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

Late last month, The New York Times published a lengthy investigative report detailing a pattern of sexual assault and rape allegedly committed by Palestinian fighters after they launched an attack on southern Israel on 7 October.

The New York Times story centres around the case of one woman, Gal Abdush, who the newspaper identified as "the woman in the black dress", and said she was the individual in a video that showed evidence of a woman who had been raped.

However, following the report's publication, Mondoweiss reported that members of Abdush's family contradicted the claims, saying it was not yet known whether she was raped or not. Some family members denied she was raped altogether, and said that the reporters working on the story manipulated them.

A report published in Hebrew by Haaretz stated that police are having difficulties locating the victims of sexual assault or witnesses to such acts which allegedly occurred during the attacks on Israel by Hamas and other armed Palestinian groups.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant outlined new plans for the next stage of the war on Gaza, saying it will include a more targeted approach in the northern part of the besieged enclave while continuing the pursuit of Hamas leadership in the south.

"In the northern region of the Gaza strip, we will transition to a new combat approach in accordance with military achievements on the ground," Gallant's office said in a statement, as reported by Reuters.

The operations would include military raids, demolishing tunnels, and air and ground strikes. The reported statement did not elaborate on how this would differ from the current approach, which also includes these types of operations.

In southern Gaza, where most of Gaza's 2.3 million population has been forcibly displaced to, Israel would continue to try to eliminate Hamas leaders.

"It will continue for as long as is deemed necessary," the statement said, referring to the war.

Law for Palestine, a UK-based legal advocacy group, has published a list of more than 500 instances in which it says Israeli officials have stated genocidal intent towards Palestinians since the war in Gaza began in October.

The instances compiled come from social media posts, television interviews, and official statements, and the organisation said it will continue to expand upon the list. Law for Palestine broke the list into three categories of officials: decision-makers, army personnel and officers, and legislators.

The publishing of this list comes as South Africa made a submission to the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza - a charge Israel has denied.

You can check out the list here.

For nearly three months, US officials have worked privately and publicly to prevent an expansion of the Gaza war into Lebanon.

Tuesday’s assassination of senior Hamas official Saleh al-Arouri in Dahiyeh, a southern suburb of Beirut controlled by Hezbollah, heaps pressure on the Biden administration’s efforts to prevent the war from spilling over into Israel's Mediterranean neighbour. 

“There are clear rules of engagement between Hezbollah and Israel,” Mohanad Hage Ali, a fellow at the Carnegie Center in Beirut, told MEE.

“[Israel] targeting Dahiyeh warrants the targeting of Haifa or Tel Aviv by Hezbollah,” Hage Ali said.

To read the full story, click below.

Hamas leader's killing in Beirut complicates US efforts to prevent Gaza war spillover

Israeli military forces raided the headquarters of the Hebron University association on Thursday evening after storming the Ain Sarah area of the West Bank city.

The Palestinian news agency Wafa reported that the raid took place amid a commemoration event for Saleh al-Arouri, the senior Hamas official who was killed in an Israeli drone strike in Beirut this week. Israeli forces fired live bullets and tear gas bombs at Palestinians, according to Wafa.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken will depart on Thursday for a weeklong trip that includes stops in Israel and the West Bank, in addition to Turkey; Greece; Jordan; Qatar; the United Arab Emirates; Saudi Arabia; and Egypt over the next week.

The visit comes amid heightened concerns that the war in Gaza, now reaching the three-month mark, is spreading beyond Gaza after an Israeli drone strike killed a top Hamas official in Beirut and US forces killed 10 Houthi fighters as the Yemen-based group continues attacks on Red Sea shipping lanes against Israeli-linked vessels.

It also comes after the US put out a strongly-worded statement against Israel's national security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, who advocated for the forced displacement of Palestinians in Gaza to another country.

In a briefing made on condition of anonymity to media including Middle East Eye, Turkish intelligence officials have laid out how Israeli officers conduct recruitment efforts inside Turkey and also have explained how the individuals they hire operate. 

Turkish intelligence officials say Israeli intelligence usually posts job announcements online with few or no details, or posts links on social media platforms and chat groups to pick suitable individuals to contact them.

The Israeli officers don’t contact these individuals in person, but only communicate with them in writing and only through messaging apps like Telegram and WhatsApp.

They pay the recruits through intermediaries or messengers who are also recruited through the internet with social media employment posts.

Read the full story from our Turkey Bureau Chief Ragip Soylu by clicking below.

How does Israeli intelligence recruit operatives in Turkey?

A Houthi drone boat armed with explosives detonated in the Red Sea on Thursday, a US Navy commander said.

Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, who leads the US naval forces in the Middle East, told reporters that the boat did not cause any damage or casualties to US personnel, according to Reuters.

"It came within a couple of miles of ships operating in the area - merchant ships and US Navy ships - and we all watched as it exploded," he said.

An Israeli air strike on Thursday killed five Palestinians in Gaza’s al-Nuseirat refugee camp, according to health officials who spoke to Reuters.

The air strike hit a car in the area, located in the central Gaza Strip.
 

CCTV footage from 1 January shows the moment Palestinians were killed in a drone strike in Gaza after being ordered by the Israeli army to move to a designated 'safe' area.

When the first man was killed by the Israeli strike, another two attempted to save him, but they were struck and killed as well.

The senior Hamas official who was killed earlier this week by Israeli forces in Lebanon’s capital has been buried after a funeral procession took place earlier on Thursday.

Saleh al-Arouri was laid to rest at the Martyrs Cemetery outside the Shatila refugee camp in Beirut.

Hundreds of people have been going to the site to pay their respects. 
 

Qatar and Kuwait have joined a number of countries in the condemnation of two Israeli ministers’ comments, calling for Palestinians to be displaced and emigrate out of Gaza.

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir on Monday called for promoting “a solution to encourage the emigration of Gaza’s residents” and the re-establishment of Israeli settlements in the Gaza Strip, a day after far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich made similar comments.

Qatar said they “condemned in the strongest terms” the comments made by the two ministers.

“The policy of collective punishment and forced displacement practised by the occupation authorities against the inhabitants of Gaza will not change the fact that Gaza is Palestinian land and will remain Palestinian,” reads a statement published by Qatar’s foreign ministry.

Kuwait warned against “Israeli plans to displace Gaza residents in particular, and the Palestinian people in general.”

The United States, France and the European Union also denounced the comments made by the ministers.

British Foreign Secretary David Cameron said on Thursday that if attacks continue in Red Sea shipping lanes, international action will be taken, according to Reuters.

When asked, Cameron declined to specify what action Britain would take.

"This is illegal. It's not to do with Gaza, it's not to do with Israel. This is about the freedom of navigation. This is about the ability of ships to carry their cargo," he told reporters during a trip to Kosovo.

"The world economy, every economy, will suffer if ships keep coming under attack in this illegal and unacceptable way. And these attacks need to stop or actions will be taken."
 

In a meeting with the top adviser to US President Joe Biden, Israel’s defence minister said that the time span for a diplomatic resolution with Hezbollah is "limited".

According to Israeli media, Amos Hochstein, Biden's top adviser, met with Yoav Gallant in Israel, where they discussed diplomatic efforts to avert war between Israel and Lebanon.