UN members seek ICJ opinion on Israel aid obligations to Palestinians - as it happened

Ahram Online , Thursday 19 Dec 2024

As Israeli aggression in Gaza, Lebanon, and Post-Assad Syria deepens human suffering and regional instability, and amid growing international calls for ceasefires and de-escalation, Ahram Online covered the latest developments in the Middle East as they unfolde on Thursday, 19 December.

Gaza
People carry the shouded bodies of children killed during an Israeli strike, at Al-Ahli Arab hospital, also known as the Baptist hospital, in Gaza City . AFP

 

23:15 The United Nations General Assembly has adopted a resolution requesting the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to issue an advisory opinion on Israel’s humanitarian responsibilities in Gaza.

Introduced by Norway, the resolution passed with 137 votes in favour. Israel, the United States, and 10 other countries opposed the measure, while 22 nations abstained.

The resolution seeks to have the ICJ examine Israel's obligations as the occupying power in Palestinian territories, focusing on the facilitation of humanitarian aid. This includes ensuring the delivery of essential relief materials, development assistance, and critical services and supporting Palestinians' right to self-determination.

It also underscores the role of foreign nations and UN agencies, including the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), in providing aid to the Palestinian people.

The measure follows Israel's announcement to suspend UNRWA operations starting in late January 2025 and other challenges faced by UN agencies in delivering humanitarian assistance in Gaza over the past year.

The resolution expressed "grave concern over the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the occupied Palestinian territories." It urged Israel to meet its obligations while refraining from imposing additional barriers that impede Palestinians' right to self-determination.

22:40 Six Palestinians were killed and several others injured Thursday evening in Israeli airstrikes targeting Gaza City and Rafah, located in the northern and southern Gaza Strip, respectively.

According to WAFA news agency correspondents, three people lost their lives when Israeli warplanes struck a vehicle in the Al-Jenena neighbourhood east of Rafah.

In a separate incident, another three individuals were killed and several others injured after an airstrike hit a house near the Sultan Bakery in the Al-Sabra neighbourhood, south of Gaza City.

Search and rescue teams continue efforts to locate missing individuals believed to be trapped under the rubble from the attacks.

22:10 Joe Biden is sending top diplomats to Damascus to meet Abu Mohammed al-Jolani, the leader of the Islamist rebels who toppled Syria’s president Bashar al-Assad but are designated a terrorist group by the US.

Barbara Leaf, the State Department’s senior Middle East official, will lead the delegation in the coming days, people familiar with the matter told the Financial Times.

 

 

22:00 The US State Department's top diplomat for the Middle East, Barbara Leaf, will travel to Damascus in the coming days, two US officials tell Axios.

This will be the first visit by a State Department official to Syria in many years. The visit is part of a resumption of US diplomatic engagement with the transitional government in Syria after the toppling of the Assad regime.

21:00 Yemen's Houthi rebels said Israeli air strikes on Thursday killed nine people after the group fired a missile toward Israel, badly damaging a school.

Israel has previously hit back against targets in Yemen, but Thursday's were the first against the rebel-held capital Sanaa.

"The Israeli enemy targeted ports in Hodeida and power stations in Sanaa, and the Israeli aggression resulted in the martyrdom of nine civilian martyrs," rebel leader Abdul Malik al-Huthi said in a lengthy speech broadcast by the rebels' Al-Masira TV.

Al-Masira had earlier reported the raids that "targeted two central power plants" in and around Sanaa, while in Hodeida, it said "the enemy launched four aggressive raids targeting the port... and two raids targeting" an oil facility.

 

 

20:00 Israeli officials have told Axios that negotiations in Doha over the situation in Gaza have shown progress. However, significant gaps and contentious issues continue to hinder a comprehensive agreement.

19:00 Medical sources told Al Jazeera that 56 people have been killed in Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip since dawn on Thursday. Of those, 43 fatalities were reported in the northern part of the enclave.

18:00 Exclusive footage obtained by Al Jazeera reveals Israeli vehicles bulldozing homes and schools operated by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) in Jabalia, a densely populated area in the northern Gaza Strip.

The video also captures Israeli drones dropping incendiary devices on residential buildings within the besieged refugee camp, where thousands remain trapped amid the ongoing conflict.

The destruction in Jabalia underscores the intensifying violence in Gaza, raising concerns over civilian safety and the targeting of critical humanitarian infrastructure.

