Gaza Tension
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Germany takes on ICJ’s ‘plausibility’ test as it continues defence
Germany’s delegation at the ICJ, now represented by legal expert Anne Peters, argues Nicaragua’s case against it fails the “plausibility” test.
For the court to order provisional measures, Peters argues, the court would first have to find that there are plausible violations on the part of Israel — and then that there are plausible violations on the part of Germany.
“Here the court will especially have to find that there are plausible links between the conduct of Germany and the conduct of the absent third-party state, Israel, which Nicaragua has not done,” said Peters.
“This attempt to request provisional measures against one state by reference to the conduct of another state stretches the plausibility assessment to a breaking point. Nicaragua has said surprisingly little on the law and relied almost exclusively on speculation and inferences.”
About 55% of Khan Younis structures destroyed or damaged: Analysts
An estimated 55 percent of the buildings in the Khan Younis area – about 45,000 buildings – have been destroyed or damaged, according to Corey Scher of the City University of New York and Jamon Van Den Hoek of Oregon State University, two mapping experts who used satellite imagery to track destruction.
The scenes in Khan Younis underscored what has been one of the world’s most destructive and lethal military assaults in recent decades, leaving most of the tiny coastal territory unlivable for its 2.3 million people.
It also portended what is likely to happen in Gaza’s southernmost town of Rafah, where half of Gaza’s uprooted population is now crowded, if Israel goes ahead with plans to invade it.
Governments should impose sanctions on Israel to force aid into Gaza: HRW
Human Rights Watch has called for “targeted sanctions” and the suspension of arms transfer to press Israel to ensure access to humanitarian aid and basic services in Gaza.
The rights group said in a statement children in the besieged and bombarded territory have been dying from starvation-related complications since the Israeli government began “using starvation as a weapon of war, a war crime”.
“Governments outraged by the Israeli government starving civilians in Gaza should not be looking for band-aid solutions to this humanitarian crisis,” said Omar Shakir, Israel and Palestine director at HRW.
“Israel’s announcement that it will increase aid shows that outside pressure works. Israel’s allies like the US, UK, France, and Germany need to press for full-throttle aid delivery by immediately suspending their arms transfers.”
As we reported earlier, France’s Foreign Minister Stephane Sejourne also said today that pressure, and possibly sanctions, must be imposed on Israel to open crossings to get humanitarian assistance into Gaza.
Israeli forces attack Syrian army positions overnight
Israeli warplanes targeted military posts and infrastructure of the Syrian army in the Mahaja area overnight.
The military also attacked the Syrian army in the south of the country.
The strikes were in response to a launch detected from Syrian territory towards the Yonatan area in the occupied Golan Heights, the Israeli army said, adding there were no casualties.
Nicaragua to ICJ – End Germany’s support of Israeli ‘genocide’ in Gaza
Germany is facing charges at the top United Nations court for allegedly “facilitating the commission of genocide” against Palestinians in Gaza in coordination with its military and political ally, Israel.
Nicaragua presented its case before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Monday, demanding judges impose emergency measures to stop Berlin from providing Israel with weapons and other assistance.
A German legal team described Nicaragua’s case as “grossly biased” and it will provide its rebuttal to the charges today.
Al-Shifa Hospital ‘completely non-functional’ following siege, reports UN-led mission
The Al-Shifa Hospital has been left “completely non-functional” following a deadly, weeks-long Israeli siege, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) has reported in its latest update on Gaza.
OCHA reported that a WHO-led mission accessed the hospital in northern Gaza on April 5, following heavy fighting between the Israeli military and Palestinian groups at the medical facility between March 18 and April 1.
It concluded that “substantial efforts” were needed to clear unexploded ordnance in Al-Shifa and to “assess the potential for making the facility safe and accessible” again. It added that northern Gaza has been left without any CT scanning capabilities, significantly reduced laboratory capacity and with only one source for medical oxygen production following the hospital’s destruction.
Several Palestinians killed in overnight Israeli bombardment across Gaza: Wafa
Several Palestinians have been killed as Israeli bombardment of Gaza continued across the Gaza Strip overnight, Wafa reports.
In the most recent attack, one person was killed and 20 others were injured in an Israeli air strike on a house in the city of Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, Wafa said.
Wafa also reported that five people were killed in an Israeli bombing on a building in the Maghazi camp, in central Gaza.
