s most critical waterways”.
Saudi Arabia says it is monitoring situation with “great concern”. The kingdom’s foreign ministry has told Reuters news agency it is calling for restraint and “avoiding escalation” in light of the airstrikes launched by the United States and Britain.
US defence secretary Lloyd Austin says the US is prepared to take “follow-on” action to protect US forces, Reuters reports. Austin is in hospital due to surgery complications.
Some Democrats have reacted to the military strikes saying that the president should be coming to Congress first before taking action , US representative Ro Khanna from California says “The President needs to come to Congress before launching a strike against the Houthis in Yemen and involving us in another Middle East conflict.
But US Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnel was in support of the action, although he said it was “overdue”
Australia has commented on its part on the strikes in Yemen. Defence minister Richard Marles says that Australia provided personnel support to the US and UK in their strikes.
Updated
Australia has commented on its part on the strikes in Yemen. Defence minister Richard Marles says that Australia provided personnel support to the US and UK in their strikes.
Australia’s support of these actions came in the form of personnel in the operational headquarters …
Australia will continue to support any actions which assert the global rules-based order.
The United States and Britain launched strikes from the air and sea against Houthi military targets in Yemen in response to the movement’s attacks on ships in the Red Sea, in what Reuters has described as a dramatic regional widening of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza.
There’s been some reaction from lawmakers in the US to president Joe Biden’s decision to go ahead with the strikes.
A Democrat, US representative Ro Khanna from California is saying that the president should be coming to Congress first before taking action:
The President needs to come to Congress before launching a strike against the Houthis in Yemen and involving us in another Middle East conflict. That is Article I of the Constitution. I will stand up for that regardless of whether a Democrat or Republican is in the White House.
But US Senate Republican leader Mitch McConnel was in support of the action, although he said it was “overdue”:
I welcome the U.S. and coalition operations against the Iran-backed Houthi terrorists responsible for violently disrupting international commerce in the Red Sea and attacking American vessels. President Biden’s decision to use military force against these Iranian proxies is overdue. I am hopeful these operations mark an enduring shift in the Biden Administration’s approach to Iran and its proxies.
Some other Republicans echoed the comments that the action was overdue, including Senator Susan Collins and Roger Wicker.
Other Democrats have expressed concern about the consequences and some disquiet about the action. US representative Jason Crow from Colorado said “I would not support us being pulled into a broader war.” Mark Pocan from Wisconsin said “The United States cannot risk getting entangled into another decades-long conflict without Congressional authorization.”
Here’s some more detail on the reaction from Saudi Arabia.
The kingdom has called for restraint and “avoiding escalation” in light of the airstrikes launched by the United States and Britain against sites linked to the Houthis in Yemen.
Reuters is reporting the kingdom’s foreign ministry has said:
The kingdom emphasizes the importance of maintaining the security and stability of the Red Sea region, as the freedom of navigation in it is an international demand
Saudi Arabia has in recent months engaged in peace talks with Yemen’s Houthis, who are an Iran-aligned group that control much of Yemen after nearly a decade of war against a western-backed and Saudi-led coalition, says Reuters.
The Houthis have also emerged as a strong supporter of Hamas in its war against Israel. The group has been attacking commercial ships it says are linked to Israel or bound for Israeli ports.
The chief negotiator for the Houthis, Mohammed Abdulsalam, said on Thursday the group’s attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea do not threaten its peace talks with Saudi Arabia.
For background on how the strikes have hit international shipping, read our piece by Jack Simpson and Sarah Butler
US defence secretary Lloyd Austin has released a statement about the strikes – saying the US is prepared to take “follow-on” action to protect US forces, Reuters reports.
Today’s strikes targeted sites associated with the Houthis’ unmanned aerial vehicle, ballistic and cruise missile, and coastal radar and air surveillance capabilities …
The United States maintains its right to self-defence and, if necessary, we will take follow-on actions to protect US forces.
Austin is in hospital due to surgery complications.
Updated
Here’s the front page of the Guardian newspaper in the UK with the strikes against Yemen’s Houthis as the top headline:
US officials have been briefing reporters and say that no retaliatory action by the Houthis has occurred yet, Reuters reports.
But one official told reporters on a conference call they would not be surprised if there were a response:
While we fully expect this action to diminish the Houthis’ capability and degrade it, and certainly over time to reduce their capacity and propensity to conduct these attacks, we would not be surprised to see some sort of response
Saudi Arabia says it is monitoring situation with "great concern"
Saudi Arabia has reacted to the airstrikes on Yemen’s Houthis.
The kingdom’s foreign ministry has told Reuters news agency it is calling for restraint and “avoiding escalation” in light of the airstrikes launched by the United States and Britain.
The statement also says Saudi Arabia is closely monitoring the situation with “great concern”.
Ten countries involved in Yemen strikes
The White House has also issued a joint statement from the government’s of Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Republic of Korea, United Kingdom, and the United States saying they will “not hesitate to defend lives and protect the free flow of commerce in one of the world’s most critical waterways”.
Here’s some of that statement:
In response to continued illegal, dangerous, and destabilizing Houthi attacks against vessels, including commercial shipping, transiting the Red Sea, the armed forces of the United States and United Kingdom, with support from the Netherlands, Canada, Bahrain, and Australia, conducted joint strikes in accordance with the inherent right of individual and collective self-defense, consistent with the UN Charter, against a number of targets in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen. These precision strikes were intended to disrupt and degrade the capabilities the Houthis use to threaten global trade and the lives of international mariners in one of the world’s most critical waterways.
It goes on to say:
Today’s action demonstrated a shared commitment to freedom of navigation, international commerce, and defending the lives of mariners from illegal and unjustifiable attacks.
The statement ends on saying that the goal remains to “de-escalate’” tensions, but that the joint countries will also protect “lives” and the “free flow of commerce”:
Our aim remains to de-escalate tensions and restore stability in the Red Sea, but let our message be clear: we will not hesitate to defend lives and protect the free flow of commerce in one of the world’s most critical waterways in the face of continued threats.
The US and Britain launched air and missile strikes in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen, aimed at halting attacks on ships in the Red Sea, Washington and London have announced.
Joe Biden, the US president, said American and British forces, with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, and the Netherlands were involved in the overnight attack, which appeared to target a dozen sites in the country.
In a statement, he said: “These strikes are in direct response to unprecedented Houthi attacks against international maritime vessels in the Red Sea – including the use of anti-ship ballistic missiles for the first time in history.
“These attacks have endangered US personnel, civilian mariners, and our partners, jeopardised trade, and threatened freedom of navigation.”
Biden also said he would be willing to authorise further attacks on Yemen if Houthi attacks on shipping did not stop. “I will not hesitate to direct further measures to protect our people and the free flow of international commerce as necessary,” he said.
Minutes later, Rishi Sunak, the British prime minister confirmed UK participation. “We have therefore taken limited, necessary and proportionate action in self-defence, alongside the United States,” he said, “against targets tied to these attacks, to degrade Houthi military capabilities and protect global shipping.”
Read the rest of our defence and security editor Dan Sabbagh’s report here:
Here are some of the images released by the UK’s Ministry of Defence of the aircraft involved in the strikes:
UK's Ministry of Defence say they think Houthis abilities "taken a blow"
The UK’s Ministry of Defence has also now issued a statement, which details the action including that “particular care was taken to minimise any risks to civilians” and that “early indications are that the Houthis’ ability to threaten merchant shipping has taken a blow”
Here’s that statement:
On 11 January, Royal Air Force aircraft joined coalition forces in striking a number of facilities used by the Houthi rebel faction in Yemen to attack shipping in the southern Red Sea.
The Royal Navy destroyer HMS Diamond has already been active alongside US and French warships in defending vital international shipping lanes against Houthi drones and missiles. Given the persistence of the Houthis in threatening merchant ships, several of which have already suffered damage, and the deliberate targeting of HMS Diamond and US Navy vessels on 9 January, coalition forces identified key facilities involved in these attacks, and agreed to conduct a carefully coordinated strike to reduce the Houthis’ capability to violate international law in this manner.
The statement goes on to detail the strikes:
Four RAF Typhoon FGR4s, supported by a Voyager air refuelling tanker therefore used Paveway IV guided bombs to conduct precision strikes on two of these Houthi facilities. One was a site at Bani in north-western Yemen used to launch reconnaissance and attack drones. A number of buildings involved in drone operations were targeted by our aircraft.
The other location struck by our aircraft was the airfield at Abbs. Intelligence has shown that it has been used to launch both cruise missiles and drones over the Red Sea. Several key targets at the airfield were identified and prosecuted by our aircraft.
The statement also refers to trying to limit civilian casualties, according to the MoD and an assessment on what the strikes have achieved:
In planning the strikes, particular care was taken to minimise any risks to civilians, and any such risks were mitigated further by the decision to conduct the strikes during the night. The detailed results of the strikes are being assessed, but early indications are that the Houthis’ ability to threaten merchant shipping has taken a blow, and our commitment to protecting the sea-lanes, through which some 15% of the world’s shipping passes and which is vital to the global economy, has been amply demonstrated.
Updated
UK prime minister Rishi Sunak comments on Yemen strikes
Britian’s prime minister Rishi Sunak has also released a statement on the military action, describing it as “limited, necessary and proportionate action in self-defence” and saying that the Netherlands, Canada and Bahrain offered “non-operational support”.
Here’s some of that statement:
The Royal Air Force has carried out targeted strikes against military facilities used by Houthi rebels in Yemen …
In recent months, the Houthi militia have carried out a series of dangerous and destabilising attacks against commercial shipping in the Red Sea, threatening UK and other international ships, causing major disruption to a vital trade route and driving up commodity prices. Their reckless actions are risking lives at sea and exacerbating the humanitarian crisis in Yemen.
The statement goes on to say:
This cannot stand. The United Kingdom will always stand up for freedom of navigation and the free flow of trade. We have therefore taken limited, necessary and proportionate action in self-defence, alongside the United States with non-operational support from the Netherlands, Canada and Bahrain against targets tied to these attacks, to degrade Houthi military capabilities and protect global shipping.
The statement ends with a request that the Houthis take steps to “de-escalate”:
The Royal Navy continues to patrol the Red Sea as part of the multinational Operation Prosperity Guardian to deter further Houthi aggression, and we urge them to cease their attacks and take steps to de-escalate
Updated
Biden says Australia, Canada, Bahrain and Netherlands involved in strikes
US president Joe Biden has released a statement on the strikes – where he highlights the countries involved in the military action – including Australia, Bahrain, Canada, and the Netherlands:
He says:
Today, at my direction, U.S. military forces—together with the United Kingdom and with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, and the Netherlands—successfully conducted strikes against a number of targets in Yemen used by Houthi rebels to endanger freedom of navigation in one of the world’s most vital waterways.
These strikes are in direct response to unprecedented Houthi attacks against international maritime vessels in the Red Sea—including the use of anti-ship ballistic missiles for the first time in history.
He goes on to say in the statement:
Today’s defensive action follows this extensive diplomatic campaign and Houthi rebels’ escalating attacks against commercial vessels. These targeted strikes are a clear message that the United States and our partners will not tolerate attacks on our personnel or allow hostile actors to imperil freedom of navigation in one of the world’s most critical commercial routes. I will not hesitate to direct further measures to protect our people and the free flow of international commerce as necessary.
Updated
Here’s a good explainer on the Houthis and what’s been happening in Yemen by Archie Bland and Bethan McKernan:
The US and UK have launched airstrikes on more than a dozen sites used by the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen, according to US officials.
The strikes are the most significant military response against the Houthis’ persistent campaign of drone and missile attacks on commercial ships in the Red Sea, which began after Israel’s war in Gaza broke out. Here’s how we got here:
Who are the Houthis?
The Houthis are a Yemeni militia group named after their founder, Hussein Badreddin al-Houthi, and representing the Zaidi branch of Shia Islam. They emerged in the 1990s in opposition to Saudi Arabia’s religious influence in Yemen. The group, which has an estimated 20,000 fighters, runs most of the west of the country and is in charge of its Red Sea coastline.
Read the rest of that explainer here:
Associated Press journalists in Yemen’s capital, Sana’a say they heard four explosions early Friday local time but saw no sign of warplanes.
Two residents of Hodieda, Amin Ali Saleh and Hani Ahmed, said they heard five strong explosions. Hodieda lies on the Red Sea and is the largest port city controlled by the Houthis.
The Yemen Data project also posted a short time ago on X about strikes and where they have been reported:
Strikes reported in Hudaydah, Sana’a, Sa’ada and Taiz.
— Yemen Data Project (@YemenData) January 11, 2024
The US and British militaries have been bombing more than a dozen sites used by the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen on Thursday, AP reports.
US officials have told the Associated Press that warship-launched Tomahawk missiles and fighter jets were used. The military targets included logistical hubs, air defense systems and weapons storage locations, they said.
Reuters is reporting that these strikes are believed to be the first the United States has carried out against the Houthis in Yemen since 2016.
Four US officials, speaking to Reuters on the condition of anonymity, say a formal statement is soon expected to detail the strikes.
Earlier on Thursday, the Houthi’s leader said any US attack on the group would not go without a response.
The Houthis, who seized much of Yemen in a civil war, have vowed to attack ships linked to Israel or bound for Israeli ports. However, many of the targeted ships have had no links to Israel. The Houthis say they have been targeting Red Sea shipping routes to show their support for Hamas in the Israel-Gaza war.
The attacks have disrupted international commerce on the key route between Europe and Asia that accounts for about 15% of the world’s shipping traffic.
The US and British militaries have used warship-launched Tomahawk missiles and fighter jets in the strikes, several US officials have told the Associated Press.
