Israel will respond to allegations of genocide at the International Court of Justice. Although there is fighting in Gaza, the question of its political future remains open. The news in summary.
Tel Aviv/The Hague – Israel must today justify its controversial military operation in Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, before the International Court of Justice in The Hague. The UN’s highest court is hearing a request from South Africa.
His government insists on Israel’s immediate withdrawal from the city of Rafah and unrestricted access to humanitarian aid. The foreign ministers of 13 states, including Germany, also warned in a letter of a comprehensive offensive on Rafah and also called for more aid for the Palestinian population.
Israel continues offensive in Rafah
Despite warnings from the US and other allies, Israel continues attacks on Rafah, where it says it wants to destroy one of the last strongholds of the Islamist Hamas. The Jewish state’s government invoked its right to self-defense after terrorists from Hamas and other extremist groups attacked southern Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people and taking another 250 hostage.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry released a statement saying South Africa was distorting reality and presenting biased and false accusations to the court.
According to the “Süddeutscher Zeitung”, the letter from the foreign ministers to the Israeli chief diplomat, Israel Katz, requesting restraint, was signed by the department heads of all G7 states, with the exception of the USA, i.e. Germany , France, Great Britain, Italy, Japan and Canada. There are also Australia, Denmark, Finland, Netherlands, New Zealand, South Korea and Sweden.
More than half a million people fled Rafah
Just yesterday, Israeli Defense Minister Joav Galant announced the deployment of additional troops to Rafah. Hundreds of targets have already been hit and several Hamas tunnels have been destroyed. “This activity will be intensified,” Galant said.
According to the UN, around 600,000 people have already fled the city on the border with Egypt. Federal Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock warned: “The people there don’t know what to do and they no longer have safe places to escape to. However, the protection of the civilian population must have the highest priority. This is not apparent at the moment.”
Arab League calls for UN peace mission to Gaza
Arab League member states are now calling for the deployment of a UN peacekeeping mission in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. There must be United Nations “international protection and peacekeeping troops” in the Palestinian territories until a two-state solution is implemented, the final statement from the league summit in Bahrain said.
The UN Security Council, which can issue mandates for peacekeeping missions, must take responsibility. It was the League’s first regular summit since Israel’s military operation against Hamas in the Gaza Strip began seven months ago.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres also participated in the meeting and again called on the conflicting parties to agree on a ceasefire. “The war in Gaza is an open wound that threatens to infect the entire region,” warned Guterres. The crown prince and de facto ruler of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman, emphasized that the “violent aggression” against the Palestinians must be stopped with joint force.
Netanyahu on the future of Gaza: No “Fatahstan after Hamastan”
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected criticism from his defense minister that the government lacked a plan for who would govern the Gaza Strip after the war. During a visit to southern Israel, Netanyahu said, according to media reports, that he would have a conversation with Galant soon.
Galant had already said that a political alternative should be created to the rule of Islamic Hamas in the Gaza Strip, against which Israel has taken military measures since October. Asked if this meant bringing the Palestinian Authority from the West Bank to Gaza, Netanyahu said: “I am clearly against the exchange of Hamastan for Fatahstan.”
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah movement is the leading party in the West Bank. He was defeated by Hamas in the 2006 parliamentary elections and, a year later, Hamas violently took exclusive control of the Gaza Strip. Since then, there have been de facto two separate Palestinian governments – one in Gaza and one in the West Bank.
US House of Representatives votes to send ammunition to Israel
Meanwhile, the US House of Representatives voted in favor of a bill that would force President Joe Biden to stop arms sales to Israel. The text was approved with 208 votes from Republicans and 16 votes from Biden’s Democrats, but will likely fail in the Senate, where the president’s party has an advantage.
Biden had already said he would veto the project if it passed in Congress. The text calls on his administration to quickly carry out all arms transfers to Israel already approved by Congress.
The US government is currently holding back a shipment of ammunition due to Israel’s actions in Rafah. She has repeatedly made clear that she rejects a major Israeli army offensive on the city, which is overcrowded with internally displaced people from other parts of the Gaza Strip. Biden threatened Israel last week that a major ground offensive could have consequences for US arms supplies.
© dpa-infocom, dpa:240517-99-63703/2 (dpa)