 

 

17:05 Hundreds of Syrians protested Thursday in central Damascus, calling for democracy and women's rights, more than a week after the rebel alliance ousted president Bashar al-Assad, AFP correspondents said.

"We want a democracy, not a religious state," men and women demonstrators chanted in central Damascus's Ummayad Square, as well as "Free, civil Syria" and "the Syrian people are one." At the same time, some protesters held signs including "No free nation without free women."

 


Syrian attend a gathering to call for democracy and women's rights in Damascus' Umayyad Square. AFP 

 

16:50 UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said that there was a "flame of hope" in Syria following the fall of President Bashar al-Assad's regime but warned of significant challenges ahead.

He also underlined that Israel's widespread strikes on Syrian military infrastructure were "violations" of the country's sovereignty and called for them to cease.

"The Middle East is being consumed by many fires, but today, there is a flame of hope in Syria, and that flame must not be extinguished," he said.

Following the fall of Assad's government, Israel unleashed air strikes on military sites, including the country's air force, navy and weapons stockpiles.

"Extensive Israeli air strikes continue. These are violations of Syria's sovereignty and territorial integrity, and they must stop," Guterres said ahead of a UN Security Council meeting chaired by US Secretary of State Antony Blinken.

Guterres also raised the prospect of the international community making a first step towards easing sanctions in force on Syria.

"There should be at least a first gesture a first gesture showing solidarity with the Syrian people until conditions are met for all sanctions to be removed," he said.

15:49 Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Houthi group "will pay a heavy price" after Israel launched strikes in Yemen.

Netanyahu said in a statement: after Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Bashar Al-Assad regime in Syria, the Houthis are almost the last remaining arm of Iran's axis.

"The Houthis are learning and will learn the hard way that those who strike Israel will pay a very heavy price for it."

15:45 The Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) called on the residents of Ayn Al-Arab in northern Syria to take up arms, stressing that they will fight against Turkey and the Syrian insurgent forces attempting to seize control of the city, Al Jazeera reported.

This comes as a Turkish defence ministry official said that there is no talk of a ceasefire deal between Turkey and the US-backed SDF in northern Syria, contrary to a US announcement, as reported by Reuters.

The US State Department said a ceasefire around Manbij was extended until the end of this week.

"As Turkey, it is out of the question for us to have talks with any terrorist organisation. The American statement must be a slip of the tongue," the Turkish official, speaking anonymously, told reporters.

14:45 Four Palestinians were killed and three others seriously injured in an Israeli airstrike targeting a vehicle in the centre of Tulkarm Refugee Camp in the occupied West Bank, WAFA news agency reported.

Videos and photos showed the vehicle fully engulfed in flames.

The Palestinian Red Crescent reported that three of the bodies that arrived at the hospital were completely burned, and their identities have not yet been confirmed.

The death toll in the West Bank rose to six on Thursday morning following the killings of four people in Tulkarm. Two of the victims were from Balata Refugee Camp, east of Nablus.

The total number of people killed by the Israeli army in the West Bank since October 2023 has risen to 824, including 168 children, with more than 6,500 others injured.

14:41 A new investigation by Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor has revealed a massacre committed by the Israeli military, killing over 15 Palestinians and injuring others, including women, children, and the elderly, in an airstrike targeting a mosque in Gaza City during dawn prayers.

The investigation examined the Israeli attack on Al-Hassan Mosque in the Al-Tuffah neighbourhood of Gaza City on 16 November 2023.

Euro-Med Monitor concluded that no evidence was found of any military targets, such as armed individuals or equipment, inside the mosque or in its vicinity at the time of the strike.

According to the findings, at approximately 4:45am, Israeli aircraft struck the Mosque without prior warning. The strike involved one or two heavy, high-explosive bombs, hitting the mosque as worshippers began their dawn prayers.

The attack completely destroyed the mosque — one of the largest in the area — within seconds, causing it to collapse onto the worshippers inside.

Only remnants of its entrance and the two surrounding minarets remained. All worshippers present were killed, with most of the bodies reduced to fragments.

 

 

14:00 Israel has killed at least 45,129 people in Gaza during more than 14 months of relentless war, the health ministry reported in its most recent toll. The vast majority of the victims are women and children.  