The military targets include logistical hubs, air defence systems and weapons storage locations, they said.
Associated Press says the US and Britian have bombed more than a dozen sites used by the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen in what is described as a massive retaliatory strike.
The strikes mark the first US military response against the Houthis after a campaign of drone and missile attacks on commercial ships since the start of the war in Israel.
The coordinated military assault comes just a week after the White House and a host of partner nations issued a final warning to the Houthis to cease the attacks or face potential military action. The officials confirmed the strikes on condition of anonymity to discuss military operations.
An official from Yemen’s Houthis has commented on the bombings on X. Abdul Qader al-Mortada says:
American-Zionist-British aggression against Yemen launches several raids on the capital, Sanaa, Hodeidah governorate, Saada, and Dhamar
Reuters is reporting that the US and British strikes were carried out by aircraft, ships and submarines.
This is a breaking story and more details will come as they develop
US and UK air strikes on Yemen
The United States and Britain have started carrying out strikes against targets linked to Houthis in Yemen, four US officials have told Reuters.
It’s the first time strikes have been launched against the Iran-backed group since it started targeting international shipping in the Red Sea late last year.
Associated Press is also reporting that US and British militaries have begun bombing sites used by the Iranian-backed Houthis in Yemen in a massive retaliatory strike.
A Houthi official says ‘enemy’ raids on Sana’a are taking place, according to Reuters. A witness in Yemen’s Sana’a has also told Reuters three explosions have been heard.
Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi militants have stepped up attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea in protest against Israel’s war in Gaza. Various shipping lines have suspended operations, instead taking the longer journey around Africa.
The US military said the Houthis earlier on Thursday had staged their 27th attack on shipping since 19 November, firing an anti-ship ballistic missile into international shipping lanes in the Gulf of Aden.
Updated
Reged Ahmad here picking up the blog from Léonie Chao-Fong
Britain is expected to join the United States in conducting airstrikes on military positions belonging to the Iran-backed Houthis in Yemen “within hours”, the Times newspaper in the UK is reporting.
Reuters reports that British prime minister Rishi Sunak’s Downing Street office did not respond to a request for comment, while the Pentagon and the White House each declined to comment on the report.
The US typically does not comment on potential future military operations.
“The Houthis need to stop these attacks … they will bear the consequences for any failure to do so,” White House national security spokesperson John Kirby said on Thursday.
Yemen’s Iranian-backed Houthi militants have stepped up attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea in protest against Israel’s war in Gaza. Various shipping lines have suspended operations, instead taking the longer journey around Africa.
The US military said the Houthis earlier on Thursday had staged their 27th attack on shipping since 19 November, firing an anti-ship ballistic missile into international shipping lanes in the Gulf of Aden.
Summary of the day so far
Britain and the US are poised to launch strikes against Houthi military targets in Yemen in response to a Houthi attack of 21 missiles and drones aimed at US and UK warships on Tuesday night. Rishi Sunak’s cabinet was meeting on Thursday evening amid expectations of UK involvement in imminent military strikes against Houthi rebel targets. Joe Biden is expected to make a statement on Thursday night, according to a report. Meanwhile, Rishi Sunak is facing calls to recall parliament if the UK government is preparing to take military action before Monday.
The leader of the Iran-backed Houthis, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, has warned that if struck the Houthis would fight back, suggesting any conflict in the Red Sea would be extended. “Any American attack will not remain without a response. The response will be greater than the attack that was carried out with 20 drones and a number of missiles,” al-Houthi said in a televised address on Thursday.
At least 23,469 Palestinians have been killed and 59,604 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, according to the latest figures by Gaza’s health ministry on Thursday. Israel’s military is killing Palestinians at an average rate of 250 people a day, Oxfam said in a statement on Thursday – a figure significantly higher than any recent major armed conflict including Syria, Sudan, Iraq, Ukraine, Afghanistan and Yemen.
Israel has shown “chilling” and “incontrovertible” intent to commit genocide in Gaza, the UN international court of justice in The Hague has heard. South Africa, which has brought the case, alleged “grave violence and genocidal acts” by Israel on the first morning of the two-day hearing, and called on the judges to order an immediate ceasefire. The head of Human Rights Watch (HRW) has praised South Africa for bringing the case to the ICJ, on the same day it released its annual world report warning that human rights across the world are in a parlous state.
Benjamin Netanyahu has accused South Africa of “hypocrisy” and said its case against Israel is evidence of a “world turned upside down”. “Israel is accused of genocide while it is fighting against genocide,” the Israeli prime minister said in a video statement on Thursday. Israel’s foreign ministry attacked the legal hearing into the war in Gaza in The Hague, calling it “one of the greatest shows of hypocrisy in history” and calling South Africa “the legal arm of Hamas”.
The British foreign secretary, David Cameron, has urged Israel to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza, writing in the Guardian that it will do nothing for hostages held in the territory or Israel’s war aims if the situation turns into an even greater catastrophe.
The families of the two Palestinian journalists killed in an Israeli airstrike in southern Gaza, and their employer Al Jazeera, have rejected claims by the Israeli military that they were “terror operatives”. Hamza Dahdouh and Mustafa Thuria were killed on Sunday while on assignment for Al Jazeera, according to the Qatar-based media network, who accused Israel of the targeted killing of its journalists.
Israel’s military has denied it was behind the bombing of an ambulance in the central Gaza Strip on Wednesday which killed four medics and two other people. Four Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) workers were killed when their ambulance was hit by an Israeli strike on the main road near Deir al-Balah, the PRCS said. On the same day, at least 20 people were killed when a strike hit a two-storey building near al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah, according to the emergency department of the health unit.
Hezbollah has said an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon killed two medics and destroyed an ambulance. The Hezbollah-affiliated Islamic Health Committee said “direct Israeli bombardment on an emergency centre in the town of Hanin” killed two male unit members. Hezbollah said it had responding by launching “dozens of rockets” on the Israeli border town of Kiryat Shmona.
Leading press freedom groups and human rights organisations have called on Joe Biden to do more to pressure Israel to “abide by international law” amid accusations that its military is targeting journalists in the Gaza war, and to hold it to account for the killings of reporters.
Nadia El-Nakla, an SNP councillor and the wife of Scotland’s first minister Humza Yousaf, says she is “pleading” with the UK government to let her host her Palestinian brother, as she revealed that her sister-in-law and their four children had escaped from Gaza after an intervention by the Turkish government.
El-Nakla called for a scheme similar to that offered to Ukrainian citizens “so that people aren’t caged into a war with no hope of survival”. She said:
The Ukrainian resettlement programme saved so many lives. Gazans should also have that opportunity, especially those with family in Britain.
She also described her horror at how far down the national news agenda the conflict had slipped over the festive season and described the attack on Gaza as “genocide”. “It’s not even on the radar,” she said.
It’s the first time we’re seeing a textbook genocide in real time and it’s not even on the news.
El-Nakla, a psychotherapist and a councillor in Dundee, has been outspoken in her calls for a ceasefire and international sanctions against Israel since her parents became trapped on a family visit to the city of Deir al-Balah after the Hamas atrocities of 7 October, when 1,200 people were killed and about 240 taken hostage.
Elizabeth and Maged El-Nakla, who live in Dundee, were permitted to cross into Egypt along with other British nationals after almost a month. But Nadia El-Nakla and her husband have continued to share the brutal detail of the day-to-day impact of the bombardment, with her brother, his family and her elderly grandmother trapped there.
Here are some of the latest images we have received over the newsires from the town of Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip.
Updated
Rishi Sunak is facing calls to recall parliament if the UK government is preparing to take military action against Houthi rebels before Monday.
Scotland’s first minister, Humza Yousaf, has called for Westminster to be recalled so that MPs can be “briefed and allowed to debate and scrutinise any decision to pursue military action.”
The UK does not have a good record of military intervention in the Middle East. It is therefore incumbent that Westminster is recalled, MPs briefed and allowed to debate and scrutinise any decision to pursue military action that the UK Government is proposing. https://t.co/JNJBbNsQji
— Humza Yousaf (@HumzaYousaf) January 11, 2024
The SNP’s Westminster leader, Stephen Flynn, also said MPs should be recalled, calling the situation in the Red Sea “complex and serious”.
The Liberal Democrat’s foreign affairs spokesperson, Layla Moran, said it was “vital” for a vote to be held in parliament.
I and @LibDems are very concerned by Houthi attacks in the Red Sea.
— Layla Moran 🔶🕊️ (@LaylaMoran) January 11, 2024
It's destabilising for regional security and has a detrimental impact on cost of living in the UK too as ships are diverted.
If the UK plans to take military action, it's vital there is a vote in Parliament.
Al Jazeera rejects Israel army claims against Gaza journalists killed in airstrike
The families of the two Palestinian journalists killed in an Israeli airstrike in southern Gaza, and their employer Al Jazeera, have rejected claims by the Israeli military that they were “terror operatives”.
Hamza Dahdouh and Mustafa Thuria were killed on Sunday while on assignment for Al Jazeera, according to the Qatar-based media network, who accused Israel of the targeted killing of its journalists.
Dahdouh was the eldest son of Al Jazeera’s bureau chief in Gaza, Wael Dahdouh, whose wife, two other children and a grandson were killed by a previous Israeli strike in October. A third freelancer, Hazem Rajab, was wounded on Sunday.
On Wednesday, the Israeli army said the two men were “members of Gaza-based terrorist organisations actively involved in attacks against IDF forces”. The Israeli military released what it said was a document discovered by troops in Gaza identifying Dahdouh as a member of the militant group Islamic Jihad. The document could not be independently verified.
The Israeli military also claimed Thuria had served as a deputy commander in Hamas’ Gaza City brigade. Israel did not release any documentation or evidence for that allegation.
In response, Al Jazeera said in a statement:
Al Jazeera Media Network strongly condemns and wholly rejects – and indeed expresses its very considerable surprise at – the Israeli army’s false and misleading attempts to justify the killing of our colleague Hamza Wael Dahdouh and other journalists.
It added:
Hamza Wael Dahdouh was among a group of journalists from various media organisations (also including Mustafa Thuria) covering the IDF’s (Israeli military’s) devastating bombing... He, like so many journalists before him, was killed simply for doing his job.
Hamza’s father Wael rejected the claims as “fabrications”, telling AFP that it was clear that the army are “attempting to defend themselves, justify what is happening and derail the issue.”
Biden to make statement amid expected US, UK strikes against Houthis – report
Joe Biden is expected to make a statement later today in the wake of military strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen, the Times’ Steven Swinford is reporting.
The UK is expected to join the US in conducting overnight airstrikes on military positions belonging to the Houthis, Swinford wrote earlier.
The strikes are expected shortly, he writes, with a series of choreographed statements from the US, UK and other international allies to follow.
BREAKING:
— Steven Swinford (@Steven_Swinford) January 11, 2024
Joe Biden, the US President, is expected to make a statement tonight in the wake of military strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen
The strikes are expected shortly, with a series of carefully choreographed statements from the US, the UK and other international…
Western defence sources have indicated preparations were intensifying on Thursday in response to a Houthi attack of 21 missiles and drones aimed at US and UK warships on Tuesday night.
Updated
The UK foreign secretary, David Cameron, has urged Israel to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza, saying it will do nothing for hostages held in the territory or Israel’s war aims if the situation turns into an even greater catastrophe.
Writing for the Guardian, Cameron assembles a mass of practical steps that Israel could implement to save lives and avert the risk of hunger turning into famine, adding:
Death and despair haunt these children’s lives. We know we must act.
The foreign secretary is heavily invested in the issue personally and politically since he has insisted that a full ceasefire is not necessary for the levels of humanitarian aid reaching Gaza to be transformed.
His stance puts him at odds with senior Israeli military officials, such as Col Moshe Tetro, the head of the Israeli army unit responsible for the delivery of humanitarian aid, who said at a briefing on Wednesday: “There is no food shortage in Gaza” and “the reserves in Gaza are sufficient for the near term”.
“The situation is desperate – and projected to get worse,” Cameron writes. “According to the World Food Programme, nine out of every 10 Palestinians in northern Gaza may be having less than one meal a day.” He says the number of aid convoys, which are creeping up towards 200 a day, needs to reach 500.
Read Cameron’s full opinion piece for the Guardian: Israel must act now to let aid through and save lives in Gaza. Britain has a plan to help that happen
US and UK to launch strikes against Houthis tonight – report
The UK is expected to join the US in conducting overnight airstrikes on military positions belonging to the Houthis, according to a report.
Britain’s prime minister, Rishi Sunak, briefed his cabinet on the imminent military intervention this evening, the Times’ Steven Swinford reported.
Britain expected to join US in carrying airstrikes on Houthi military positions in Yemen **tonight**
— Steven Swinford (@Steven_Swinford) January 11, 2024
Rishi Sunak briefed Cabinet on imminent military intervention this evening
Sir Keir Starmer, Labour leader, and Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Commons Speaker, have also been briefed
Updated
Rishi Sunak held a call with Egypt’s president, Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, on Thursday afternoon before his cabinet meeting to discuss the Red Sea attacks.
The two leaders discussed the “concerning rise in Houthi attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea and the disruptive impact on global shipping, including through the Suez Canal,” a Downing Street spokesperson said.
Sunak told Sisi that the UK would continue to “take action to defend freedom of navigation and protect lives at sea”, they said. They continued:
The prime minister thanked President Sisi for his continued support on the humanitarian and diplomatic effort in Gaza, including on joint work to secure the release of British hostages and those with links to the UK.
They agreed on the importance of significantly scaling up the aid reaching Palestinians in Gaza to prevent a worsening humanitarian crisis.
