Israel-Hamas war: Top developments on January 11, 2024

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has slammed South Africa over genocide case the nation has mounted against Israel at top UN court.

"The State of Israel is accused of genocide at a time when it is fighting genocide," Netanyahu said in a statement.

"A terrorist organisation carried out the worst crime against the Jewish people since the Holocaust, and now someone comes to defend it in the name of the Holocaust? What brazen gall. The world is upside down."

South Africa has lodged urgent appeal at the International Court of Justice.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh expressed gratitude on Thursday to South Africa for filing a genocide case against Israel at United Nations’ top court.

Giving a statement from Nelson Mandela Square in the West Bank city of Ramallah, he said: "I salute you with pride, defenders of human dignity and human rights."

Shtayyeh then called upon all Palestinians globally to demonstrate in "support of South Africa's request".

The Israeli army released footage it claims shows its forces fighting in the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli military said its campaign against Hamas in the Gaza Strip is shifting into a new phase involving more targeted operations in the territory's centre and south. 

The chief of the Lebanese Iran-backed Hezbollah Hassan Nasrallah warns Israel of war "without restrictions," a day after a strike blamed on Israel killed Hamas's number two in the group's Beirut stronghold, describing the strike in a televised speech as a "dangerous crime" that "will not go unanswered and unpunished."

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken meets with Israeli President Isaac Herzog in Tel Aviv during his fourth trip to the Middle East since the Israel-Hamas war began on October 7. 
 

The International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) on Thursday barred Israel from its world championships to ensure the "safety and well-being" of all participants, including Israelis.

"The IIHF Council took this decision after careful consideration and based on a risk assessment, discussions with the participating countries and discussions with the hosts," the federation said in a statement.

Israel will remain excluded "for the time being", the IIHF said.

Israel on Thursday (Jan 11) called South Africa a "legal arm" of Hamas militants as lawyers presented a "genocide" case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). 

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A US envoy called for a diplomatic deal to end hostilities on the Lebanon-Israel border where Hezbollah and Israel have exchanged fire for three months, amid fears the Gaza war could spread.

"We need to find a diplomatic solution that will allow for the Lebanese people to return to their homes in south Lebanon... as the people of Israel need to be able to return to their homes in their north," Amos Hochstein told reporters in Beirut.

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said that at least 23,469 people have been killed in the war between Israel and the Islamist group since it erupted on October 7.

The ministry said another 59,604 people were also wounded in the more than three months of fighting.

Israel on Thursday accused South Africa of serving as the "legal arm" of Hamas militants, as lawyers presented Pretoria's "genocide" case against Israel at the UN's top court.

Foreign ministry spokesman Lior Haiat described South Africa's case over Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip as "one of the greatest shows of hypocrisy in history".

A rapprochement between Israel and Arab countries, most of which do not recognise Israel, is the way to isolate Iran and its proxies, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Thursday.

"There's a path that brings Israel's needs and desires for integration," he said in Cairo at the close of regional tour seeking to avert spread of the Israel-Hamas war. "If you make the necessary commitment to security and you move down the path to a Palestinian state, it's the single best way to isolate Iran and the proxies."

South Africa's representatives have concluded their arguments handing the floor to ICJ President Joan Donoghue who announced today’s hearing as adjourned. The World Court will reconvene tomorrow (Jan 12) to hear Israel's arguments. 

Blinne Ni Gharalaigh, another lawyer representing South Africa told the court that there is "an urgent need for provisional measures to protect Palestinians in Gaza from the irreparable prejudice caused by Israel’s violation of the genocide convention." 

He also cited previous statements made by the United Nations secretary-general and officials who have described the "situation in Gaza as ‘a crisis of humanity’, ‘a living hell’, ‘a bloodbath’, ‘a situation of utter deepening and unmatched horror where an entire population is besieged and under attack, denied access to the essentials for survival on a massive scale’,"

She also spoke about how "swaths of Gaza are being wiped from the map. Experts warn that deaths from deprivation and disease risk outstripping deaths from war." 

"The condition of urgency is met when acts of exceptional prejudice can occur before the court can make a final decision," added Gharalaigh.

During the presentation of South Africa's representative Tembeka Ngcukaitobi said alleged that the "destruction of Palestinian life in all its manifestations" is a result of the "genocidal rhetoric" which is often used by senior Israeli officials including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, reported Times of Israel. 

This rhetoric has been reflected in the actions and rhetoric of the Israeli soldiers on the ground in Gaza, said Ngcukaitobi.

He also noted how on more than occasion, Netanyahu has used the biblical injunction for the Jewish people to "remember what Amalek did to you," while discussing the war in Gaza. 

He also cited Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant's statements, one of which included describing Palestinians as "human animals". 

Ngcukaitobi also played a footage of soldiers from the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) dancing and singing "there are no innocents in Gaza," while fighting in the Palestinian enclave. 

"Genocidal utterances aren’t out in the fringes, they are embodied in state policy," said South Africa's representative, as quoted the Times of Israel.

He added, "Any suggestion that Israeli officials did not mean what they said, or were misunderstood by soldiers on the ground, should be rejected by this court." 