The toll includes 32 deaths in the past 24 hours, according to the ministry, which also reported that 107,338 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began.

13:36 Russian President Vladimir Putin said that the fall of ex-Syrian leader Bashar Al-Assad was not a "defeat" for Russia.  

"You want to present what is happening in Syria as a defeat for Russia," Putin said at his annual end-of-year press conference.  

"I assure you it is not," he said, responding to a question from an American journalist.  

"We came to Syria 10 years ago so that a terrorist enclave would not be created there like in Afghanistan. On the whole, we have achieved our goal," Putin said.  

Putin added that Russia may keep its military outposts, saying that Moscow has offered the new rulers use of the air and naval bases for humanitarian aid deliveries.

"I haven't yet seen President Assad since his arrival in Moscow but I plan to, I will definitely speak with him," he said.

The Russian president also urged Israel to remove its forces from the territory of Syria.

"We hope that Israel will at some point leave the territory of Syria. But now it is bringing in additional troops," Putin said.

13:35 Iraq said it would begin repatriating on Thursday Syrian troops who fled a lightning offensive that precipitated the ouster of President Bashar Al-Assad.

At the time, an Iraqi security source said hundreds of Syrian soldiers who fled the front lines had been allowed through the Al-Qaim border crossing. Some had been wounded, the source said.

"Today, the Iraqi authorities will start returning Syrian soldiers to their country after coordinating with the relevant Syrian authorities in this regard," Interior Ministry spokesman Miqdad Miri said.

On Thursday, Miri said the soldiers would be repatriated through the same crossing.

Speaking to AFP anonymously, a senior Iraqi official said the repatriation would be under "the supervision of international organisations."

Syria's new rulers have put out a call to soldiers and police to lay down their arms and register with the authorities.

13:08 Ankara will push ahead with its military preparations until Kurdish fighters "disarm," a defence ministry source said, adding that Turkey faces an ongoing threat along its border with northern Syria.

The comments came as concerns grew over a possible Turkish assault on the Kurdish-held Syrian border town of Kobane, also known as Ain Al-Arab, some 50 kilometres (30 miles) northeast of Manbij.

Turkey has thousands of troops in northern Syria and also backs a proxy force there which has engaged in ongoing clashes with the SDF, a US-backed Kurdish-led force that Ankara sees as an extension of its domestic nemesis, the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).

Turkey accuses the YPG (the People's Protection Units), which makes up the bulk of the SDF, of being affiliated with the PKK, which both Washington and Ankara consider a "terrorist" group.

Since 2016, Ankara has carried out several major operations against the SDF.

The fighting between Turkish-backed factions and Syrian Kurdish fighters comes more than a week after insurgents toppled Syria's President Bashar Al-Assad.

On Tuesday, Washington said it brokered an extension to a fragile ceasefire in Manbij and sought a broader understanding with Turkey.

However, the defence ministry source insisted Ankara was not talking with the SDF.

11:30 An elderly Palestinian woman succumbed to her injuries from live bullets fired by Israeli occupation forces during the ongoing raid on Balata Refugee Camp, east of Nablus, in the occupied West Bank.

Earlier, sources from the Palestinian Red Crescent reported that two elderly individuals, both aged 65, were injured by live ammunition.

Additional injuries were reported during clashes that erupted with occupation forces in the camp.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces have detained at least 14 Palestinians from the West Bank, including injured people, two children, and former detainees.

The Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Prisoners’ Club reported that the arrests were accompanied by assaults and threats against the detainees and their families, as well as extensive vandalism and destruction of citizens’ homes.

The forces also conducted field interrogations with dozens of residents in the town of Beit Awwa, west of Hebron.

10:48 A new report from Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF - Doctors Without Borders) details growing evidence of Israel's ethnic cleansing in northern Gaza, where Palestinians are being forcibly displaced, trapped, and subjected to relentless bombing.

The report, Gaza: Life in a Death Trap, outlines the devastating effects of repeated Israeli occupation army attacks on civilians and the systematic denial of humanitarian aid, which are eradicating the conditions necessary for survival.

The healthcare system in Gaza is in ruins, with medical staff, including MSF personnel, either detained or killed, according to the organization.

MSF reports witnessing Israel’s indiscriminate attacks on civilians, denial of lifesaving medical care, and the obstruction of aid delivery for the past 14 months.