The prime minister said the UK was urging Israel to open more land crossings and to allow in far greater quantities of aid, up to 500 trucks a day.
Summary of the day so far
Rishi Sunak’s cabinet has been meeting on Thursday evening amid expectations of UK involvement in imminent military strikes against Houthi rebel targets in Yemen. Ministers are expected to discuss the UK response to recent attacks on ships in the Red Sea, including a barrage of rockets, drones and cruise missiles apparently fired at western warships on Tuesday.
The US, UK and 10 other western countries have made a joint declaration warning the Houthis of consequences in the event of continued attacks against merchant shipping in the southern Red Sea. On Wednesday, Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, said “there will be consequences” following the Houthi attack.
The leader of the Iran-backed Houthis, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, warned that if struck the Houthis would fight back, suggesting any conflict in the Red Sea would be extended. “Any American attack will not remain without a response. The response will be greater than the attack that was carried out with 20 drones and a number of missiles,” al-Houthi said in a televised address on Thursday.
At least 23,469 Palestinians have been killed and 59,604 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, according to the latest figures by Gaza’s health ministry on Thursday. Israel’s military is killing Palestinians at an average rate of 250 people a day, Oxfam said in a statement on Thursday – a figure significantly higher than any recent major armed conflict including Syria, Sudan, Iraq, Ukraine, Afghanistan and Yemen.
Israel has shown “chilling” and “incontrovertible” intent to commit genocide in Gaza, the UN international court of justice in The Hague has heard. South Africa, which has brought the case, alleged “grave violence and genocidal acts” by Israel on the first morning of the two-day hearing, and called on the judges to order an immediate ceasefire. The head of Human Rights Watch (HRW) has praised South Africa for bringing the case to the ICJ, on the same day it released its annual world report warning that human rights across the world are in a parlous state.
Benjamin Netanyahu has accused South Africa of “hypocrisy” and said its case against Israel is evidence of a “world turned upside down”. “Israel is accused of genocide while it is fighting against genocide,” the Israeli prime minister said in a video statement on Thursday. Israel’s foreign ministry attacked the legal hearing into the war in Gaza in The Hague, calling it “one of the greatest shows of hypocrisy in history” and calling South Africa “the legal arm of Hamas”.
Israel’s military has denied it was behind the bombing of an ambulance in the central Gaza Strip on Wednesday which killed four medics and two other people. Four Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) workers were killed when their ambulance was hit by an Israeli strike on the main road near Deir al-Balah, the PRCS said. On the same day, at least 20 people were killed when a strike hit a two-storey building near al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah, according to the emergency department of the health unit.
The British foreign secretary, David Cameron, has urged Israel to allow more humanitarian aid into Gaza, writing in the Guardian that it will do nothing for hostages held in the territory or Israel’s war aims if the situation turns into an even greater catastrophe.
Southern Gaza is turning into a “pressure cooker”, where the majority of people want to flee, the deputy director of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) has said. He warned that it was in “a full-time emergency” and just six convoys to the north of the territory had been granted access since January.
Hezbollah has said an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon killed two medics and destroyed an ambulance. The Hezbollah-affiliated Islamic Health Committee said “direct Israeli bombardment on an emergency centre in the town of Hanin” killed two male unit members. Hezbollah said it had responding by launching “dozens of rockets” on the Israeli border town of Kiryat Shmona.
Antony Blinken has told reporters he found the region to be “very focused” on the future of Gaza during his trip to the Middle East, which has concluded in Egypt today. US officials speaking on the condition of anonymity said the conversations Blinken had in Israel on Tuesday were the most difficult on the trip.
The US special envoy Amos Hochstein has said he was “hopeful” diplomacy could calm tensions on the disputed border between Lebanon and Israel. Hochstein, who met with top Lebanese officials after a visit to Israel, said both Lebanon and Israel “prefer” a diplomatic deal to end hostilities on the border, where the Israeli military and the armed group Hezbollah have been exchanging fire for three months.
Leading press freedom groups and human rights organisations have called on Joe Biden to do more to pressure Israel to “abide by international law” amid accusations that its military is targeting journalists in the Gaza war, and to hold it to account for the killings of reporters.
More than 1,400 Finnish artists have joined Icelandic musicians in demanding that Israel be banned from this year’s Eurovision song contest over alleged war crimes in Gaza. If Israel is not excluded from the competition, which will be held in the Swedish city of Malmö in May, the Finnish Broadcasting Company (Yle) should boycott the contest and refuse to send a Finnish entry, they say.
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Experts believe the US, UK and other western allies are most likely to target costal radar and launch sites in a calibrated attempt to halt the three-month spate of Houthi missile and drone attacks in the busy Middle Eastern waterway.
But one added any intervention was fraught with risk. Any strikes – likely to be from air and sea – would have to be enough to act as a deterrent, the analyst added, but a wider bombing campaign added to the risk of civilian casualties and could inflame public opinion in an already volatile Middle East.
Aid agencies said they were concerned about the impact of fresh bombing on the Yemeni population, in a country trying to negotiate an end to a nine-year long civil war, but one told the Guardian that the Houthi attacks were very popular within Yemen, interpreted as a form of resistance to Israel and the west.
A group of western nations, led by the US, increasingly believe that, despite the delicate international situation, there has to be a military response to the Houthis. The group has been gradually stepping up a series of attacks in the southern Red Sea area since mid October in support of Hamas. Tuesday night’s attack was deemed to represent an escalation because it directly targeted a group of US and UK warships sent to the Red Sea as protection.
The US had formed an international naval coalition, Operation Prosperity Guardian, aimed at protecting the waterway, with Australia, Bahrain, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Italy, Japan, the Netherlands, Singapore, New Zealand and the UK. The French navy is also operating in the area, but is not part of the group.
It is led by the US aircraft carrier Dwight D Eisenhower, which has as complement of F/A-18 aircraft that could be used to strike targets in Yemen, plus three destroyers, with HMS Diamond acting alongside to protect against aerial targets.
Western defence sources have indicated preparations were intensifying on Thursday in response to Tuesday’s Houthi attack, although its scale and timing remain secret.
Asked about potential US strikes against the Houthis in Yemen, the national security spokesperson, John Kirby, said:
I’m not going to telegraph our punches one way or another here. We’re gonna do what we have to do, to counter and defeat these threats that the Houthis keep throwing up on commercial shipping in the Red Sea.
A day earlier, on Wednesday, Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, said “there will be consequences” following the Houthi attack.
As we reported earlier, Abdul-Malik al-Houthi, the leader of the Iran-backed group, which controls the north and west of Yemen, responded by saying that if struck the Houthis would fight back, suggesting any conflict in the Red Sea would be extended.
The US, UK and 10 other western countries have made a joint declaration warning the Houthis of consequences in the event of continued attacks against merchant shipping in the southern Red Sea.
On Wednesday, Britain’s defence secretary, Grant Shapps, told reporters to “watch this space” regarding British action in the Red Sea, and accused Iran of helping the Houthis with intelligence and surveillance.
He said the barrage of rockets, drones and cruise missiles apparently fired at western warship had represented an escalation. He said a British destroyer, HMS Diamond, shot down seven Iranian-designed drones and he indicated the vessel had been “potentially” targeted by the Houthis.
UK cabinet meets to discuss possible strikes on Houthi rebels
The UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, is holding a cabinet call amid expectations of UK involvement in imminent military strikes against Houthi rebel targets in Yemen.
Ministers were scheduled to join a video call at 7.45pm local time, which was expected to discuss the UK response to recent attacks on ships in the Red Sea, including a barrage of rockets, drones and cruise missiles apparently fired at western warships on Tuesday.
The foreign secretary, David Cameron, was seen entering No 10 shortly before 8pm.
Labour leader Keir Starmer and the shadow defence secretary, John Healey, will be briefed by the government after the cabinet call, the BBC and Sky reported. The speaker of the Commons, Lindsay Hoyle, will be briefed this evening as well, according to reports.
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Israel’s ice hockey team has been barred from international competitions by the International Ice Hockey Federation.
The IIHF released a statement, saying:
“In accordance with IIHF’s duty of care to protect all participants at IIHF Competitions and its obligation to create corresponding health and safety policies, the IIHF Council has decided to restrict the Israeli National Team from participating in IIHF Championships until the safety and wellbeing of all participants (including Israeli participants) can be assured.”
In response, Israel has called the decision “antisemitic” and filed an appeal with the court of arbitration for sport, Haaretz reports.
Updated
Any attack on Houthis will 'not go without response', warns leader
The leader of Yemen’s Houthi group has threatened the US and UK with even larger attacks in the Red Sea after US and UK forces intercepted an attack on Tuesday.
In a televised speech on Thursday reported by Agence France-Presse, Houthi leader Abdel-Malek al-Houthi said, “Any American attack will never go without a response.”
The response to any American attack will not only be at the level of the operation that was recently carried out … but it will be greater than that.
He went on to add that “there is no problem for the Europeans, China and the whole world to pass through the Red Sea.”
“The only and exclusive target are ships linked to Israel,” he said, adding, “Whoever wants to get involved, attack our dear people and target the naval forces is actually risking their fleet and commercial ships.”
“We hope that the rest of the Arab and Islamic countries will never get involved with the Americans, the Israelis and the British,” al-Houthi continued.
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“The level of lifesaving aid entering [the] Gaza strip is far below needs due to Israeli authorities’ restrictions,” UNRWA said on X.
The UN agency for Palestinian refugees added that it is critical to continue increasing aid delivery to Palestinians in Gaza, nearly 2 million of whom have been forcibly displaced from their homes by Israeli attacks on the strip.
In an earlier tweet, UNRWA said that access to clean water “is a matter of life and death” as Israeli attacks and aid restrictions by Israeli authorities force surviving Palestinians to grapple with shortages in food, water, fuel and medical supplies.
📍#Gaza Delivering humanitarian aid continues to face near insurmountable challenges, including constant bombardment.
— UNRWA (@UNRWA) January 11, 2024
The level of lifesaving aid entering #GazaStrip is far below needs due to Israeli Authorities restrictions.
It is critical to continue increasing aid delivery. https://t.co/6uuPR5luvO
Last month, Switzerland-based human rights group Euro-Med Monitor said Israel’s restrictions on humanitarian aid into Gaza is a “mass starvation campaign” that is a “part of its ongoing genocide”.
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John McDonnell, a member of the British parliament, has warned against any military strikes in the Middle East amid UK prime minister Rishi Sunak’s imminent emergency cabinet meeting believed to be about UK and US military strikes against the Houthis.
In a tweet on Thursday, McDonnell wrote:
“There should be no military action without parliamentary approval. If we have learnt anything in recent years it’s that military intervention in the Middle East always has dangerous & often unforeseen consequences. There is a risk of setting the region alight.”
There should be no military action without Parliamentary approval. If we have learnt anything in recent years it’s that military intervention in the Middle East always has dangerous & often unforeseen consequences. There is a risk of setting the region alight. https://t.co/3m3bJuGCnt
— John McDonnell MP (@johnmcdonnellMP) January 11, 2024
UK to hold cabinet meeting after warning of consequences to Houthi attack in Red Sea
The UK’s prime minister, Rishi Sunak, has called for an emergency cabinet meeting at 7.45pm local time today believed to be about UK and US military strikes against the Houthis in Yemen, the Times’ Steven Swinford is reporting.
BREAKING:
— Steven Swinford (@Steven_Swinford) January 11, 2024
Rishi Sunak is holding a full cabinet call at 7.45 this evening
Ministers believe it’s about UK and US military strikes against the Houthis in Yemen
Move has been heavily telegraphed by Grant Shapps and by senior figures in the US. It is thought UK aircraft and Navy…
It comes after the UK and US warned of “consequences” after warships from both countries repelled a barrage of Houthi rockets, drones and cruise missiles apparently fired at western warships in the Red Sea.
Grant Shapps, the UK defence secretary, told reporters on Wednesday to “watch this space” at a press briefing and directly accused Iran of helping the Yemeni rebels with intelligence and surveillance.
Shapps said Britain, its western allies and Saudi Arabia were “all agreed” that the series of attacks on warships and merchant shipping in the southern Red Sea “cannot continue” and did not rule out striking Houthi military targets on land.
Antony Blinken, the US secretary of state, said further attacks by the Yemeni rebels on international shipping could prompt a western military response amid speculation that Washington could bomb military targets in an attempt to prevent future raids.
“I’m not going to telegraph or preview anything that might happen,” Blinken said on a trip to Bahrain. “All I can tell you again, we’ve made clear … that if this continues, as it did yesterday, there will be consequences.”
Updated
Leading press freedom groups and human rights organisations have called on Joe Biden to do more to pressure Israel to “abide by international law” amid accusations that its military is targeting journalists in the Gaza war, and to hold it to account for the killings of reporters.
The Committee to Protect Journalists, Human Rights Watch, Freedom House and other groups said in a letter to the US president that more media workers have been killed in the conflict since the Hamas attack on 7 October than in any single country over an entire year.
The CPJ calculates that at least 79 journalists have died, mostly Palestinians and almost all at the hands of the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), although four Israeli reporters were killed in the Hamas cross border attack. The letter said:
The US state department spokesperson recently said that the United States has not seen any evidence that Israel is intentionally targeting journalists.
But the groups noted “credible reports” by human rights and media organisations that the Israeli military was responsible for the deaths of several journalists, including “deliberately targeting a car in which journalists were traveling on January 7, killing two journalists and seriously injuring a third”.
The letter to Biden said that in other cases “journalists reported receiving threats from Israeli officials and IDF officers before their family members were killed in Gaza”. The letter continued:
Of course, the targeted or indiscriminate killing of journalists, if committed deliberately or recklessly, is a war crime, and the International Criminal Court has said that it will investigate reports of war crimes committed against journalists in Gaza.
