Israel-Palestine live: Israel’s response to South Africa’s genocide case at the ICJ ends

Separate Israeli air strikes killed the family members of two Palestinian journalists in Gaza.

Ahmad al-Batta, a reporter for Qatar-based Al Araby, lost his mother and several other members of his family in one attack.

A video of Batta finding out about the attack has been aired by Al Araby.

Separately, Sameer Radi, a reporter for a Palestinian television channel, also lost his wife and two children in an air strike.

A senior Hezbollah commander killed by Israel has been identified as Wissam al-Tawil, also known as “Jawad”, deputy head of a unit in the elite Radwan force.

A security source speaking to Reuters said he and another Hezbollah fighter were killed when their car was hit in a strike on the Lebanese village of Majdal Selm.

"This is a very painful strike," one of the security sources said. Another said, "Things will flare up now."

The commander played “a leading role in managing Hezbollah’s operations in the south,” a security official told AFP news agency

Israeli bombardment has killed more than 130 Hezbollah fighters in southern Lebanon since cross-border shelling began in the aftermath of Hamas's attack on Israeli territory on 7 October. Another 19 have been killed in Syria.

Israel's military continues to releases new footage of its soldiers detaining men from Gaza after stripping them of their clothes and seeking to humiliate them. 

Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant told the Wall Street Journal of the tensions with Hezbollah in Lebanon, "they see what's happening in Gaza, they know we can copy and paste to Beirut."

Speaking about the issues facing Israel, Gallant said, "My basic view: We are fighting an axis, not a single enemy. Iran is building up military power around Israel in order to use it."

Gallant added that there be a shift in the fighting in Gaza from the "intense manoeuvring phase of the war" toward "different types of special operations."

The next stage of the fighting said Gallant will take a long time, and he emphasised that Israel will not abandon its goal of destroying Hamas.

More than 10 children per day, on average, have lost one or both of their legs in Gaza since conflict erupted three months ago, said Save the Children.

Since 7 October, more than 1,000 children have had one or both legs amputated, according to Unicef, with many of these operations on children done without anaesthetic. 

"I’ve seen doctors and nurses completely overwhelmed when children come in with blast wounds. The impact of seeing children in that much pain and not having the equipment, medicines to treat them or alleviate pain is too much for even experienced professionals," said Save the Children’s country director for the occupied Palestinian territory, Jason Lee. 

"Even in a war zone, the sights and sounds of a young child mutilated by bombs cannot be reconciled let alone understood within the bounds of humanity."

Far-right Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said on Sunday night in an interview on Channel 14, "a Jewish settlement should be established in the territory of the Gaza Strip".

According to Smotrich, "Israel must control Gaza for a long time, and it will not control it without a civilian presence, period. Look at why Jenin and Tulkarm have become the capitals of terrorism – because there is no Jewish settlement there, period.

“There needs to be a Jewish presence there for a long time, so that terrorism does not develop there, because if we won't be there, there will be two million Nazis who want to destroy us every morning. We will not exist, period. We will wake up in ten years or 15 years to a new October 7," he added. 

Settlements by an occupying force are illegal under international law.
 

At least 73 Palestinians were killed and 99 wounded in attacks by Israel on Gaza over the past 24 hours, the Palestinian health ministry said on Monday. 

Eight people were killed in an Israeli air strike near Deir el-Balah in central Gaza.

After years of blocking sales of Eurofighter jets to Saudi Arabia, Germany’s Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said on Sunday her country is ready to approve the sales.

Baerbock is on a trip to Israel when she announced the decision to approve the sale of 48 Eurofighter jets signed by Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman in London in 2018 but long blocked by Berlin.

Baerbock noted that Saudi Arabia and Israel had “not renounced their policy of normalisation” since Israel had started bombing Gaza on 7 October. 

“The fact that Saudi Arabia is now intercepting missiles fired by the Houthis at Israel underlines this, and we are grateful for that,” she added.

“The fact that the Saudi air force also uses Eurofighters in this context is an open secret,” the minister continued.

“Saudi Arabia is a key contributor to Israel’s security, even these days, and is helping to stem the risk of a regional conflagration,” she said.

Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri has urged Arab and Islamic countries to break their "official silence" and back the proceeding by South Africa against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

“‎We hope that there will be a remedy, otherwise this official silence will constitute a mandate for the occupation to eradicate what remains of Gaza,” he said in a post on X.

South Africa last month filed a case saying Israel’s actions in Gaza were “genocidal in character because they are intended to bring about the destruction of a substantial part of the Palestinian national, racial and ethnic group”.

So far amongst Muslim countries only Turkey and Malaysia have said they will back South Africa’s case at the ICJ. Jordan has pledged to back it over the weekend, almost 10 days after the initial case was innitiated by South Africa. 

Good morning readers of Middle East Eye,

We are on the 94th day of the war in Gaza and the Palestinian death toll is officially 22,835, with 58,416 wounded and least 7,000 missing who are believed to be dead and buried under rubble.

Overall, around four percent of Gaza's population have been killed, wounded or gone missing in three months of bombardment.

The majority of victims are children and women, according to health officials.

