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South Africa files genocide case against Israel as attacks on Gaza, occupied West Bank and southern Lebanon continue – here’s the latest.
Here’s how things go on Saturday, December 30, 2023:
Latest updates and human impact
- Israeli ground forces and tanks enter the eastern, southern and northern outskirts of the Bureij refugee camp in central Gaza. But they have not yet reached the west side and Hamas fighters are resisting the incursion.
- Israeli bombardment of southern Gaza has intensified, with the Israeli army, navy and air force targeting several sites in Khan Younis and Rafah. Israel struck residential areas and civilian infrastructure, resulting in large numbers of deaths. According to the United Nations, between Thursday and Friday afternoon, 187 Palestinians were killed and 312 injured in these attacks.
- The Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS) video footage published of its emergency ambulance teams evacuating seriously injured children in the town of Khan Younis following an attack on a residential building amid continued Israeli bombardment.
- The Israeli army claimed to have destroyed a network of tunnels and a hideout belonging to Yahya Sinwar, the leader of Hamas in Gaza.
- The Israeli military says two more Hezbollah sites have been hit in southern Lebanon, after an Israeli official at the United Nations Security Council on Friday promised a “full-scale war” against Hezbollah if attacks on northern Israel continue.
- Philippe Lazzarini, director of the United Nations relief agency for Palestine (UNRWA), accused Israeli officials and the media of “creating a flow of baseless disinformation” about shortcomings in the delivery of aid to Gaza. His comments come amid Israeli attacks on humanitarian convoys.
- In Gaza, at least 21,507 people have been killed and 55,915 injured in Israeli attacks since October 7. The revised death toll from the Hamas attack on Israel stands at 1,139.
Diplomacy
- South Africa has launched proceedings against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), claiming that its operations in Gaza constitute “genocide”, a decision which has been welcomed by the Palestinian Foreign Ministry.
- Israel rejected South Africa’s move, calling it a “murderous smear.” Foreign Ministry spokesperson Lior Haiat said on X that the claim “lacked factual and legal basis.”
- Israeli officials see this as a “positive sign” that Hamas may be open to further negotiations over prisoners. Speaking anonymously, the officials said they were approaching the issue with great caution, but that it was a step in the right direction, according to Tel Aviv Tribune correspondents from Jerusalem.
- US President Joe Biden’s administration has bypassed Congress to approve a possible “emergency” arms sale to Israel.
- At the UN Security Council, the UK’s ambassador to the UN warned that “many more” people would die in Gaza without humanitarian action.
Climbing in the occupied West Bank
- Israeli forces have arrested 14 Palestinians from the Jalazone refugee camp, north of Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, as raids in the territory intensify.
- The Palestinian Health Ministry said a 17-year-old boy shot in the chest by Israeli forces on Friday was arrested in the occupied West Bank. The teenager was arrested in an ambulance at a checkpoint while being transferred to a medical facility.