As South Africa's representatives were presenting their case against Israel at the World Court in The Hague hundreds of pro-Palestinian supporters waving the Palestinian flags gathered outside the ICJ calling for a ceasefire in Gaza. 

Kim Wouters, a demonstrator, told Al Jazeera that the mood was sombre with people holding Palestinian flags and occasionally chanting "Stop, stop genocide," "Boycott Israel," and "We are all Palestinians." 

"I’m here because we just can’t assist this genocide every day on social media and not do anything," Wouters, 32 told Al Jazeera. She added, "We need to continue showing that people care and will not let it slide and to put pressure on our governments to take real actions." 

"Israel has breached every international convention, this disgusting impunity has to stop. Western governments are complicit in this ongoing situation by not taking sanctions for so long," said 32-year-old demonstrator who travelled from Brussels. 

Meanwhile, Israeli supporters set up a screen showing images of some of the hostages still being held in Gaza. 

South Africa on Thursday accused Israel of breaching the United Nations' Genocide Convention saying that Hamas' October 7 attacks cannot justify the alleged actions in Gaza. 

"No armed attack on a state territory no matter how serious... can provide justification for or defend breaches of the convention," said South Africa’s Justice Minister Ronald Lamola at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). 

He added, "The violence and the destruction in Palestine did not begin on October 7, they have experienced violence for the last 76 years." 

He also noted that "Gaza is still considered to be under occupation by international law." 

Lamola also spoke about how while South Africa "unilaterally condemned the targeting of civilians by Hamas and taking of hostages...no attack, however serious, can justify breaches to the convention whether as a matter of law or morality." 

He added, "Israel has crossed this line, and breached the convention. This is why South Africa has filed this case." 

“In order to dismantle Hamas in Gaza and destroy all of the organization’s terror infrastructure, we need a period of at least two years within Gaza,” said Amir Avivi, a retired brigadier-general in Maariv newspaper.

Global trade has declined by 1.3 per cent between November-December 2023 due to the Houthi attack on merchant vessels in the Red Sea. 

South African Judge Dikgang Ernest Moseneke and Israeli Judge Aharon Barak are being introduced by Joan Donoghue, current president of the ICJ. 

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) authority received a report of a vessel near Oman’s Sohar being boarded by unauthorised persons.

UKMTO said that they have not been able to establish contact with the vessel and the authorities have been investigating the incident.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) said that they have received a report of some 'incident' taking place, 50 nautical miles east of Oman’s Sohar. No further details have emerged regarding the incident.

The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) earlier asked for an immediate end to attacks being carried out by Yemen's Houthi rebels on fleets in the Red Sea.

The Iranian-backed Houthis said that attacks have been launched by them with the aim of ending the offensive of Israel in the Gaza Strip.

At the end of the month the United Nations will launch an information-gathering mission over accusations of sexual assault by Hamas during the October attack in Israel, said its spokesperson.

Taking to X, the Israel Defense Forces shared a document, purportedly proof that recently killed journalists Hamza al-Dahdouh and Mustafa Thuria were members of Gaza-based terrorist organisations.

"Documents found by our troops in Gaza revealed Thuria’s role as Squad Deputy Commander in Hamas' Gaza City Brigade, as well as Al-Dahdouh’s roles in the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization’s electronic engineering unit and previously as a deputy commander in IJ’s Zeitun Battalion," it wrote alongside the following picture.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, as per AFP, is set to travel to Egypt today for more talks aimed at containing Israel's war against Hamas.

The diplomat as per reports is set to meet Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi in Cairo. Previously, on Wednesday, he held talks with Palestinian Authority leader Mahmud Abbas, who "committed" to reforming the body to potentially reunite Gaza and the occupied West Bank under its leadership after the war.

Palestinians have hailed South Africa for bringing a "genocide" case against Israel over its bombardment of Gaza. The case will be taken up for hearing by the ICJ on Thursday.

On Wednesday, dozens of Palestinians gathered Wednesday in front of the statue of Nelson Mandela in the occupied West Bank to thank South Africa for bringing the case.

"It's very important to show appreciation to the people who understand our pain," Ramallah mayor Issa Kassis told the news agency AFP. 

Israeli Army chief Herzi Halevi said on Wednesday that the troops could destroy any village inside Lebanon, ramping up rhetoric against the Hezbollah militant group.

Speaking to soldiers in the Gaza Strip, Halevi said, "We've fought in Gaza, so we know how to do it in Lebanon if we have to. After what you did (in Gaza), there is not a village in Lebanon that you cannot enter and destroy."

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Wednesday that Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas was committed to reforming the Palestinian Authority to potentially reunite the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank under its leadership.

The Israeli army said on Wednesday that two journalists killed in the Gaza Strip last Sunday were terror operatives. 

Hamza Wael Dahdouh from Al-Jazeera and AFP journalist Mustafa Thuria were killed while they were on an assignment in the city of Rafah.

"Intelligence has confirmed that both the deceased were members of Gaza-based terrorist organisations actively involved in attacks against IDF," the army said in a statement. 

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) will hear a "genocide case" against Israel on Thursday. The case was brought by South Africa.