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The International Court of Justice (ICJ) will release a preliminary decision Friday after South Africa charged the Israeli government with genocide against Palestinians.
Nearly four months after Hamas militants launched a surprise attack on Israeli communities, killing nearly 1,200 and taking over 200 hostage, Israel Defense Forces killed over 25,000 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
Despite U.S. officials claiming Israel would move into a lower intensity phase in its war against Hamas, the IDF has instead intensified its assault of the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis. Nearly all of the Gaza Strip’s 2.2 million residents have been displaced.
In an interview with the Black Wall Street Times Wednesday, White House National Security Council Coordinator John Kirby declined to say whether the U.S. government would support the ICJ’s decision on Israel. The ICJ is expected to respond to South Africa’s request for an immediate halt of Israel’s military assault.
“I don’t wanna get ahead of process here and where things are going with the ICJ. We’ll let that process play out,” Kirby told the Black Wall St. Times. In a previous interview, Kirby rejected South Africa’s genocide claims as “meritless,” a point he reiterated Wednesday.
“We’ve seen no indication that the Israeli Defense Forces is trying to commit genocide on the people of Gaza,” Kirby said.
On Thursday, according to UN reports published by Al Jazeera, IDF “encircled” two hospitals in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, with thousands of “terrified staff, patients and displaced people trapped inside”.
In northern Gaza, Israeli tanks fired shells at Palestinians who lined up to receive humanitarian aid, killing 20 and wounding 150.
Death toll by the numbers:
The vast majority of United Nations member countries have repeatedly called for a ceasefire in the latest war between Israel and Hamas, which has led to unprecedented death and destruction.
“Nothing can justify the collective punishment of the Palestinian people. The humanitarian situation in Gaza is beyond words. Nowhere and no one is safe,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres told reporters in New York on Jan. 15.
Between October 7, 2023 and January 24, 2023:
- At least 25,700 Palestinians killed, 10,000 of them children, and 8,000 remain missing.
- 63,740 Palestinians have been injured, 8,663 of them children.
- At least 1,139 Israelis have been killed, with at least 8,730 injured.
- Over 100 Israeli/foreign national hostages remain in Gaza.
- At least 83 journalists have been killed in Gaza, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists.
- 45 percent of residential buildings in Gaza have been destroyed, with over 1 million homeless, according to a study from the World Bank.
Proving a nation is committing genocide requires proving intent to commit to genocide, a high bar to cross. Yet some statements from Israeli officials have raised alarms.
In November, comments from Israel’s Heritage Minister Amihai Eliyahu suggesting dropping a nuclear bomb on Gaza drew widespread outrage from leaders around the world, the Associated Press reported. He reiterated those calls this week.
Cracks in U.S. influence of Israeli government ahead of ICJ decision
Meanwhile, President Biden and top level U.S. officials have repeatedly tried to publicly and privately influence the Israeli government to limit its attacks on civilians and civilian infratructure.
“There are too many civilian deaths, too many children being orphaned,” NSC Coordinator Kirby told the Black Wall St. Times Wednesday. “We don’t wanna see a single more innocent life taken in Gaza, and we continue to work closely with our Israeli counterparts at trying to help them be better at being more discriminate, more cautions, more careful, reduce that number of civilian casualties.”
On Saturday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the idea of a two-state solution in a public rebuke of the Biden Administration’s diplomatic efforts.
“I will not compromise on full Israeli security control over all the territory west of Jordan – and this is contrary to a Palestinian state,” Netanyahu stated.
Biden responded by telling reporters he still believes a two-state is possible in some form, suggesting a Palestinian state without military capabilities.
Kirby said the U.S. Middle East Coordinator is currently in Qatar working to secure a deal in which Saudi Arabia would normalize ties with Israel in exchange for some form of Palestinian independence.
“That would be a major muscle movement in the region and in so doing, there would have to be some accommodations for the Palestinian people that can at least help serve as a milestone and a good step forward to trying to get to a two-state solution,” Kirby said.
Houthis continue to disrupt shipping despite U.S./UK strikes
Meanwhile, Houthi rebels in Yemen have taken center stage in the media with a months-long campaign of disrupting shipping in the Red Sea.
The group, which rose to power amid a deadly years-long civil war against the Saudi and U.S.-backed government, has said the attacks on shipping vessels were meant to draw attention to Israel’s actions in Gaza.
The U.S. has repeatedly claimed its working to ensure the Israel-Gaza conflict doesn’t spread to a wider regional conflict.
However, in response to Houthis’ relentless missile and drone strikes at merchant and military ships, the U.S. and UK have responded with several rounds of strikes against Houthi military targets.
“The goal is to degrade their military capabilities. With each strike we take in Yemen, it’s designed to reduce their ability to continue to launch their attacks,” Kirby said.
The tactic doesn’t appear to be working. Houthis continue their terrorizing of the Red Sea, drawing in even more nations into the Middle East conflict.
“In response to continued illegal and reckless Houthi attacks against vessels transiting the Red Sea and surrounding waterways, the armed forces of the United States and United Kingdom, with support from Australia, Bahrain, Canada, the Netherlands, and New Zealand, conducted additional strikes against eight targets in Houthi-controlled areas of Yemen,” a joint statement issued by the British prime minister’s office said Tuesday, the Times of Israel reported.
In total, at least 24 nations are now involved. Meanwhile, Houthi leaders vow to continue their efforts to force the world to pay attention to the plight of Palestinians.
“This isn’t about helping the people of Gaza. This is a reckless decision by the leader of the Houthis,” Kirby said.
ICJ decision expected Friday
As the ICJ prepares to release its decision on whether to demand an immediate halt of Israel’s military, it remains unclear how any ruling will be enforced. Israel has rejected the legitimacy of the accusations from South Africa, calling the former Apartheid country the “legal arm of Hamas.“
Meanwhile, U.S. officials refuse to say whether they’ll abide by the court’s ruling. If the ICJ orders Israel to halt its actions, the U.S. would be pressured to stop supplying the IDF with weapons.
As videos and images of dead or dying Palestinian men, women, children and the elderly continue to flood social media, calls for a ceasefire continue to be drowned out by the shockwave of bombs dropping on Gaza.
Decades after, Palestinians were first displaced and forced to live under Israeli occupation, the world remains fixed on the ongoing conflict.
“What we do want to try to get is another humanitarian pauses or pauses in place so the fighting can stop temporarily in a localized way, and we can get the hostages back with their families where they belong, and we can get more humanitarian assistance, food , water, medicine fuel into gaza for the american people,” Kirby said. “So, we are in favor of pauses, but pauses with a purpose.”
The ICJ will release its preliminary decision as early as 7 a.m. Eastern time on Friday.
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