The letter noted the “longstanding pattern of impunity in the killings of journalists by the IDF”, including over the shooting dead last year of the Al Jazeera reporter, Shireen Abu Akleh, a US citizen.
Hezbollah says Israeli strike on health centre kills two medics
Hezbollah has said an Israeli strike in southern Lebanon killed two medics and destroyed an ambulance.
“The Israeli enemy recently targeted a civil defence centre affiliated with the Islamic Health Committee in the town of Hanin, killing two martyrs,” the Iran-backed militant group said in a statement, adding:
What happened is a blatant attack on a centre serving Lebanese citizens, providing relief and treating those wounded and injured in the ongoing Israeli aggression.
The Islamic Health Committee, which is affiliated with Hezbollah, said “direct Israeli bombardment on an emergency centre in the town of Hanin” killed two male unit members.
Hezbollah said it had responding by launching “dozens of rockets” on the Israeli border town of Kiryat Shmona.
Lebanon’s health ministry condemned the attack “in the strongest terms”, saying that it “directly targeted the Islamic Health Committee centre” and also hit an ambulance.
The Israeli army said that it had struck Hezbollah targets, including “military sites, a military post and terrorist infrastructure,” as well “a number of areas in Lebanese territory”.
Updated
More than 1,400 Finnish artists have joined Icelandic musicians in demanding that Israel be banned from this year’s Eurovision song contest over alleged war crimes in Gaza.
If Israel is not excluded from the competition, which will be held in the Swedish city of Malmö in May, the Finnish Broadcasting Company (Yle) should boycott the contest and refuse to send a Finnish entry, they say.
“It is not in accordance with our values that a country that commits war crimes and continues a military occupation is given a public stage to polish its image in the name of music,” reads a petition that has been signed by Finland-based artists, musicians and music industry professionals. “At the same time other participating countries end up giving their support to Israel’s policies.”
Among the artists who have signed the Finnish petition are Olavi Uusivirta, Paleface and Axel Ehnström, who represented Finland at Eurovision in 2011.
Last month, the Icelandic Association of Composers and Lyricists told its members not to participate in the show unless Israel was banned.
Lukas Korpelainen, one of the authors of the petition, told the newspaper Hufvudstadsbladet it was unacceptable for Israel to take part in Eurovision “to polish its image”.
In December, the Eurovision Broadcasting Union (EBU) released a statement saying Eurovision “is a contest for broadcasters – not for governments – and the Israeli public broadcaster has been participating in the contest for 50 years”.
It said Israel’s public broadcaster, Kan, “complies with all competition rules” and would be able to participate in this year’s contest.
Daily death toll in Gaza higher than any other major 21st-century conflict, says Oxfam
Israel’s military is killing Palestinians at an average rate of 250 people a day, the highest daily death toll of any other major conflict of recent years, Oxfam has said.
In a statement today, Oxfam said it calculated that number of average deaths per day for Gaza is significantly higher than any recent major armed conflict including Syria (96.5 deaths per day), Sudan (51.6), Iraq (50.8), Ukraine (43.9) Afghanistan (23.8) and Yemen (15.8).
Sally Abi Khalil, Oxfam’s Middle East director, said:
The scale and atrocities that Israel is visiting upon Gaza are truly shocking. For 100 days the people of Gaza have endured a living hell. Nowhere is safe and the entire population is at risk of famine.
It is unimaginable that the international community is watching the deadliest rate of conflict of the 21st century unfold, while continuously blocking calls for a ceasefire.
Updated
A punitive joint US-UK attack on Houthi military installations in Yemen, including the port of Hodeidah, seems imminent after Houthi leaders vowed to defy a UN security resolution passed the previous day demanding an end to the attacks on commercial shipping.
The new point of tension between Iran and the US came as the Houthis’ top negotiator, Mohammed Abdulsalam, said the attacks in the Red Sea would have no impact on the rebel movement’s current peace talks with Saudi Arabia, which has been involved in the Yemeni civil war since 2015.
He told Reuters the talks had “nothing to do with what is happening in the Gaza Strip, unless the Americans want to move other countries in the region to defend Israel, which is another matter.”
US-allied Gulf and Arab states, including Saudi Arabia, have been pressing Washington for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, saying that is the only way to prevent the conflict from spreading beyond the Gaza Strip. Washington says it will continue to stand with Tel Aviv and ensure that the 7 October attacks on Israel, in which Hamas gunmen killed 1,200 people and seized 240 hostages, can never happen again.
Abdulsalam said:
The one who is dragging the region into a wider war is the one who allows the continuation of the aggression and the siege that continues for more than 100 days in the Gaza Strip.
The group is seeking to pressure the Israelis and Americans into a ceasefire, which would include lifting the siege on Gaza and moving towards peace and dialogue, Abdulsalam added.
They claim the UN security council resolution passed by 11 votes to 0 with four abstentions is a sign that the UN is controlled by a US veto that prevents the UN calling for a ceasefire and forces the Houthis to act in defence of Palestinians in Gaza by attacking Israeli shipping.
Iran seizes oil tanker with links to US in Gulf of Oman
The Iranian navy has seized a US-linked oil tanker in the Gulf of Oman as part of a long-running dispute with the US over an American court order a year ago that seized Iranian oil on the tanker and unloaded the cargo in Texas.
Official Iranian news agencies said on Wednesday that the tanker had been seized on the authority of an Iranian court order, but the news will add to the growing tensions about freedom of navigation in the region as a result of repeated Houthi rebel attacks on shipping in the Red Sea.
Although the Houthis are given arms and training by Iran, the seizure of the tanker St Nikolas off the coast of Oman by six masked soldiers on Thursday morning is not directly related to the Houthi attacks.
The vessel, which was carrying Iraqi oil bound for Turkey, changed course after the boarding and headed in the direction of Bandar-e-Jask in Iran.
The tanker, previously called the Suez Rajan, was renamed after a long-running court case led to 980,000 tonnes of Iranian oil being unloaded from the ship in Texas last September. A US district court found that the owners of the ship had allowed sanctioned Iranian oil to be loaded on to the Suez Rajan, and the ship was eventually taken to Houston, where the contents were unloaded. Facing prosecution for trading in sanctioned goods and falsifying logbooks, the owners pleaded guilty and paid a fine of more than $2.5m.
The US Department of Justice said at the time that the oil on the Greek-managed tanker was allegedly being sold by Iran’s Revolutionary Guards to China. Iran never received compensation for the oil that it lost and is now seeking retribution by seizing the ship and its 15-strong crew, and taking it to Iran.
Netanyahu says South Africa's 'hypocrisy screams to the heavens'
Benjamin Netanyahu has accused South Africa of “hypocrisy” and said its case against Israel is evidence of a “world turned upside down”.
“We are fighting terrorists, we are fighting lies,” the Israeli prime minister said in a video statement.
Today we saw an upside-down world. Israel is accused of genocide while it is fighting against genocide.
“The hypocrisy of South Africa screams to the heavens,” he continued.
Where was South Africa when millions of people were killed or torn from their homes in Syria and Yemen, by whom? By partners of Hamas.
Israel will “continue battling terrorists … until total victory”, he added.
Large demonstrations organised by Israel supporters and pro-Palestinian groups converged outside the international court of justice in The Hague on Thursday as the court began hearings in the Gaza genocide case against Israel.
Hamas praises South Africa for bringing case against Israel at UN court
Hamas has praised South Africa for bringing Israel’s military campaign against Gaza to the international court of justice (ICJ).
In a statement on the militant group’s Telegram page, it said South Africa is proving “its principled position in support of our Palestinian people … and its rejection of the brutal crimes of the occupation (by Israel) against our people.”
It added that it hoped the case will bring an end to Israel’s bombardment of Gaza and result in the country being prosecuted on genocide charges, AP reported.
In a statement reported by Al Jazeera, Hamas official Basem Naim said:
We welcome the convening of the [case] … on the accusation of ethnic cleansing and genocide. We are looking forward to seeing a decision by the court that would achieve justice for the [Palestinian] victims, end the aggression on Gaza, and hold the war criminals accountable.
At least 20 people were killed when a strike hit a two-storey building near al-Aqsa hospital in the central Gaza city of Deir al-Balah on Wednesday, according to the emergency department of the health unit.
On the same day, four Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) workers were killed when their ambulance was hit by an Israeli strike on the main road near Deir al-Balah, the PRCS said. Two passengers in the ambulance were wounded and later died.
The PRCS accused Israel of intentionally targeting an ambulance, which the Israeli military denied. An Israel Defense Forces (IDF) statement to AFP said “no strike was carried out in the described area”.
The head of the International Federation for Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, Jagan Chapagain, strongly condemned the attack in a social media post.
Here’s our video report:
Updated
The head of Human Rights Watch (HRW) has praised South Africa for bringing Israel’s military campaign against Gaza to the UN international court of justice.
“South Africa is providing important leadership here. It’s really using this important opportunity,” the HRW executive director, Tirana Hassan, told Reuters.
If Israel does not comply with the measures or orders of the court, then it is up to the international community to ensure that they are leveraging whatever pressure that they can to encourage Israel to actually implement the measures.
HRW has released its annual world report today, warning that human rights across the world are in a parlous state, with wartime atrocities increasing, suppression of human rights defenders on the rise, and universal human rights principles and laws being attacked and undermined by governments.
The rights group accused Israel on Wednesday of using the starvation of civilians as a means of warfare in the Gaza Strip, which constitutes a war crime. Israel has vigorously denied the charge.
“In the throes of this war, what we have seen is consistent, flagrant violations of international humanitarian law,” Hassan said.
We were able to document elements of this one crime - the crime of starvation.
Updated
Summary of the day so far
Here’s a recap of the latest developments:
At least 23,469 Palestinians have been killed and 59,604 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, according to the latest figures by Gaza’s health ministry on Thursday.
Israel has shown “chilling” and “incontrovertible” intent to commit genocide in Gaza, the UN international court of justice in The Hague has heard. South Africa, which has brought the case, alleged “grave violence and genocidal acts” by Israel on the first morning of the two-day hearing, and called on the judges to order an immediate ceasefire.
Israel’s foreign ministry has attacked the legal hearing into the war in Gaza held on Thursday in The Hague, calling it “one of the greatest shows of hypocrisy in history” and calling South Africa “the legal arm of Hamas”. Dozens of people took to the streets in Cape Town in one of several demonstrations across South Africa in support of the government’s “genocide” case against Israel.
Southern Gaza is turning into a “pressure cooker”, where the majority of people want to flee, the deputy director of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees has said. Scott Anderson of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) said it was in “a full-time emergency” and just six convoys to the north of the territory had been granted access since January.
Israel’s military claimed it has discovered what it described as a “vast Hamas tunnel used by the terror organisation to hold hostages under the city of Khan Younis”. The IDF has also issued video footage which it claims shows the tunnels. An estimated 136 hostages are still believed to be held by Hamas inside the Gaza Strip after being abducted on 7 October. The IDF says its troops continue to operate in Maghazi and Khan Younis.
Antony Blinken has told reporters he found the region to be “very focused” on the future of Gaza during his trip to the Middle East, which has concluded in Egypt today. US officials speaking on the condition of anonymity said the conversations Blinken had in Israel on Tuesday were the most difficult on the trip.
The US special envoy Amos Hochstein has said he was “hopeful” diplomacy could calm tensions on the disputed border between Lebanon and Israel. Hochstein, who met with top Lebanese officials after a visit to Israel, said both Lebanon and Israel “prefer” a diplomatic deal to end hostilities on the border, where the Israeli military and the armed group Hezbollah have been exchanging fire for three months.
Iran’s intelligence ministry has said the main suspect who planned the 3 January Kerman bombing was a Tajik national known by his alias Abdollah Tajiki. Iran has arrested 35 people in relation to the attacks, its intelligence ministry has said. The death toll from the attack rose to 94 on Thursday, from the previous 91 fatalities reported on Sunday. Islamic State has claimed responsibility for the attack.
France’s naval forces are accompanying ships with French interests through the Red Sea region, the country’s top naval commander in the area said on Thursday, adding that Paris’ current mandate did not include striking Houthi rebels directly. The Iran-aligned Houthis, who control most of Yemen, have been targeting Red Sea shipping routes to show their support for Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.
The UN security council has called for an immediate end to attacks by Yemen’s Houthi rebels on shipping in the Red Sea, adopting a resolution despite abstentions from Russia and China. The resolution also called on the Houthis to release the Galaxy Leader, a Japanese-operated vehicle carrier linked to an Israeli businessman that the group commandeered on 19 November, along with its 25 crew.
The former UK Labour party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, has praised South Africa for taking the case to the international court of justice. Corbyn, who was in The Hague on Thursday to attend the court session, said “the world has woken up to the plight of the Palestinian people”, and criticised the Israeli bombardment of Gaza.
Updated
US special envoy 'hopeful' diplomacy can calm tensions between Lebanon and Israel
We reported earlier that US special envoy Amos Hochstein said he was “hopeful” that diplomacy could calm tensions on the disputed border between Lebanon and Israel.
Hochstein said both Lebanon and Israel “prefer” a diplomatic deal to end hostilities on the border, where the Israeli military and the armed group Hezbollah have been exchanging fire for three months.
Speaking to reporters in Beirut after meeting with top Lebanese officials, he said:
We need to find a diplomatic solution that will allow for the Lebanese people to return to their homes in south Lebanon... as the people of Israel need to be able to return to their homes in their north.
“We’re living in a crisis moment where we would like to see a diplomatic solution and I believe that both sides prefer a diplomatic solution,” he said, adding: “It’s our job to get one”.