“People in Gaza are struggling to survive apocalyptic conditions, but nowhere is safe, no one is spared, and there is no exit from this shattered enclave,” says Christopher Lockyear, MSF secretary general, who visited Gaza earlier this year.

“The recent military offensive in the north is a stark illustration of the brutal war the Israeli forces are waging on Gaza, and we are seeing clear signs of ethnic cleansing as Palestinians are forcibly displaced, trapped, and bombed,” says Lockyear.

“What our medical teams have witnessed on the ground throughout this conflict is consistent with the descriptions provided by an increasing number of legal experts and organisations concluding that genocide is taking place in Gaza.”

 

 

10:37 In a disturbing and revealing report on the brutality and lawlessness of Israeli crimes in Gaza, Israeli Haaretz newspaper published a chilling account citing Israeli military leaders, describing a practice of shooting Palestinians for sport.

The report exposes the cold-blooded execution of unarmed civilians, including a 16-year-old boy shot as a "terrorist," a woman, and a child carrying a white flag, along with the disturbing practice of leaving bodies in the open to be devoured by dogs.

"Forces in the field call it 'the line of dead bodies,'" Israeli soldiers who served in Gaza told Haaretz.

According to their testimony, anyone who crosses an "imaginary line" in the Netzarim Corridor is shot dead, with every Palestinian casualty counted as a terrorist.

The commander of the 252nd Division in the Israeli army classified the Netzarim route and its surroundings as a "killing zone." The Israeli army executes civilians near it and then falsely claims they were resistance fighters. "No exceptions, no civilians, everyone’s a terrorist," one soldier described the mentality among the troops.

"Bodies are not collected, attracting packs of dogs who come to eat them… People know that wherever you see these dogs, that's where you must not go."

The report also reveals a horrifying competition among Israeli military units in Gaza to kill the highest number of Palestinians. “If Division 99 kills 150 [people], the next unit aims for 200.”

The investigation further uncovered a disturbing "flash procedure," allowing commanders to bypass military protocols and order airstrikes without proper authorization.

 

People walk on rubble at the damaged UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in western Gaza City, bombed by Israeli occupation forces. AFP

 

10:20 The United States has once again defended Israeli attacks, this time justifying hundreds of Israeli airstrikes on Syria that have destroyed almost all military sites, facilities, munitions, air defences, and naval fleets in the country, along with its ongoing occupation of new territories in Syria. 

Washington claims Israel has the "right to defend itself" against potential threats due to the power vacuum in the region.

Vedant Patel, deputy spokesperson for the US State Department, claimed in a press conference that "Israel took these military steps temporarily to secure its borders in light of the power vacuum in the region following the fall of Bashar al-Assad's regime."

Meanwhile, Israeli Energy Minister Eli Cohen said: There will be no stability in the Middle East until Israel overthrows the rule in Tehran.

10:10 A ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas is “not imminent,” diplomats familiar with the negotiations told the Israeli daily Jerusalem Post.

The diplomats added that several hurdles remain and cautioned against believing recent optimistic reports of a negotiation breakthrough.

One issue that remains unsolved is that Hamas has yet to formulate a list of the Israelis that it is willing to release and a list of Palestinian detainees it wants to be released from Israeli prisons, a source claimed.

Sources close to the mediation efforts said Hamas had pushed for a one-package deal, but Israel wanted a phased one, Reuters said. 

09:51 Human Rights Watch (HRW) accused Israel of committing the “crime against humanity of extermination and acts of genocide” in the Gaza Strip by damaging water infrastructure and cutting off supplies to civilians. 

In the 179-page new report, “Extermination and Acts of Genocide: Israel Deliberately Depriving Palestinians in Gaza of Water,” Human Rights Watch found that Israeli authorities have "intentionally" deprived Palestinians in Gaza of access to safe water for drinking and sanitation needed for basic human survival. 

"Israeli authorities and forces cut off and later restricted piped water to Gaza; rendered most of Gaza’s water and sanitation infrastructure useless by cutting electricity and restricting fuel; deliberately destroyed and damaged water and sanitation infrastructure and water repair materials; and blocked the entry of critical water supplies," the New York-based rights group said.

"For over a year the Israeli government has deliberately denied Palestinians in Gaza the bare minimum they need to survive,” said Tirana Hassan, executive director at Human Rights Watch. 