Earlier, the government’s media office in Gaza said the mayor of Maghazi, and others, had been killed in an attack on a council building.
One person was killed and others injured in an Israeli bombing that hit committees working to secure aid southeast of Gaza City, a Wafa correspondent also reported.
‘Where is my home?’: Shocked Palestinians returned to destroyed Khan Younis
Residents of Khan Younis who spoke to the AP news agency described shock as they returned to find rubble where their homes once stood.
“I couldn’t find my home because of all the destruction,” said Magdy Abu Sahrour. “Where is my place, where is my home?”
A woman who identified herself only by her first name Hanan said, “There are no words to describe the pain inside me.”
“Our memories, our dreams, our childhood here, our family … It’s all gone,” she said, her voice breaking.
Hanan put a few items she found into a backpack, including a plastic red flower.
Israeli ground forces withdrew from Khan Younis after months of fighting, with the Israeli army saying it is now preparing to invade neighbouring Rafah.
Israeli PM promises to carry out Rafah ground offensive
Netanyahu has declared “there is a date” for Israel’s assault on Rafah where more than 1 million displaced Palestinians are sheltering.
Netanyahu has repeatedly said that Israel must send ground forces into the city in southern Gaza, describing it as Hamas’s last stronghold.
But the international community, including the US, opposes the operation, saying the roughly 1.4 million civilians seeking shelter there would be in danger.
Australia commits $1.3m to UN Gaza aid coordinator
Australian Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong has said that Canberra has committed 2 million Australian dollars ($1.3m) to the work of the UN Special Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza, Sigrid Kaag.
Wong said the funds would help “facilitate safe, unimpeded and expanded humanitarian access” in the besieged enclave.
“Israel must do more to ensure aid gets into Gaza, including immediate action to protect and support humanitarian actors,” Wong wrote in a post on X.
Wong also said she spoke with Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi about increased humanitarian aid entering Gaza, including parachute air drops, and Egyptian Foreign Minister Sameh Shoukry about the country’s efforts to broker a ceasefire.
Cameron to push for investigation into aid worker deaths in Blinken meeting
UK Foreign Secretary David Cameron will “push for a full, urgent, and transparent investigation” into the deaths of seven aid workers, including three UK citizens, in a meeting with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Washington, DC, on Tuesday.
“[Cameron] will underline that the deaths of World Central Kitchen humanitarian workers are completely unacceptable and that major changes need to be made to ensure the safety of aid workers on the ground,” the UK’s Foreign Office said in a statement.
Workers from the relief group were killed last week in central Gaza in a “targeted attack” by Israeli forces, which has drawn global condemnation.
The statement said that Cameron would also discuss with Blinken the “path to a sustainable ceasefire” as well as the delivery of greater quantities of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
Mayor of Maghazi among several killed in Israeli bombardment: Government
Israeli warplanes have bombed a council building in central Gaza’s Maghazi camp, killing several people, including the mayor of the Maghazi municipality, the government’s media ofice in Gaza has said.
Hatem Al-Ghamri was dedicated to his work and served the people of Maghazi “until his last moments”, the media office said in a post on Telegram.
Gaza truce talks still deadlocked, Netanyahu sets date for offensive
CAIRO (Reuters) – Hamas rejected an Israeli ceasefire proposal made at talks in Cairo, a senior Hamas official said on Monday, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said a date was set for an invasion of Rafah, Gaza's last refuge for displaced Palestinians.
Israel and Hamas sent teams to Egypt on Sunday for talks that included Qatari and Egyptian mediators as well as CIA Director William Burns.
White House presses Israel to allow more aid trucks into Gaza
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The White House welcomed on Monday (Apr 8) the arrival on Sunday of more than 300 aid trucks in Gaza, but said it was pressing Israel to increase that number to around 350 a day, as talks continued on a hostage-ceasefire deal.
White House spokesperson John Kirby said CIA Director William Burns was in Cairo over the weekend for a serious round of negotiations on securing the release of hostages being held in Gaza by the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
Israel, Hamas dampen hopes for speedy Gaza truce deal
GAZA STRIP (AFP) - Israel and Hamas both dampened hopes on Monday (Apr 8) of a speedy breakthrough in Cairo talks towards a Gaza truce and hostage release deal after Egyptian state-linked media had reported "significant progress".
As the Gaza war raged on into a seventh month, Israel is under growing international pressure to agree to a ceasefire, including from its top ally and arms supplier the United States.