A diplomatic solution would include settling border disputes and possibly an Israeli withdrawal from disputed areas, a European diplomatic source has told AFP.
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Most want to flee ‘pressure cooker’ of southern Gaza, UN refugee deputy says
Southern Gaza is turning into a “pressure cooker”, where the majority of people – faced with dwindling food, inadequate water sanitation, overcrowding and a crumbling hospital service – want to flee, the deputy director of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees has said.
Scott Anderson of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), who is engaged in daily negotiations to gain Israeli permissions for aid convoys to enter and move around Gaza, said it was in “a full-time emergency” and just six of the 21 planned convoys to the north of the territory had been granted access since January despite a UN security council resolution in December calling for relief to be stepped up.
He told the Guardian:
The truth is I have not seen any change in the reality on the ground since the passing of that UN resolution. There has been no reduction in either the number of Israeli or Egyptian inspection checks since the resolution was passed.
Sometimes it feels like the story of the little boy in the dyke – trying to plug a million holes is how it feels. Each day I feel like it’s very much a two steps forward, two steps back. It’s pretty much a full-time emergency.
Read the full interview with Anderson here.
Lisa O’Carroll is the Guardian’s Brussels correspondent
Clare Daly, an outspoken Irish MEP who has been very vocal about the plight of Palestinians since Hamas’s attack on Israel was at the hearing in The Hague today, and said South Africa’s allegation of genocide was clear.
She said:
It is very important for us to be here in person, to represent the people of Ireland who are really distraught about what is happening in Gaza.
International law is on trial, just as much as Israel is. There is a huge amount riding on this case.
If one looks objectively at the facts of this case, it is a very clear textbook definition of genocide, but often political pressure can be brought to bear and we believe it is extremely important to be here at the ICJ to lend a counterweight to any such pressure.
We also want to show solidarity with the people of Palestine.
Antony Blinken has told reporters he found the region to be “very focused” on the future of Gaza during his trip to the Middle East, which has concluded in Egypt today.
Associated Press reports the US secretary of state told the media:
On our previous trips here, I think there was a reluctance to talk about some of the day-after issues in terms of long-term stability and security on a regional basis. But now we’re finding that our partners are very focused on that and wanting to engage on those questions. They’re also clearly prepared to take steps to do things, to make commitments necessary both for Gaza’s future and for long-term peace and security of the region.
US officials, speaking on the condition of anonymity to describe private diplomatic talks, told the AP that the conversations Blinken had in Israel on Tuesday were the most difficult on the trip.
In public, Blinken said Israel bolstering its security and the creation of a Palestinian state is the best way to thwart attacks from Iran’s regional proxies, like Hamas, Lebanon’s Hezbollah, Yemen’s Houthis and various other militia.
“The other path is to continue to see the terrorism, the denialism, and the destruction by Hamas, by the Houthis, by Hezbollah, all backed by Iran,” Blinken said.
“There’s a path that brings Israel’s needs and desires for integration in the region and genuine security with the Palestinian aspirations for a state of their own,” Blinken said. “You can’t have one without the other, and you can’t have either without a regional commitment to advancing on both tracks.”
Any US attack on Yemen’s Houthis will not go without a response, the group’s leader Abdel-Malek al-Houthi said on Thursday in a televised speech.
Reuters reports he said any such response would be bigger than the recent one in which its drones and missiles targeted a US ship in the Red Sea.
Al Jazeera’s Fahmida Miller is in Pretoria, where a diplomatic mission had been watching proceedings inside the Palestinian mission that included ambassadors from Egypt, Lebanon and Turkey.
She said people there were feeling pride that their country had taken this legal action against Israel. She told the news network “What is happening in Gaza resonates very deeply with many South Africans because of their own history of apartheid, subjugation, oppression, institutionalised racism and the challenges South Africans have had to overcome.”
Israel’s national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has joined the Israeli chorus of disapproval about today’s court hearing in The Hague.
In a post to social media, Ben-Gvir stated:
78 years after the terrible holocaust that the German Nazis inflicted on us and three months after the Nazis from Gaza added to the massacre of us – the world joins the theatre of the absurd and spreads blood libels against the state of Israel. We protect our citizens, our women, our children and they spread lies and abomination against us in the world. Never before have so many scoundrels joined such vile lies.
78 שנים לאחר השואה האיומה שעשו בנו הנאצים הגרמנים ו-3 חודשים לאחר שהנאצים מעזה הוסיפו לטבוח בנו — מצטרף העולם לתיאטרון האבסורד ומפיץ עלילות דם נגד מדינת ישראל. אנחנו מגנים על האזרחים שלנו, על הנשים שלנו, על הילדים שלנו ובעולם מפיצים נגדנו שקר ותועבה. מעולם לא הצטרפו מנוולים כל-כך… pic.twitter.com/yRquCx1Dqb
— איתמר בן גביר (@itamarbengvir) January 11, 2024
Ben-Gvir’s own words formed part of the case presented by South Africa against Israel in the international court of justice earlier today, in a section during which it was attempting to prove Israel’s leaders had genocidal intent against the Palestinian people in Gaza.
It quoted Ben-Gvir in November 2023 saying: “When we say that Hamas should be destroyed, it also means those who celebrate, those who support, and those who hand out candy – they are all terrorists, and they should also be destroyed.”
Citing the large number of civilian casualties in Gaza, the displacement of the vast majority of the population, the lack of safe shelter and poor humanitarian conditions, South Africa is asking the court for a preliminary order to Israel to stop fighting inside Gaza.
The former UK opposition Labour party leader Jeremy Corbyn has been in The Hague today to attend the court session. He spoke afterwards, praising South Africa for taking the case to the international court of justice.
He said “the world has woken up to the plight of the Palestinian people”, criticised the Israeli bombardment “of children, of civilians, of schools, of hospitals, of homes, of agricultural places” and what he described as “the driving out of the population of Gaza into place they were told were safe, and turned out to be incredibly dangerous.”
Jeremy Corbyn speaking outside the international court of justice where he was supporting South Africa’s case against alleged genocide by Israel in Gaza (1/2) pic.twitter.com/HP9N1uHkhw
— Haroon Siddique (@Haroon_Siddique) January 11, 2024
Jeremy Corbyn speaking outside the international court of justice where he was supporting South Africa’s case against alleged genocide by Israel in Gaza (2/2) pic.twitter.com/pqmpyPhIBO
— Haroon Siddique (@Haroon_Siddique) January 11, 2024
Corbyn was replaced as party leader after the 2019 general election in the UK, and lost the Labour party whip in 2020. The current Labour leader, Keir Starmer, has said Corbyn’s “days as a Labour MP are over” after criticism of Corbyn’s statements in response to the 7 October Hamas attack inside southern Israel.
Israel calls genocide hearings one of history's 'greatest shows of hypocrisy' and calls South Africa the 'legal arm of Hamas'
Isreal’s foreign ministry has attacked the legal hearing into the war in Gaza held this morning in The Hague, calling them “one of the greatest shows of hypocrisy in history” and calls South Africa, who brought forward the case alleging Israel is committing genocide, “the legal arm of the Hamas”.
The ministry’s spokesperson, Lior Haiat, said on X: “Today we were witness to one of the greatest shows of hypocrisy in history, compounded by a series of false and baseless claims."
“South Africa, which is functioning as the legal arm of the Hamas terrorist organization, utterly distorted the reality in Gaza following the 7 October massacre and completely ignored the fact that Hamas terrorists infiltrated Israel, murdered, executed, massacred, raped and abducted Israeli citizens, simply because they were Israelis, in an attempt to carry out genocide.”
Haiat added: “Hamas’ representatives in the court, the South African lawyers, are also ignoring the fact that Hamas uses the civilian population in Gaza as human shields and operates from within hospitals, schools, UN shelters, mosques and churches with the intention of endangering the lives of the residents of the Gaza Strip.”
Today we were witness to one of the greatest shows of hypocrisy in history, compounded by a series of false and baseless claims.
— Lior Haiat 🇮🇱 (@LiorHaiat) January 11, 2024
South Africa, which is functioning as the legal arm of the Hamas terrorist organization, utterly distorted the reality in Gaza following the October 7… pic.twitter.com/82EfD9WeuF
Updated
The US special envoy Amos Hochstein said on Thursday that he was hopeful diplomacy could calm tensions on the disputed border between Lebanon and Israel, where the Israeli military and the armed group Hezbollah have been exchanging fire for three months, Reuters reports.
“I’m hopeful that we can continue to work on this effort to arrive together, all of us on both sides of the border, with a solution that will allow for all people in Lebanon and Israel to live with guaranteed security and return to a better future,” Hochstein told reporters after meeting Lebanese officials.
Updated
Almost 24,000 Palestinians killed by Israeli strikes since 7 October, Gaza health ministry says
Reuters reports that 23,469 Palestinians have been killed and 59,604 injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, Gaza's health ministry said on Thursday.
Summary of the day so far …
South Africa has accused Israel of “a calculated pattern of conduct indicating a genocidal intent” on the opening day of a hearing at the international court of justice in The Hague into the case accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. Citing the large number of civilian casualties, the displacement of population, the lack of safe shelter and poor humanitarian conditions, South Africa is asking the court for a preliminary order to Israel to stop fighting while it investigates the full merits of the case.
Lawyers cited statements by prominent leaders including the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, defence minister, Yoav Gallant, and president, Isaac Herzog, as evidence that Israel was not distinguishing between Hamas and civilians, and intended to destroy Gaza. “What state would admit to a genocidal intent? Yet the distinctive feature of this case has not been the silence as such, but the reiteration and repetition of genocidal speech throughout every sphere of the state in Israel,” it said during the presentation. South Africa’s Jewish Board of Deputies has condemned the legal action, accusing the government of antisemitism and of “inverting reality”.
Three months of Israeli bombardment has laid much of the narrow coastal territory to waste, reportedly killing more than 23,000 people and driving nearly the entire population of 2.3 million Palestinians from their homes. An Israeli blockade has sharply restricted supplies of food, fuel and medicine, creating what the United Nations describes as a humanitarian catastrophe. Israel has dismissed the case as “baseless” and a “blood libel”, and will be presenting its defence in a three-hour session on Friday.
France’s naval forces are accompanying ships with French interests through the Red Sea region, the country’s top naval commander in the area said on Thursday, adding that Paris’ current mandate did not include striking Houthi rebels directly. The Iran-aligned Houthis, who control most of Yemen, have been targeting Red Sea shipping routes to show their support for Palestinian Islamist group Hamas.
An attack and boarding of “Saint Nikolas” off the Oman coast, reported hours after the UN security council in New York passed a resolution condemning attacks on Red Sea shipping by Houthi rebels, is yet to be identified and may be the work of Iranians, not the Houthis.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and Egypt’s president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, have met in Cairo.
Israel’s military has issued a statement on its Telegram messaging channel to claim that it has discovered what it described as a “vast Hamas tunnel used by the terror organisation to hold hostages under the city of Khan Younis”. The IDF has also issued video footage which it claims shows the tunnels. An estimated 136 hostages are still believed to be held by Hamas inside the Gaza Strip after being abducted on 7 October. The IDF says its troops continue to operate in Maghazi and Khan Younis.
Iran’s intelligence ministry has said the main suspect who planned the 3 January Kerman bombing was a Tajik national known by his alias Abdollah Tajiki. The suspect had entered the country in mid-December by crossing Iran’s southeast border, and left two days before the attack. Iran says it has arrested 35 people in relation to the attack. The death toll from the blasts rose to 94 on Thursday.
Police in Turkey have detained 70 suspects with ties to the Islamic State group in raids this week across the country.
Israel’s police said on Thursday they had arrested two Palestinian supporters of the Islamic State group who had plans to carry out “terrorist attacks” targeting the country’s security forces.
Israel posted a budget deficit of 4.2% of GDP in 2023, after a 0.6% surplus in 2022, due to a rise in state spending to finance the war in Gaza.
Updated
In its court address today, South Africa has argued that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, citing the large number of civilian casualties, the displacement of population, the lack of safe shelter and poor humanitarian conditions.
“Genocides are never declared in advance, but this court has the benefit of the past 13 weeks of evidence that shows incontrovertibly a pattern of conduct and related intention that justifies as a plausible claim of genocidal acts,” South African lawyer Adila Hassim told the judges.
In another passage, statements by leading Israeli officials including prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu, defence minister Yoav Gallant and president Isaac Herzog were cited.
Herzog’s comment that “it’s an entire nation out there that is responsible” for the 7 October attack was singled out, and the court was shown a video of Israeli soldiers joyfully singing in Gaza about fulfilling the biblical commandment of destroying Amalek after also being shown video of Netanyahu reminding the Israeli people of King Saul being commanded to destroy all men, women, children and animals of the Amalekite people.
“The scale of destruction in Gaza, the targeting of family homes and civilians, the war being a war on children, all make clear that genocidal intent is both understood and has been put into practice. The articulated intent is the destruction of Palestinian life,” said lawyer Tembeka Ngcukaitobi.
“What state would admit to a genocidal intent? Yet the distinctive feature of this case has not been the silence as such, but the reiteration and repetition of genocidal speech throughout every sphere of the state in Israel,” he said.
The court session in The Hague has finished hearing the single round oral argument of South Africa that Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza, and the court has been adjourned until tomorrow, when Israel will get to put its case.
Police in Turkey detained 70 suspects with ties to the Islamic State group in raids this week across the country, Associated Press reports the interior minister said on Thursday.
Drone infiltration warnings have been sounding again in northern Israel, near the UN-drawn blue line that separates Israel and Lebanon.
