Vital medical services have collapsed at Gaza's largest remaining hospital, Doctors without Borders say
The 17-judge panel of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued emergency measures ordering Israel to “take all measures within its power” to prevent acts that could fall foul of the Genocide Convention.
It comes as at least 26,083 people have been killed and 64,000 injured by Israeli attacks in Gaza since the Hamas attacks on Israel on October 7, 2023, the Hamas-run Gaza Ministry of Health said Friday. The ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Here's more about the preliminary ruling and other latest news from the war in Gaza:
What UN's top court ordered: The ICJ made a preliminary rulingwith six emergency measuresin the genocide caseSouth Africa filed against Israel. It said Israel must “ensure with immediate effect that its military does not commit any acts” that could go against the Genocide Convention. The court’s decisions are binding and cannot be appealed, but it has no way of enforcing them.
The reaction from involved parties: Israel, South Africa and Palestinianswelcomed the ruling, even though no one got what they asked for. It rejected Israel’s request for the case to be thrown out, but it also stopped short of ordering Israel to halt the war as South Africa has asked. A number of countries in the Middle East — including Qatar, Jordan, Iran, Saudi Arabia and Egypt — also said they approved of the ruling.
US pauses funding to main UN relief agency in Gaza: The US State Department "has temporarily paused additional funding" to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East amid allegations that some of the UN agency’s employees were involved in the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack on Israel, spokesperson Matt Miller announced Friday. The commissioner general of the agency terminated the contracts of the individuals in question and said they will be investigated.
Meanwhile, in Gaza: Israel's siege on hospitals in the southern Gaza city of Khan Younis continued for the fifth day, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza, aid workers and doctors, as the Israel Defense Forces said that Hamas militants were operating in them. The IDF had issued an evacuation call, but eyewitnesses say that civilians were shot at whenever they tried moving locations. In a video obtained by CNN, Mohammaed El Helo, a journalist in Khan Younis, is seen running while carrying a bleeding man on his shoulders. Israeli forces “don’t distinguish between one and another. They target everybody,” he said.
And in Israel, Netanyahu faces domestic opposition: More than 40 senior former Israeli national security officials, celebrated scientists and prominent business leaders have sent a letter to Israel’s president and speaker of parliament demanding that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu be removed from office for posing what they say is an “existential” threat to the country. They say Netanyahu is responsible for “creating the circumstances” that led to the massacre in Israel on October 7. “The victim’s blood is on Netanyahu’s hands,” the letter reads. It comes as other political figures have also called for fresh elections, saying the public has no trust in its government.
Efforts to release hostages: USPresident Joe Biden has deployed his point person on hostage talks to Europe for multiparty talks on the contours of a possible agreement — the latest in a spate of recent diplomatic efforts to free the more than 100 hostages held in Gaza while brokering a prolonged pause in fighting. CIA Director Bill Burns’ meetings over the coming days with the Israeli and Egyptian intelligence chiefs and the Qatari prime minister are a sign of ongoing progress as the White House presses for a deal. However, officials voiced caution that discussions so far have been volatile, and that hurdles remain in coming to a deal that all sides can agree on.
