ICJ declines new Rafah protections, says Israel must prevent genocide

South Africa is pursuing a case against Israel within the ICJ, alleging it’s committing and failing to stop genocide in Gaza, accusations that Israel denies. A verdict on the query of genocide might take years.

The scenario in Rafah is turning into more and more dire, the U.N. Workplace for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) stated in its most up-to-date update, with folks “determined, hungry, and terrified” forward of the anticipated assault. OCHA said that the variety of assist vans allowed to enter the Gaza Strip had declined over the previous week, with solely 20 getting into on Thursday, a sharp decline from the typical of 133 per day from Feb. 2 to Feb. 8.

The United States and different nations — together with Israel’s most vital allies — have publicly opposed the navy marketing campaign in Rafah, although Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stays adamant about it.

President Biden told Netanyahu final week that the assault mustn’t proceed with no “credible and executable plan” to guard civilians in Rafah. On Friday, Biden stated he had pushed the Israeli chief over current days to just accept a brief cease-fire in Gaza to permit the discharge of the remaining hostages.

Israel, Egypt deny Gaza evacuation plan; U.N. wants access to hospital

Right here’s what else to know

• Israel’s multiday raid on Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis continued Friday, leaving the complicated with out electrical energy or water for a number of hours. 5 sufferers in intensive care died from lack of oxygen as respirators shut down, the Gaza Well being Ministry stated. The Israel Protection Forces stated in a press release that the raid was to get well the our bodies of hostages. It later stated that weapons had been discovered. The World Well being Group referred to as the operation “deeply alarming.”
• A U.N. reduction employee is claimed to have appeared on video eradicating an Israeli man’s physique after he was shot at Kibbutz Beeri on Oct. 7, in keeping with a Post analysis of knowledge launched by Israeli authorities.
• Israel has expanded its allegations in opposition to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency, asserting there are “vital indications” that greater than 30 UNRWA employees had been concerned on Oct. 7. UNRWA spokesman Jonathan Fowler stated Israel didn’t detect that assault upfront, “implying that each one concerned … participated illicitly in ways in which UNRWA additionally would have been unable to detect.”
• Egyptian and Israeli officers denied hypothesis that Palestinian refugees could be pushed out of Rafah and into Egypt, after satellite tv for pc imagery obtained by The Washington Submit confirmed Egypt clearing and constructing a wall round a plot of land alongside its border with Gaza. “The State of Israel has no intention of evacuating Palestinian civilians to Egypt,” Israel’s protection minister stated.
• Two folks had been killed and 4 wounded in a capturing at a bus cease in central Israel on Friday. The shooter was killed by an armed civilian in the course of the assault. A motivation has not been introduced, however Israeli politicians described the violence as a “terror assault.”
• At the least 28,775 folks have been killed and 68,552 injured in Gaza for the reason that battle started, according to the Gaza Well being Ministry. Israel estimates about 1,200 folks had been killed in Hamas’s Oct. 7 assault and says no less than 235 of its troops have been killed since its offensive in Gaza started.