Haroon Siddique is in The Hague at the international court of justice for the Guardian
This picture of a whiteboard from a hospital in northern Gaza was shown at the ICJ in The Hague. The message was written by Dr Mahmoud Abu Nujaila, a Doctors Without Borders medic, who was killed a month later. Another photo was shown of the crumpled board post-bombing.
This picture of a whiteboard from a hospital in northern Gaza was shown at the ICJ. The message was written by Dr Mahmoud Abu Nujaila, a Doctors Without Borders medic, who was killed a month later. Another photo was shown of the crumpled board post-bombing pic.twitter.com/sIWmCACzl2
— Haroon Siddique (@Haroon_Siddique) January 11, 2024
Dozens of people have taken to the streets in Cape Town in one of several demonstrations across South Africa in support of the government’s “genocide” case against Israel, AFP reports.
Standing on the steps of the high court in the south-western port city, pro-Palestinian demonstrators held signs reading “Stop the genocide” and “Boycott apartheid Israel”.
Seehaam Samaai, a lawyer in attendance, said: “The important issue for us is that there is a ceasefire, that military actions are stopped in Gaza,.
“No armed attack on a state territory no matter how serious … can provide justification for or defend breaches of the [genocide] convention,” South African justice minister Ronald Lamola told the court in The Hague.
South Africa’s Jewish Board of Deputies has condemned the legal action, accusing the government of antisemitism and of “inverting reality”.
“These charges have at their root an antisemitic worldview, which denies Jews their rights to defend themselves,” the body’s chair, Karen Milner, said.
South Africa cut off diplomatic ties with Israel over its response to the Hamas attacks on 7 October.
Updated
Israel posted a budget deficit of 4.2% of GDP in 2023, after a 0.6% surplus in 2022, due to a rise in state spending to finance the war in Gaza, Reuters reports the finance ministry said on Thursday.
Haroon Siddique is in The Hague at the international court of justice for the Guardian
Tembeka Ngcukaitobi told the court there had been “reiteration and repetition of genocidal speech throughout every sphere of state in Israel” naming numerous senior political and military figures, including Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. He said that the effect of such pronouncements was that “the evidence of genocidal intent is not only chilling, it is also overwhelming and in controvertible”.
He played the court a video of Netanyahu urging Israelis to “remember what Amalek has done to you”. This is a reference to the Old Testament story in which God commands King Saul to kill everyone in Amalek, “men and women, children and infants, cattle and sheep, camels and donkeys”. Ngcukaitobi then played another video of Israeli troops dancing and chanting “wipe off the seed of Amalek” and “no uninvolved civilians” and said they had taken their cue from the Israeli prime minister.
French military now escorting French ships through Red Sea - naval commander
French naval forces are accompanying ships with French interests through the Red Sea region, the country’s top naval commander in the area said on Thursday, adding that Paris’ current mandate did not include striking Houthi rebels directly.
The Iran-aligned Houthis, who control most of Yemen, have been targeting Red Sea shipping routes to show their support for Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, which is fighting Israel in Gaza.
Speaking to the media, Reuters reports R Adm Emmanuel Slaars, joint commander of French forces in the region, said France was working closely with the US-led Prosperity Guardian mission in the area by exchanging information and carrying out patrols, but said command of French forces remained entirely under Paris’ control.
“The French operation consists of on the one hand patrolling the maritime zones where the Houthis operate to stop them,” Slaars said. “These patrols are in coordination with the Prosperity Guardian operation,” he said.
“On the other hand, we regularly escort French-flagged ships or with French interests in the Red Sea. We accompany them all along their crossing.”
Slaars, who also heads the EU’s mission of nine countries operating in the strait of Hormuz, said there was always a need for more military assets in the region, although France did not intend to deploy more for now.
The proceedings in The Hague are being watched around the world. A diplomatic delegation is watching in Pretoria, South Africa.
There is also a simultaneous protest near parliament in London.
In The Hague, there are pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian protests taking place. The pro-Palestinian rally has its focus on civilian casualties in Gaza, especially children. The pro-Israeli demonstration is carrying pictures of those still being held in captivity in Gaza by Hamas since 7 October.
Updated
In the latest segment of its presentation at the ICJ in The Hague, South Africa has made a statement which perhaps gives some insight into how they think Israel will approach mounting its defence presentation in tomorrow’s session.
Saying that it was not using much in the way of audio/visual presentation, South Africa’s legal team said:
In the speeches to this court today, South Africa has chosen as you’ve heard, to avoid the sharing of graphic videos and photos. It has decided against turning this court into a theatre for spectacle. It knows as well as your excellencies the temptation for both sides in a dispute to parade pictures to shock.
South Africa’s application in this court today is built on a foundation of clear legal rights, not images, and the detailed material before the court is marshalled to show a case for provisional measures based firmly on this court’s prior decisions.
South Africa advances its case on the basis that Palestinian’s rights are equally as worthy of protection on the unprecedented evidence before you as those of the victim groups that this honourable court has previously protected by its issuance of provisional measures in the past.
The material confirms the rights and their violation that Israel has committed, and is committing, acts capable of being characterised as genocidal.
You have heard from us about the direct extermination of thousands of people and children of the Palestinian population in Gaza since 7 October last year.
And South Africa and the world together stand witness to the forced evacuation of over 85% of the population of Gaza from their homes, and the herding of them into ever smaller areas without adequate shelter or medical care, to be attacked, killed and harmed.
So the rights are immediately and urgently in need of protection because of the ongoing denial by Israel of the conditions necessary for life.
Setting the South African presentation aside from “parading pictures to shock” and becoming a “theatre for spectacle” suggests they may be anticipating that Israel’s presentation will have a focus on graphic images of the atrocities committed on 7 October, and on pictures and footage of the Hamas equipment that the IDF claims to have unearthed inside Gaza next to or in civilian facilities.
Patrick Wintour is the Guardian’s diplomatic editor
An attack and boarding of “Saint Nikolas” off the Oman coast, reported hours after the UN security council in New York passed a resolution condemning attacks on Red Sea shipping by Houthi rebels, is yet to be identified and may be the work of Iranians, not the Houthis based in Yemen.
The UK Maritime Trade Organisation (UKMTO) on its social media account revealed 4 to 5 masked men wearing military-style uniforms and masks had boarded a ship 50 nautical miles east of the port of Sohar, an area that has not seen attacks by Houthis previously. The group had covered the surveillance cameras on board.
The maritime security firm Ambrey said the ship had been prosecuted in the past for carrying sanctioned Iranian oil, adding that the tanker was headed in the direction of Bandar-e-Jask, Iran. UKMTO urged shipping to proceed with caution.
A spokesperson for the ship’s Greek managers Empire Management said they had lost contact with the ship and its 19 strong largely Filipino crew. “The vessel had loaded the previous days in Basrah, Iraq a cargo of crude oil destined to Aliaga, Turkey, via the Suez Canal. The charterer of the vessel is Tupras,” it said.
The Houthis have mounted over 25 attacks on commercial shipping since mid November saying the attacks are focussed on Israeli linked ships and designed as acts of solidarity to force Israel to end the siege of Gaza by allowing more humanitarian aid into the country. The direct involvement of the Iranians, allies and suppliers of arms to the Houthis, would be a new and unlikely development. It would underline shipping is safe neither in the Red Sea or Persian gulf.
The passing of the UN resolution, by 11 votes to 0 with abstentions from Russia, China, Mozambique and Algeria, had taken the western coalition led by the US and the UK closer to a military strike against the Houthis bases along the Red Sea coast.
The resolution does not in itself authorise military action, but upheld the right of UN member states, in accordance with international law, “to defend their vessels from attack, including those that undermine navigational rights and freedoms.”
It also called on the Houthis to release the Galaxy Leader, a Japanese-operated vehicle carrier linked to an Israeli businessman that the group commandeered on Nov. 19, and its 25-person crew.
Since the passing of the UN resolution Houthi leaders have issued defiant messages claiming the security council is a creature of America due to the US use of its veto on all key votes affecting Israel. If the US had not used its veto to block a UN call for a ceasefire, the Houthis claim they would not have needed to take action to defend Palestine by putting pressure on Israel.
The court in The Hague has resumed, with South Africa continuing to present its case against Israel, claiming it has been committing genocide in Gaza. Israel has dismissed the case as “baseless”.
You can watch a video stream in this blog – you may have to refresh the page for the play button to appear. We will bring you any key lines that emerge.
The next segment is about establishing which Palestinian rights South Africa says Israel is violating. It has opened:
Palestinians in Gaza as a very substantial and important part of the Palestinian national, racial and ethnic group [and] are entitled to exist.
What is happening in Gaza now is not correctly framed as a simple conflict between two parties.
It entails, instead, destructive acts perpetrated by an occupying power, Israel, that is subjecting the Palestinian people to an oppressive and prolonged violation of their rights to self determination for more than half a century.
And those violations occur in a world where Israel for years has regarded itself as beyond and above the law.
Away from proceedings in The Hague for a moment, the US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, and Egypt’s president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, have met in Cairo.
Reuters reports that the visit came a day after Sisi met King Abdullah of Jordan and the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, in the Red Sea port of Aqaba. Blinken also met Abbas yesterday, in Ramallah, in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Blinken, who has visited nine countries and the occupied West Bank in a week, brought a rough agreement to Israel that its neighbours would help rehabilitate Gaza after the war and continue economic integration with Israel, but only if Israel commits to eventually allowing the creation of an independent Palestinian state.
Israel’s military operation in the Gaza Strip is estimated to have displaced 85% of Gaza’s population, destroyed a large proportion of housing there and caused a humanitarian crisis with hunger and the near-collapse of the healthcare system.
Updated
Closing that segment of its presentation, South Africa’s legal team in The Hague said that states seldom announced genocidal intentions in advance, but it said this case was unique precisely because, instead of silence, multiple senior leaders in Israel with influence and direction over the armed forces had expressed their desire for Gaza and the Palestinian people to be destroyed in the aftermath of the 7 October Hamas attack, without distinguishing between combatants and civilians.
The next segment of the presentation has been a somewhat technical presentation about the question of jurisdiction. There have been lengthy passages about the exchanges of communication between South Africa and Israel leading up to the court case.
As part of the presentation, the legal team noted that South Africa and Israel have a history of suffering, and that is why they became signatories to the genocide convention.
The court has adjourned for a 10-minute break.
Updated
In the next segment of its presentation in The Hague, South Africa is presenting what it describes as evidence of the genocidal intent of the Israeli authorities.
In doing so it has quoted directly several Israeli leaders, including the prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, defence minister, Yoav Gallant, and Israeli president, Isaac Herzog.
It referenced Netanyahu citing the Biblical story of the Amalek people, and this language being echoed by troops on the ground.
It cited Gallant’s comment that Israel was fighting “human animals”, and that there would be “no electricity, no food, no water, no fuel” in Gaza. It quoted him telling troops that there were no restraints and that “we will eliminate everything, we will reach all places”.
South Africa’s legal team said “the language of systematic dehumanisation is evident here. Human animals. Both Hamas and civilians are condemned within the Israeli cabinet.”
It also cited the a deputy speaker of the Knesset calling for the erasure of the Gaza Strip from the face of the earth, arguing that even if they were not a member of the government, they were a lawmaker whose votes in the Knesset shaped the policies of the Israeli state.
A video clip was shown of Israeli soldiers dancing and singing about the destruction of Gaza during the operation inside the territory.
Updated
South Africa accuses Israel of 'a calculated pattern of conduct indicating a genocidal intent'
Closing her part of the case, Adila Hassim, advocate of the high court of South Africa, has said in The Hague:
All of these acts individually and collectively form a calculated pattern of conduct by Israel indicating a genocidal intent. This intent is evident from Israel’s conduct in:
Targeting Palestinians living in Gaza using weaponry that causes large scale, homicidal destruction, as well as targeted sniping of civilians.
Designating safe zones for Palestinians to seek refuge and then bombing these.
Depriving Palestinians in Gaza of basic needs – food, water, health care, fuel, sanitation, and communications.
Destroying social infrastructure, homes, schools, mosques, churches, hospitals, and killing, seriously injuring, and leaving large numbers of children orphaned.
Genocides are never declared in advance but this court has the benefit of the past 13 weeks of evidence that shows incontrovertibly, a pattern of conduct and related intention that justifies a plausible claim of genocidal acts.
Israel has described South Africa’s case as “baseless” and a “blood libel”, and will have three hours at the court tomorrow to oppose it.
Citing the official IRNA news agency, Associated Press reports that Iran’s intelligence ministry has said the main suspect who planned the 3 January Kerman bombing was a Tajik national known by his alias Abdollah Tajiki.
According to IRNA, the suspect had entered the country in mid-December by crossing Iran’s southeast border, and left two days before the attack, after making the bombs.
The report also identified one of the bombers by his family name of Bozrov, saying the man was 24 years old and had Tajik and Israeli nationality. It said he also arrived in Iran by crossing the south-eastern border after months of training by IS in Afghanistan.
The report further said authorities were still trying to identify the second suicide-bomber. In its claim of responsibility, the Islamic State group had identified the two bombers as Omar al-Mowahed and Seif-Allah al-Mujahed.
The death toll from the attack rose to 94 on Thursday, from the previous 91 fatalities reported on Sunday.
Presenting more of South Africa’s case against Israel at the ICJ in The Hague, Adila Hassim, advocate of the high court of South Africa, has outlined what she said were Israeli acts that were in violation of articles 2b and 2c of the genocide convention. She said:
Israel’s attacks have left close to 60,000 Palestinians wounded and maimed, the majority of them women and children. This in circumstances where the healthcare system has all that collapsed.