Here are the major developments from the last few hours: 

• The location of hundreds of patients and health workers from Gaza’s Al-Aqsa Hospital is “not currently known”, said WHO director-general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus
• An Israeli air attack has killed eight and injured dozens in Deir el-Balah in central Gaza
• Bolivia has become the latest country to announce it is supporting South Africa’s application to the International Court of Justice, which accuses Israel of crimes of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza
• Majority of Israelis believe Netanyahu has not performed well during war: Poll
   

Good evening, Middle East Eye readers.

Here are the main developments of the day.

At least 113 Palestinians were killed and 250 wounded by Israeli bombardment over the past 24 hours in Gaza, the Palestinian health ministry said on Sunday. 

That brought the death toll in the territory since 7 October to 22,835, it said, adding that 58,416 others had been wounded during that time.

In the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, Israeli forces killed seven Palestinians during an operation, during which an Israeli police officer was killed by Palestinian fighters. 

Confrontations broke out after an Israeli incursion at the city's entrance early on Sunday. The Palestinian health ministry said an Israeli drone strike targeted people who had gathered at the scene. Eyewitnesses told Reuters the attack happened as Israeli forces were withdrawing from the area.

Two journalists have been killed in an Israeli air strike in southern Gaza. Hamza al-Dahdouh of Al Jazeera, the son of Al Jazeera Gaza bureau chief Wael al-Dahdouh, and Mustafa Thuraya, a video freelancer for AFP, died in Khan Younis while travelling in a car, the health ministry and medics confirmed.

"Al Jazeera condemns, in the strongest terms, the ongoing crimes committed by Israeli occupation forces against journalists and media professionals in Gaza," the media network said.

The Committee to Protect Journalists later called for an investigation into the killing of the journalists. 

Elsewhere, three Palestinians, including a four-year-old girl and a woman, were shot dead by Israeli soldiers on Sunday at a checkpoint in the occupied West Bank.

Eyewitnesses said that Israeli security personnel opened fire on two vehicles as they passed through the Beit Iksa checkpoint, north of Jerusalem, wounding a man and a woman in the same vehicle.

A child who was in the other vehicle was also shot and died of her injuries, according to Israeli ambulance staff.

In other major news:

• Jordan's King Abdullah warned US Secretary of State Antony Blinken of the "catastrophic repercussions" of Israel continuing its war on Gaza. The king also told Blinken during a meeting in Amman that Washington had a major role to play in putting pressure on Israel to agree to an immediate ceasefire in the besieged enclave.
   
• Later, at a joint press conference in Doha with Qatari Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani, Blinken said that when he visited Israel this week, he would tell Israeli officials it was imperative they do more to prevent civilian casualties in Gaza and that Palestinian civilians must be allowed to return home and not be pressed to leave Gaza. "This is a moment of profound tension for the region. This is a conflict that could easily metastasize," Blinken told the press conference before heading to Abu Dhabi.
   
• Israel's cabinet will approve a 2024 wartime budget on Thursday, according to far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich. As part of the budget, Israeli ministers approved 9 billion shekels ($2.5bn) in financial support for military reservists.
   
• Beirut airport on Sunday came under a cyberattack, Lebanon's state news agency said, with footage shared by local media showing anti-Hezbollah messages had replaced screen displays at its terminal. Media reports said the airport message urged the powerful Iran-backed group Hezbollah not to "drag the country into war".

We're pausing our coverage for now, but we will be back soon. To stay up to date on the latest news, follow us on Facebook, X, Instagram, TikTok, Telegram and YouTube.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken warned on Sunday the war in Gaza could spread and threaten security in the wider Middle East, on a regional tour aimed at de-escalating the conflict.

"This is a moment of profound tension in the region. This is a conflict that could easily metastasize, causing even more insecurity and even more suffering," Blinken told a news conference in Doha alongside Qatar's Prime Minister Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani.

Blinken warned it was "imperative" Israel put a "premium on protecting civilians", ensuring operations were "designed around protecting civilians… and around getting humanitarian assistance where people need it".

Amid the deepening humanitarian crisis and mass displacement in Gaza, Blinken said civilians "must be able to return home as soon as conditions allow". 

"They cannot, they must not be pressed to leave Gaza," he added, after two Israeli ministers suggested Palestinians should be encouraged to emigrate.

Beirut airport on Sunday came under a cyberattack, Lebanon's state news agency said, with footage shared by local media showing anti-Hezbollah messages had replaced screen displays at its terminal.

Media reports said the airport message urged the powerful Iran-backed group Hezbollah not to "drag the country into war".

Lebanon's National News Agency said: "The cyberattack on the departure and arrival screens at the airport disrupted the BHS baggage inspection system."

It added that authorities were working to restore the screens "and to maintain normal movement at the airport".

Local media circulated images of the message criticising Hezbollah, displayed onscreen alongside the emblem of the Christian "Soldiers of God" group.

Qatar's prime minister said on Sunday that the killing of a Hamas leader by an Israeli drone strike in Beirut last week had affected Doha's ability to mediate between the Palestinian group and Israel.

However, the Gulf state would continue its efforts, Sheikh Mohammed Bin Abdulrahman al-Thani said in a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken in Doha.