“This isn’t just negligence; it is a calculated policy of deprivation that has led to the deaths of thousands from dehydration and disease that is nothing short of the crime against humanity of extermination, and an act of genocide.”

HRW concluded that Israeli authorities have intentionally created conditions of life calculated to bring about the physical destruction of Palestinians in Gaza in whole or in part. 

The organization called on the international community to impose targeted sanctions on Israel in response.

09:46: Hamas strongly condemned the brutal Israeli aggression against Yemen, which targeted civilian and service facilities in the capital, Sanaa, and the port of Hudaydah in the west of the country.

"We consider this escalation to be dangerous and an extension of the aggression against our Palestinian people, Syria, and the Arab region," the Palestinian resistance group said in a statement.

"We express our full solidarity with Yemen and with our brothers in the Ansar Allah movement in the face of the Israeli, American, and British aggression," it added.

09:45 US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called on Syria's HTS insurgents to follow through on promises of inclusion, saying it can learn a lesson from the isolation of Afghanistan's Taliban.

"The Taliban projected a more moderate face, or at least tried to, in taking over Afghanistan, and then its true colors came out. The result is it remains terribly isolated around the world," Blinken said at the Council on Foreign Relations in New York.

"So if you're the emerging group in Syria," Blinken said, "if you don't want that isolation, then there's certain things that you have to do in moving the country forward."

He called for a "non-sectarian" Syrian government that protects minorities and addresses security concerns, including keeping the fight against the Islamic State group and removing lingering chemical weapons stockpiles.

Blinken said HTS could also learn lessons from Al-Assad on reaching a political settlement with other groups.

"Assad's utter refusal to engage in any kind of political process is one of the things that sealed his downfall," Blinken said.

09:39 Several Palestinians were killed and injured today as Israeli occupation forces continued bombing various areas of the Gaza Strip for the 440th consecutive day.

WAFA correspondents reported that three civilians were killed and others injured when a "Quadcopter" drone bombed a gathering in the Al-Zahour neighbourhood, north of Rafah in southern Gaza. 

In the central Gaza Strip, four Palestinians were killed and others wounded after the occupation forces bombed the home of the Darwish family in the Al-Maghazi camp. 

Jabalia camp in northern Gaza has been subjected to relentless Israeli airstrikes, with warplanes targeting residential blocks in the Al-Khulafa area. This is accompanied by ongoing artillery shelling and gunfire. 

The Palestinian death toll from the Israeli onslaught has risen to 45,097, with 107,244 people injured. The majority of victims are women and children. 

09:31 The military spokesperson for the Houthis, General Yahya Saree, said that the group's forces carried out a successful military operation targeting two military sites in Yafa with two supersonic ballistic missiles.

Saree added in a video posted on his account on X that the special operation took place concurrently with the Israeli aggression on Yemen.

He emphasized that the Israeli aggression will not deter Yemen from fulfilling its duty to respond to the Israeli massacres in the Gaza Strip.

 

 

09:02 Iran condemned as a "flagrant violation" Israeli strikes on ports and energy sites in Yemen.

Foreign ministry spokesman Esmaeil Baqaei said the attacks were "a flagrant violation of the principles and norms of international law and the UN Charter."

09:00 A series of intense Israeli airstrikes shook Yemen's rebel-held capital and a port city early Thursday, killing at least nine people, officials said.

The Houthi satellite channel Al-Masirah said that some of the strikes targeted the capital's power stations and the Ras Isa oil terminal on the Red Sea.

The channel, citing its correspondent in the port city of Hodeida, said at least seven people had been killed at the nearby port of Salif, while another two had been killed at the Ras Isa oil terminal.

Others suffered wounds at the Hodeida port as well, it said.

An Israeli military statement offered no specifics on the targets hit or damage assessment.

“The targets struck by the (Israeli military) were used by the Houthi forces for military purposes,” the statement claimed.

An Israeli army spokesman said the strikes hit energy and port infrastructure, which he alleged the rebels “have been using in ways that effectively contributed to their military action.”

The strikes happened just after the Israeli army said its air force intercepted a missile launched from Yemen before it entered the country’s territory.

“Rocket and missile sirens were sounded following the possibility of falling debris from the interception,” the Israeli military said. Sirens sounded near Tel Aviv and the surrounding areas, and a large explosion was heard overhead at the time.

 

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