Large numbers of Palestinian civilians, including children, are arrested, blindfolded, forced to undress and loaded on to trucks taken to unknown locations. The suffering of the Palestinian people, physical and mental is undeniable.
Israel has deliberately imposed conditions on Gaza that cannot sustain life and are calculated to bring about its physical destruction … by displacement. Israel has forced – forced – the displacement of about 85% of Palestinians in Gaza. There is nowhere safe for them to flee to.
Israel’s first evacuation order on 13 October required the evacuation of over one million people including children, the elderly, the wounded, and infirm.
The order itself was genocidal. It required immediate movement, taking only what could be carried while no humanitarian assistance was permitted. And fuel, water and food and other necessities of life had deliberately been cut off. It was clearly calculated to bring about the destruction of the population.
Israel says it has arrested two supporters of Islamic State who were planning attacks on security services
Israel’s police said Thursday they had arrested two Palestinian supporters of the Islamic State group who had plans to carry out “terrorist attacks” targeting the country’s security forces.
The two residents of Israeli-occupied East Jerusalem had planned to prepare explosive devices aimed at targeting security forces, the force said in a statement.
“The two terrorists supported the ideology of the Islamic State group and consumed content through the internet and Telegram, including videos of killings carried out by the group abroad,” AFP reports the statement said.
“Influenced by the content of the organisation, the two planned to carry out terrorist attacks against police officers and border police force.”
In its statements in the court in The Hague, South Africa is offering evidence of what it says is the mass killing of Palestinians within the Gaza Strip by Israel, which it says constitutes genocide.
It says Palestinians have been killed by the relentless bombing of Israel wherever they sought shelter:
In schools, in hospitals, in mosques, in churches, and as they tried to find food and water for their families. They have been killed if they failed to evacuate, killed in the places to which they have fled, and even killed while they attempted to flee along Israeli declared safe routes.
The level of killing is so extensive that those whose bodies are found are buried in mass graves, often unidentified.
In the first three weeks alone, following 7 October, Israel deployed 6,000 bombs per week. At least 200 times it has deployed 2000lb bombs in southern areas of Palestine designated as safe. These bombs have also decimated the north, including refugee camps. 2000lb bombs are some of the biggest and most destructive bombs available.
Israel has killed an unparalleled and unprecedented number of civilians. With the full knowledge of how many civilian lives each bomb will take.
More than 1,800 Palestinian families in Gaza have lost multiple family members and hundreds of multigenerational families have been wiped out with no remaining survivors. Mothers, fathers, children, siblings, grandparents, aunts, cousins, often all killed together.
This killing is nothing short of destruction of Palestinian life. It is inflicted deliberately. No one is spared. Not even newborn babies.
Israel claims to have exposed 'vast Hamas tunnel' under Khan Younis it says held hostages
Israel’s military has issued a statement on its Telegram messaging channel to claim that it has discovered what it described as a “vast Hamas tunnel used by the terror organization to hold hostages under the city of Khan Younis.”
In the statement, the IDF said:
In the past day, the IDF exposed a vast underground tunnel excavated by the Hamas terror organization under the city of Khan Yunis. The tunnel was connected to an extensive underground tunnel network beneath a civilian area in the city. Millions of shekels are estimated to have been invested in excavating the tunnel and equipping it with air ventilation systems, electrical supply and plumbing. After investigating the tunnel, it can be confirmed that Israeli hostages had been inside the tunnel.
It went on to say:
During underground combat, the forces located more than 300 tunnel shafts, some leading to significant tunnels, tactical shafts, and underground areas which are used as weapons storage facilities and combat areas. So far, more than one hundred tunnels were dismantled and decommissioned and in some tunnels, terrorists were also eliminated.
The IDF has also issued video footage which it claims shows the tunnels under Khan Younis.
The IDF reveals footage of Hamas tunnel in southern Gaza's Khan Younis, where it believes hostages were previously held by the terror group.
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) January 11, 2024
The tunnel was located by the Commando Brigade, elite Yahalom combat engineering unit, and other special forces, and connects to a wide… pic.twitter.com/8dSK7slRcI
The claims have not been independently verified.
South Africa accuses Israel of 'genocidal acts', 'humanitarian crimes' and the 'ongoing Nakba of the Palestinian people'
In an opening address, South Africa has made this case against Israel:
South Africa has recognised the ongoing Nakba of the Palestinian people through Israel’s colonisation since 1948, which has systematically and forcibly dispossessed, displaced and fragmented the Palestinian people, deliberately denying them the internationally recognised inalienable right to self determination and their internationally recognised rights of return as refugees to their towns and villages in what is now the state of Israel.
We are also particularly mindful of Israel’s institutionalised regime of discriminatory laws, policies and practices designed and maintained to establish domination, subjecting the Palestinian people to apartheid on both sides of the Green Line.
Decade’s long impunity for widespread and systematic human rights violations has emboldened Israel in its recurrence and intensification of humanitarian crimes in Palestine.
At the outset, South Africa acknowledges that the genocidal acts and omissions by the state of Israel inevitably form part of a continuum of illegal acts perpetrated against the Palestinian people since 1948.
The application places Israel’s genocidal acts and omissions within the broader context of Israel’s 25-year apartheid, 56-year occupation and 16-year siege imposed on the Gaza Strip.
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Here is an image from inside the international court of justice in The Hague as South Africa brings its case against Israel accusing it of committing genocide in Gaza.
Both pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli demonstrators have gathered outside the court in the Netherlands, and there is also a demonstration in Cape Town, South Africa.
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Haroon Siddique, the Guardian’s legal affairs correspondent, is in The Hague attending the ICJ hearing. We will bring you key developments and lines as they emerge. We will also continue to bring you news as it happens from around the Middle East crisis.
If you need a little bit of a background refresher, my colleague Helen Livingstone prepared this earlier:
What is the ICJ?
The international court of justice (ICJ) – not to be confused with the international criminal court (ICC), which tries individuals for war crimes – is the UN’s top court. Established in 1945, it is based in The Hague and rules on disputes between countries as well as giving advisory opinions.
How long will the case take?
The full case, which is due to open on Thursday for two days of hearings, is likely to take years. However, an interim measure could be issued within weeks.
In order to gain the temporary measure, South Africa does not need to prove that genocide has taken place. All it needs to prove is that the court would have jurisdiction at first glance, or “prima facie”, and that some of the acts it complains of – in this case including the death toll and forced displacement of Palestinians in Gaza – could fall under the genocide convention.
What significance will a ruling have?
The court’s ruling is final and cannot be appealed against. However, it cannot enforce its decisions and it is not clear that Israel would comply with it. But an adverse ruling would be detrimental to Israel’s reputation and set legal precedent.
You can watch the ICJ proceedings in a video stream in this blog. You may need to refresh the page for the play button to appear.
The case is opening with the two ad hoc judges from South Africa and Israel making their solemn declarations. Dikgang Moseneke will represent South Africa, and Aharon Barak, former head of the country’s supreme court, will represent Israel.
At the court today we are expecting to hear from:
Ronald Lamola, minister of justice, South Africa
Zane Dangor, director-general, ministry of international relations, South Africa
Diala Shamas, senior staff attorney, center for constitutional rights, US
There are also expected to be representations from Palestinian witnesses and “international allies”.
South Africa's genocide case against Israel over war in Gaza opens in The Hague
A legal hearing into the war in Gaza has opened in The Hague, as the international court of justice (ICJ) hears arguments alleging that Israel is committing genocide of Palestinians.
South Africa, which has brought the case, is asking the UN court to act urgently. Israel has called the action “baseless” and a “blood libel”. It says it is acting in self-defence, to protect Israelis by destroying Hamas.
Both sides’ legal teams will have the same time to make their case – approximately three hours – with South Africa going first on Thursday and then Israel responding on Friday.
The genocide convention describes the crime as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole, or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”.
Since 7 October, Israel has reportedly killed more than 23,000 Palestinians in Gaza, about 70% of them women or children. UNRWA has estimated that 1.9 million people have been internally displaced in Gaza by the fighting – while tens of thousands of buildings have been destroyed.
Israel’s assault on Gaza was launched in response to the 7 October attacks on Israel by Hamas inside southern Israel in which about 1,200 people were killed, mainly civilians, and during which 240 people were taken hostage. Just over 100 hostages have subsequently been released from captivity.
Iran arrests 35 people over Kerman suicide bombings that killed nearly 100 people
Iran has arrested 35 people in relation to the 3 January attacks in the south-eastern city of Kerman, its intelligence ministry has said.
Citing the semi-official Tasnim news agency, Reuters reports that the ministry said it had identified one of the two suicide bombers as a national of Tajikistan, who entered Iran illegally on 19 December.
More information will be released at a later date about the second suicide bomber, the ministry said, adding that the arrests had been carried out in several Iranian provinces.
Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack that killed nearly 100 people and wounded 284 at a ceremony marking the anniversary of the death of the senior Revolutionary Guards commander Qassem Suleimani.
Haroon Siddique is in The Hague for the Guardian
In The Hague, where the South African case at the ICJ against Israel for committing genocide in Gaza is due to start within the next hour, demonstrators have gathered.
Some pro-Israeli portestors are holding up pictures of some of the estimated 130 people still being held captive by Hamas since being abducted on 7 October.
There is also a pro-Palestinian demonstration there as well.
This is the scene outside the international court of justice in The Hague as it prepares the international court of justice (ICJ) to hear arguments alleging that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza pic.twitter.com/sTCHTabOaN
— Haroon Siddique (@Haroon_Siddique) January 11, 2024
The pro-Palestine and pro-Israel protesters briefly came face to face.
The pro-Palestine and pro-Israel protesters briefly came face to face pic.twitter.com/KwTCC2deCG
— Haroon Siddique (@Haroon_Siddique) January 11, 2024
The hearing is due to start at 10am local time (9am GMT), and on the first day South Africa’s legal team will have roughly three hours to put their case. Israel will have a similar time tomorrow to mount its defence.
Reuters has a quick snap, citing Iran’s Tasnim news agency, that 35 people have been arrested in connection with last Wednesday’s bombing in Kerman in southern Iran which killed at least 84 people. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society has posed a video tribute to one of its volunteers killed by an Israeli strike on an ambulance yesterday.
The video, it says, shows the 28-year-old volunteer “embracing a child injured during the Israeli aggression on Gaza”.
It accused Israel of intentionally targeting an ambulance in Der Albalh in central Gaza.
Fouad Khamash, a 28-year-old volunteer photographer with the Palestine Red Crescent, bravely risked his life to spotlight the challenges faced by humanitarian workers in #Gaza.
— PRCS (@PalestineRCS) January 11, 2024
📍He documented the harsh realities encountered by PRCS ambulance crews, capturing rare moments of joy… pic.twitter.com/uJGBy0uzmM
In its latest operational update, Israel’s military states that “soldiers continue to operate in Al-Maghazi and Khan Younis” inside the Gaza Strip, and that “troops identified an armed terrorist cell and thwarted the cell as they were exiting a shaft.”
It claims that “anti-tank missiles were fired at the troops” in Khan Younis, and that “troops struck the terrorist infrastructure from which the missiles were fired.”
The claims have not been independently verified.
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) authority has posted to social media that it has received a report of a vessel being boarded off the coast of Oman.
UKMTO WARNING 006/JAN/2024 UPDATE 001https://t.co/6a9TLpaLrg#MaritimeSecurity #MarSec pic.twitter.com/7QvQukJhtk
— United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) (@UK_MTO) January 11, 2024
While the exact circumstances remain unclear, UKMTO reports “hearing unknown voices over the phone along with the masters voice” and says it is “unable to make further contact with vessel at this time”.
Shipping in the Middle East region has been disrupted in recent weeks by attacks by Yemen’s Houthis on vessels in the Red Sea, which is farther to the west of this incident. The Houthis claim to be targeting vessels with links to Israel. Some large shipping operations have been re-routing vessels via the Cape of Good Hope for safety, disrupting supply routes.
More details soon …
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Summary of the day so far
It’s 9am in Gaza, Tel Aviv and Beirut. Here are the latest developments:
The international court of justice (ICJ) in The Hague will begin hearing arguments in about two hours, at 10am local time, alleging that Israel is committing genocide in its war in Gaza. South Africa, which has brought the case to the UN’s top court, is asking the ICJ to act urgently “to protect against further, severe and irreparable harm to the rights of the Palestinian people under the genocide convention, which continues to be violated with impunity”. Israel reacted furiously when the application was made. It says it is acting in self-defence, to protect Israelis by destroying Hamas.
The UN security council has voted to approve a resolution drafted by the US and Japan to demand an end to attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea by Houthi rebels. The council voted down proposed amendments from Russia that would have weakened the resolution. The vote passed with 11 votes in favour, zero objections and four abstentions, including Russia, China and Algeria.
The head of Yemen’s Houthi supreme revolutionary committee, Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, has reacted to the UN resolution on navigation in the Red Sea. Al-Houthi said in a post on X that what Yemeni armed forces were doing comes within the framework of legitimate defence, and that any action they face will have a reaction. He also described the resolution as a “political game”. “We call on the Security Council to immediately release 2.3 Million people from the Israeli-American siege in Gaza,” he said.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has condemned attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea as “reckless and dangerous” during a meeting with Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa in Manama, the penultimate stop of the diplomat’s whistle stop Middle East tour. Earlier on Wednesday he met the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, in the West Bank, where they discussed “ongoing efforts to minimise civilian harm in Gaza, accelerate the delivery of humanitarian aid, end extremist violence, and work towards an independent Palestinian state”.
