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Ireland files declaration it will join International Court of Justice genocide case against Israel

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https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250107-ireland-files-declaration-it-will-join-international-court-of-justice-genocide-case-against-israel

A view of International Court of Justice (ICJ) on August 07, 2024 [Dursun Aydemir/Anadolu Agency]

Ireland has submitted a declaration to join South Africa’s genocide case against Israel, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) said Tuesday, Anadolu Agency reports.

“Ireland, invoking Article 63 of the Statute of the Court, filed in the Registry of the Court a declaration of intervention in the case concerning Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip,” or South Africa versus Israel, the Court said in a statement.

Irish Foreign Minister, Micheal Martin, announced last month that they would join the case after they secured government approval for the move under the Genocide Convention.

Under Article 63, any state party to a convention that is under judicial consideration has the right to intervene, making the ICJ’s interpretation of that convention binding on them as well.

In December 2023, South Africa filed an application instituting proceedings against Israel, claiming violations of the Genocide Convention in relation to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Several countries have since joined the case, including Nicaragua, Colombia, Libya, Mexico, Palestine, Spain and Turkiye.

Israel has continued its brutal offensive on Gaza since a Hamas attack in October 2023 despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire.

Nearly 46,000 people, mostly women and children, have since been killed and over 105,000 injured, according to local health authorities.

The Israeli onslaught has displaced almost the entire population of the Territory amid an ongoing blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, clean water and medicine.

READ: Hamas stands by demand for end to Gaza war under hostage deal, as Trump deadline approaches

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UN World Food Program Denounces Israeli Attack on ‘Clearly Marked’ Convoy in Gaza

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Original article by Jake Johnson republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

Humanitarian aid trucks belonging to the World Food Program arrive in Gaza on September 26, 2024.  (Photo: Hasan Zaain/Anadolu via Getty Images)

“This unacceptable event is just the latest example of the complex and dangerous working environment that WFP and other agencies are operating in today,” said the United Nations agency.

The United Nations World Food Program said Monday that Israeli forces opened fire on one of the organization’s aid convoys at a checkpoint in central Gaza over the weekend, an attack that the organization condemned as “horrifying.”

“This unacceptable event is just the latest example of the complex and dangerous working environment that WFP and other agencies are operating in today,” the organization said in a statement, noting that the convoy was “clearly marked” and that it had “received all of the necessary clearances from Israeli authorities” prior to Sunday’s attack.

“Security conditions in Gaza must urgently improve for lifesaving humanitarian assistance to continue,” WFP said, urging “all parties to respect international humanitarian law, protect civilian lives, and allow safe passage for humanitarian aid.”

At least 16 bullets struck the WFP convoy on Sunday, but none of the eight staffers traveling in the three vehicles that came under Israeli attack on Sunday were killed or wounded, WFP said.

It was nonetheless a “terrifying encounter” that underscored the dangers facing aid workers attempting to deliver food and other necessities to starving and desperate people across the Gaza Strip.

Last year was the deadliest on record for aid workers around the world, according to the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, with Israeli attacks in Gaza fueling a surge in killings.

Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), said in an October speech to the U.N. Security Council that Gaza is “the most dangerous place in the world for aid workers.”

Sunday wasn’t the first time Israeli forces have fired on a WFP convoy in Gaza during their 15-month assault on the Palestinian enclave. Last August, the WFP was forced to temporarily halt employee movements in Gaza after Israeli soldiers fired on one of the U.N. agency’s vehicles.

Stéphane Dujarric, spokesman for U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres, said Monday that WFP is “trying to get the answers” from Israeli forces on why they once again fired on an aid convoy, an attack that came as a new round of cease-fire talks began in Doha, brokered by Qatar and Egypt.

“I don’t think there’s an explanation for shooting at a clearly marked convoy from the World Food Program, whose movements had been completely coordinated with the Israeli security forces,” said Dujarric.

Original article by Jake Johnson republished from Common Dreams under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). 

Continue ReadingUN World Food Program Denounces Israeli Attack on ‘Clearly Marked’ Convoy in Gaza

World Food Programme condemns Israel attack on its Gaza convoy

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https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250106-world-food-programme-condemns-israel-attack-on-its-gaza-convoy

Humanitarian aid trucks belonging to the World Food Programme (WFP) arrive in the Gaza via Erez border crossing as the Israeli attacks continue in Gaza City, Gaza on September 26, 2024 [Hasan Zaain – Anadolu Agency]

The UN World Food Programme said, on Monday, that Israeli forces had opened fire on one of its convoys in the besieged Palestinian enclave of Gaza in what it called a “horrifying incident”, Reuters reports.

The Agency said the convoy of three vehicles carrying eight staff members from central Gaza to Gaza City in the north was struck by 16 bullets near the Wadi Gaza checkpoint on Sunday, causing no injuries but immobilising the convoy.

The vehicles were clearly marked and had received prior security clearances from Israeli authorities, a WFP statement said.

“The World Food Programme (WFP) strongly condemns the horrifying incident on January 5,” it said.

“This unacceptable event is just the latest example of the complex and dangerous working environment that WFP and other agencies are operating in today,” WFP said, calling for improvements in security conditions to allow aid to continue.

The Israeli military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the incident.

International aid agencies working to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza have frequently accused Israeli forces of hampering or threatening their operations amid Israel’s campaign to wipe out Hamas fighters.

READ: Rights groups condemn Israel’s targeting of Gaza aid distribution centre

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Palestine groups call for escalating ‘resistance operations’ against Israel in Occupied West Bank

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https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/20250106-palestine-groups-call-for-escalating-resistance-operations-against-israel-in-occupied-west-bank

Israeli military vehicles patrol the streets and alleys of the area during the second day of the raid on the Tulkarem Refugee Camp in the West Bank on December 25, 2024 [Issam Rimawi – Anadolu Agency]

Palestinian factions called, Monday, for escalating resistance operations in the Occupied West Bank in retaliation for Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, Anadolu Agency reports.

Three illegal Israeli settlers were killed and six others injured early Monday in a shooting attack near the Kedumim settlement in the northern West Bank.

In a statement, Hamas hailed the attack as

a heroic response to the ongoing crimes and war of extermination committed by the (Israeli) occupation against our people in Gaza, the displacement plans in the West Bank, and the settler aggression on the Al-Aqsa Mosque and holy sites

“This operation is a message to the extremist Israeli government and its ministers that there is a free and rebellious nation that will not abandon its rights and that the resistance will continue until the occupation is removed from all of our lands,” it added.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) called the shooting attack a “powerful message” to the Israeli occupation.

It called for escalating resistance operations in the West Bank “to confuse the occupation’s calculations and weaken its security system.”

The Popular Resistance Committees termed the attack “a natural response” to Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza and the Judaisation and annexation plans in the West Bank.

Tension has been running high across the Occupied West Bank due to Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 45,800 people, mostly women and children, since 7 October, 2023.

At least 835 Palestinians have also been killed and nearly 6,700 others injured by Israeli army fire in the Occupied West Bank, according to Palestinian figures.

In November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and former Defence Minister, Yoav Gallant, for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.

READ: ‘Nablus, Jenin must look like Gaza’s Jabalia,’ says far-right Israel Minister

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Continue ReadingPalestine groups call for escalating ‘resistance operations’ against Israel in Occupied West Bank