Here’s how things stand on Friday, January 12, 2024:
Latest updates and human impact
- Thursday was the first day of hearings at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) regarding the South African genocide case against Israel.
- On Friday, Israel will respond at The Hague to the allegations of genocide levelled by South Africa’s lawyers.
- United States officials announced that US and United Kingdom militaries used submarine-launched Tomahawk missiles and fighter jets to bomb at least a dozen sites used by Yemen’s Houthi rebel group on Thursday, in a retaliatory attempt.
- An Israeli air strike on a residential home killed at least nine Palestinian civilians and injured several others in the Shawka neighbourhood, east of the city of Rafah in southern Gaza, Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.
- Local sources say that an Israeli air strike on a vehicle killed at least eight Palestinian civilians on Thursday evening in the Al-Manara neighbourhood of Khan Younis, in southern Gaza, Wafa reported.
- An Israeli bomb has killed at least five people after striking a home in the al-Masha’la neighbourhood west of the city of Deir el-Balah in central Gaza, according to the Shehab news agency.
- After almost 100 days of war in Gaza, at least 10,000 children – or one percent of the total child population on the Strip – have been killed, according to a new Save The Children report.
Diplomacy
- A diplomatic source has told Al Jazeera that Russia has sent a message to United Nations Security Council members saying that it considers the use of force in Yemen to be a violation of the UN Charter.
- Iran’s foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani expressed Iran’s condemnation of US and UK attacks on Houthi sites on Friday.
- “These attacks are a clear violation of Yemen’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, and a breach of international laws,” he said.
- European Union Foreign Affairs High Representative Josep Borrell made an X post on Thursday, criticising statements by Israeli officials calling for the “voluntary displacement” of Palestinians in Gaza.
- Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh addressed a gathering at Nelson Mandela Square, Ramallah on Thursday, applauding South Africa for taking legal action against Israel at the ICJ.
West Bank raids
- Continuing clashes have been reported between Israeli forces and Palestinian groups in the Nur Shams camp east of the city of Tulkarem in the occupied West Bank.
- Intense confrontations were also reported between Israeli forces and Palestinians on Thursday when forces surrounded a house following a military raid on the village of Jaba, located to the south of Jenin, Wafa reported.
- In the Jaba raid, Israeli forces shot and killed a former prisoner, 37-year-old Majdy Fashafsha, after raiding his house on Thursday, Wafa reported.
- Settlers bulldozed a large tract of land belonging to Palestinian residents of Masafer Yatta, located to the south of Hebron on Thursday, Wafa reported.