The US secretary of state Antony Blinken is preparing to travel to Egypt for more talks aimed at containing Israel’s war in Gaza. The diplomat is set to meet Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has posted on X his views about the future of Gaza. He says “I want to make a few points absolutely clear: Israel has no intention of permanently occupying Gaza or displacing its civilian population. Israel is fighting Hamas terrorists, not the Palestinian population, and we are doing so in full compliance with international law.” The comments come as the international court of justice case against Israel is set to get under way on Thursday.
Pramila Patten, the United Nations special representative on sexual violence, will visit Israel this month to look at allegations of rape and other sexual offences committed by Hamas fighters on and after 7 October. Patten has been granted investigative authority by Israel’s foreign ministry that will allow her to speak with survivors and released Israeli hostages who were raped or sexually assaulted. Her office portrayed the visit as an “information gathering mission”.
The Israeli Defense Forces chief of staff said no village in Lebanon was out of the military’s reach, after an escalation in violence between Israeli forces and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group based there. Herzi Halevi told a gathering of soldiers in Gaza that their actions in the besieged Palestinian territory had convinced him that they could take the fight into Lebanese territory if needed, AFP reported.
The World Health Organization (WHO) director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said there were nearly “insurmountable obstacles” to delivering humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, saying the situation was “indescribable”. He said six planned missions to northern Gaza had been cancelled because Israel had rejected requests and not given assurances of safe passage, adding that a mission planned for today also had to be cancelled.
A total of 23,357 Palestinians have been killed and 59,410 have been injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry has said. The ministry, which is run by Hamas, said 147 Palestinians were killed and 243 injured in the past 24 hours. About 1.9 million people, or nearly 85% of the total population of Gaza, are estimated to have been displaced from their homes. Only 15 out of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are partially functional. Three hundred and thirty Palestinians have also been killed in the Israeli-occupied West Bank over the same period, including 84 children, and nearly 4,000 people have been injured by Israeli security forces during that time.
The IDF announced the death of another member of Israel’s troops inside Gaza, taking the total toll of the ground offensive to 186. The Israeli military has said that 1,065 of its soldiers have been injured in Gaza. Israel launched its military campaign after the 7 October surprise Hamas attack during which about 1,200 people were killed. An estimated 240 people were seized as hostages. About 130 are still believed to be in captivity. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty counts being issued during the conflict.
Israel’s military claims to have “uncovered more than 15 underground tunnel shafts in the area” of Maghazi in central Gaza, where it says that its troops directed airstrikes that killed “several terrorists”. In Khan Younis, it claims that “in battles in the area over the last day, dozens of terrorist operatives were killed by IDF troops”, adding that “a total of approximately 150 terror targets were struck by IDF troops over the last day”. The claims have not been independently verified.
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Palestinians in the West Bank have gathered in support of South Africa in its international court of justice genocide case against Israel’s war in Gaza. Here is an image of that rally on Wednesday in Ramallah:
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The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, is preparing to travel to Egypt for more talks aimed at containing Israel’s war in Gaza.
The diplomat is to meet Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo, a day after talks with the Palestinian Authority leader Mahmoud Abbas, who “committed” to reforming the body to potentially reunite Gaza and the occupied West Bank under its leadership after the war, Blinken said.
The Middle East trip is the US secretary of state’s fourth aimed at preventing the conflict’s spread.
Blinken has sketched out a possible postwar future for Gaza after meeting Abbas and Bahrain’s King Hamad on Wednesday.
He told Abbas that Washington supported “tangible steps” towards the creation of a Palestinian state – a long-term goal that the Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s hard-right government has opposed.
In Bahrain, Blinken said Abbas was “committed” to reforming the Palestinian Authority “so that it can effectively take responsibility for Gaza, so that Gaza and the West Bank can be reunited under a Palestinian leadership”.
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Just a month after its 75th anniversary, the genocide convention could be entering a new age of greater relevance as the international court of justice convenes in The Hague to consider the Israel-Gaza war.
South Africa has brought a case to the ICJ accusing Israel of committing genocide in its military response to the 7 October Hamas attack that killed hundreds of Israeli civilians. The South African case includes references to the Israeli use of blanket bombing and the cutting of food, water and medicine supplies to Gaza.
“The acts are all attributable to Israel, which has failed to prevent genocide and is committing genocide in manifest violation of the genocide convention,” the case states.
Israel has signalled its determination to rebuff the charges, which Tel Aviv and Washington have rejected as baseless. It could take the court years to make a ruling, but it could also issue “provisional measures” requiring actions, like a ceasefire, to mitigate the risk of genocide.
The Israeli government could ignore the measures, but to do so would cause enormous reputational harm and loss of influence on the world stage for Israel and its principal backer, the US.
Read the rest of our world affairs editor Julian Borger’s analysis here:
Senior White House adviser Amos Hochstein is expected to visit Beirut on Thursday, a US official has told Reuters, as part of US efforts to ease tensions along the Israel-Lebanon border.
Washington is worried Israel’s war in Gaza could spread violence across the region, with armed groups backed by Iran launching solidarity attacks in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen.
Lebanese group Hezbollah has been trading fire with the Israeli military across the southern border since Hamas attacked Israel from Gaza three months ago.
The border violence has forced tens of thousands on both sides to flee.
Lebanon’s caretaker prime minister Najib Mikati told a senior United Nations official on Tuesday that his country was ready for talks on long-term stability on its southern border with Israel.
Hochstein, the US energy envoy last year floated the possibility of talks on drawing the land border between Israel and Lebanon, after having mediated a 2022 deal setting the maritime borders between the two countries.
For more on what the international court of justice actually is and the details of the case, read our explainer by Helen Livingstone here:
What is the ICJ?
The international court of justice (ICJ) – not to be confused with the international criminal court (ICC), which tries individuals for war crimes – is the UN’s top court. Established in 1945, it is based in The Hague and rules on disputes between countries as well as giving advisory opinions.
It has 15 judges – which will be expanded by an additional judge from each side in the Israel case – elected for nine-year terms by the UN general assembly and the security council.
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As the ICJ case is set to begin – fighting is still taking place in Gaza.
The Israeli military is now focusing major operations on the southern city of Khan Younis and built-up refugee camps in central Gaza.
Hamas’s press office said early Thursday that 62 people had been killed in strikes overnight, including around Khan Yunis, Agence France-Presse reports.
Israeli army spokesperson Daniel Hagari said in his evening briefing the night before that forces were continuing “to act decisively above and below ground” in the area.
The Palestinian Red Crescent Society said an Israeli strike on an ambulance in central Gaza killed four medics and two other passengers on Wednesday. The Israeli military did not immediately comment on the incident when contacted by AFP.
Hundreds of people have been killed in recent days in strikes across the territory, including in areas of the far south where people have been told to seek refuge.
A heavy strike on Wednesday brought down a two-story building in the central town of Deir al-Balah, close to its main Al-Aqsa Martyrs hospital, killing at least 20 people, according to Palestinian health officials.
Late Tuesday, a strike in Gaza’s southernmost city, Rafah, hit a house, killing at least 14 people and wounding at least 20 others, including women and children, health officials said. AP reporters saw the dead and wounded being brought into nearby hospitals.
South Africa to begin genocide case against Israel at ICJ
The international court of justice (ICJ) in The Hague will begin hearing arguments at 10am local time alleging that Israel is committing genocide in its war in Gaza.
South Africa, which has brought the case to the UN’s top court, is asking the ICJ to act urgently “to protect against further, severe and irreparable harm to the rights of the Palestinian people under the genocide convention, which continues to be violated with impunity”.
It comes as the assault on Gaza – launched in response to the 7 October attacks on Israel by Hamas in which militants killed 1,200 people, mainly civilians, and took 240 people hostage – continues to wreak a devastating toll.
Israel reacted furiously when the application was made, calling it “baseless” and a “blood libel”. It says it is acting in self-defence, to protect Israelis by destroying Hamas. The country’s biggest supporter, the US, has dismissed the case as “meritless”.
Both sides’ legal teams will have the same amount of time to make their case – approximately three hours – with South Africa going first on Thursday and then Israel responding on Friday. Judgment will be reserved until a later date, but could come within weeks.
Read our full report on what to expect from the trial by Haroon Siddique in The Hauge:
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Welcome and opening summary
Hello and welcome to our latest blog on the Middle East crisis, I’m Reged Ahmad and I’ll be with you for the next while.
It’s currently 7am in Gaza and Tel Aviv, and 6am in The Hague where South Africa is set to begin making arguments in its international court of justice case.
The case is scheduled to get under way at 10am local time. Israel is facing accusations by South Africa that it has committed “genocidal” acts in its war in Gaza. But they’re charges Israel’s president has dismissed as “atrocious” and “preposterous”. As part of the case, South Africa has lodged an urgent appeal to the UN’s top court to force Israel to “immediately suspend” its military operations in Gaza.
Meanwhile, fighting is continuing in the territory, with the Israeli military now focusing major operations on the southern city of Khan Younis, Associated Press reports.
More on that in a moment but first, here’s a summary of the latest developments:
The UN security council has voted to approve a resolution drafted by the US and Japan to demand an end to attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea by Houthi rebels. The council voted down proposed amendments from Russia that would have weakened the resolution. The vote passed with 11 votes in favour, zero objections and four abstentions, including Russia, China and Algeria.
The head of Yemen’s Houthi supreme revolutionary committee, Mohammed Ali al-Houthi, has reacted to the UN resolution on navigation in the Red Sea. Al-Houthi said in a post on X that what Yemeni armed forces were doing comes within the framework of legitimate defence, and that any action they face will have a reaction. He also described the resolution as a “political game”. “We call on the Security Council to immediately release 2.3 Million people from the Israeli-American siege in Gaza,” he said.
The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has condemned attacks on commercial shipping in the Red Sea as “reckless and dangerous” during a meeting with Bahrain’s King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa in Manama, the penultimate stop of the diplomat’s whistle stop Middle East tour. Earlier on Wednesday he met the Palestinian Authority president, Mahmoud Abbas, in the West Bank, where they discussed “ongoing efforts to minimise civilian harm in Gaza, accelerate the delivery of humanitarian aid, end extremist violence, and work towards an independent Palestinian state”.
The Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, has posted on X his views about the future of Gaza. He says “I want to make a few points absolutely clear: Israel has no intention of permanently occupying Gaza or displacing its civilian population. Israel is fighting Hamas terrorists, not the Palestinian population, and we are doing so in full compliance with international law.” The comments come as the international court of justice case against Israel is set to get under way on Thursday.
Pramila Patten, the United Nations special representative on sexual violence, will visit Israel this month to look at allegations of rape and other sexual offences committed by Hamas fighters on and after 7 October. Patten has been granted investigative authority by Israel’s foreign ministry that will allow her to speak with survivors and released Israeli hostages who were raped or sexually assaulted. Her office portrayed the visit as an “information gathering mission”.
The Israeli Defense Forces chief of staff said no village in Lebanon was out of the military’s reach, after an escalation in violence between Israeli forces and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group based there. Herzi Halevi told a gathering of soldiers in Gaza that their actions in the besieged Palestinian territory had convinced him that they could take the fight into Lebanese territory if needed, AFP reported.
The World Health Organization (WHO) director general, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said there were nearly “insurmountable obstacles” to delivering humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, saying the situation was “indescribable”. He said six planned missions to northern Gaza had been cancelled because Israel had rejected requests and not given assurances of safe passage, adding that a mission planned for today also had to be cancelled.
Britain warned of severe consequences after US and UK warships were forced to repel a barrage of 20 Houthi rockets, drones and cruise missiles fired at ships in the Red Sea. American and British forces say they shot down 18 drones and three missiles on Tuesday. The Italian defense minister, Guido Crosetto, has said that Yemen’s Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping must be stopped without triggering a new war.
A total of 23,357 Palestinians have been killed and 59,410 have been injured in Israeli strikes on Gaza since 7 October, the Gaza health ministry said. The ministry, which is run by Hamas, said 147 Palestinians were killed and 243 injured in the past 24 hours. About 1.9 million people, or nearly 85% of the total population of Gaza, are estimated to have been displaced from their homes. Only 15 out of Gaza’s 36 hospitals are partially functional. Three hundred and thirty Palestinians have also been killed in the Israeli-occupied West Bank over the same period, including 84 children, and nearly 4,000 people have been injured by Israeli security forces during that time.
The IDF announced the death of another member of Israel’s troops inside Gaza, taking the total toll of the ground offensive to 186. The Israeli military has said that 1,065 of its soldiers have been injured in Gaza. Israel launched its military campaign after the 7 October surprise Hamas attack during which about 1,200 people were killed. An estimated 240 people were seized as hostages. About 130 are still believed to be in captivity. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify the casualty counts being issued during the conflict.
Israel’s military claims to have “uncovered more than 15 underground tunnel shafts in the area” of Maghazi in central Gaza, where it says that its troops directed airstrikes that killed “several terrorists”. In Khan Younis, it claims that “in battles in the area over the last day, dozens of terrorist operatives were killed by IDF troops”, adding that “a total of approximately 150 terror targets were struck by IDF troops over the last day”. The claims have not been independently verified.
Israel’s military has also said that it is has again struck at what it described as Hezbollah terrorist targets inside southern Lebanon.
The Palestinian news agency Wafa reported Israel detained a further 26 Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied West Bank. It brings the total number of detainees since 7 October to more than 5,780.
Israeli politician Nissim Vaturi reiterated his call for Gaza to be burned down, saying “there are no innocents there”. Referring to Palestinians still in northern Gaza after repeated orders from the Israeli military for them to flee, Vaturi said: “One hundred thousand remain. I have no mercy for those who are still there. We need to eliminate them.” The comments came ahead of a hearing on Thursday at the international court of justice, where South Africa has accused Israel of genocide in Gaza.
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