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The Citizen
5 days ago
- Politics
- The Citizen
Ramaphosa's spokesperson defends SA's ICJ case against Israel
"Israeli soldiers have deliberately shot at unarmed Palestinians seeking aid in Gaza". President Cyril Ramaphosa's spokesperson, Vincent Magwenya, has defended South Africa's International Court of Justice (ICJ) case against Israel after an attack on a school in Gaza. Charred remains of Palestinian women and children were pulled from under the rubble in Gaza on Friday after the Israeli army bombed the Osama Bin Zaid School, packed with displaced families. Israel attack A series of Israeli airstrikes and artillery attacks across the Gaza Strip on Friday killed at least 78 Palestinians, including 12 aid seekers, as Israel's war on the besieged enclave continues unabated. At least eight people were killed when an Israeli airstrike hit on the Osama Bin Zaid school, which had been sheltering displaced families in the Saftawi area of northern Gaza's Jabalia. A fire broke out inside a classroom following the strike, triggering panic among those inside. The strike has once again raised alarm over the targeting of civilian shelters. ALSO READ: Israel accused of starving Gaza 'by design' — South Africa addresses ICJ SA ICJ case Magwenya dismissed those who questioned why South Africa had taken Israel to the ICJ after the attack on the school.. 'And then the temerity of those telling us we shouldn't have launched a case at the ICJ. Silence and inaction are not options. May their souls rest in peace'. And then the temerity of those telling us we shouldn't have launched a case at the ICJ. Silence and inaction are not options. May their souls rest in peace. — Vincent Magwenya 🇿🇦 (@SpokespersonRSA) June 27, 2025 In its initial application, South Africa submitted an 84-page application at the ICJ on 29 December 2023, pleading with the court to find Israel guilty of suspected genocide and order it to, among other things, halt its invasion in Gaza. Israel defiant Since launching the case at the ICJ, South Africa has approached the court four times, requesting interim measures to halt Israel's attacks on the occupied territory. Despite three orders being granted in South Africa's favour, they have had little to no impact on all forms of Israel's attacks on Palestinian life, essential services and the need for humanitarian aid. ALSO READ: SA won't drop ICJ case against Israel, even if Trump waives restrictions – Dirco Israeli soldiers 'ordered' to shoot Meanwhile, Israeli soldiers have deliberately shot at unarmed Palestinians seeking aid in Gaza after being 'ordered' to do so by their commanders, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reports. Israel ordered an investigation into possible war crimes over the allegations by some soldiers that it revealed on Friday, Haaretz said. At least 549 Palestinians have been killed and 4,066 injured while waiting for food aid distributed at sites run by the Israeli-and United States-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), the Gaza Government Media Office said on Thursday, Al Jazeera reported. 'Killing field' According to the Haaretz report, which quoted unnamed Israeli soldiers, troops were told to fire at the crowds of Palestinians and use unnecessary lethal force against people who appeared to pose no threat. 'We fired machineguns from tanks and threw grenades,' one soldier told Haaretz. 'There was one incident where a group of civilians was hit while advancing under the cover of fog.' In another instance, a soldier said that where they were stationed in Gaza, between 'one and five people were killed every day'. 'It's a killing field,' that soldier said. Israel responds The Israeli army 'strongly rejected' the accusations in the report, according to a military statement published on Telegram. 'Any allegation of a deviation from the law or [military] directives will be thoroughly examined, and further action will be taken as necessary. The allegations of deliberate fire toward civilians presented in the article are not recognized in the field,' it said. ALSO READ: SA among 38 countries to present at ICJ hearings on Israel's actions
India Today
17-06-2025
- General
- India Today
34 Palestinians killed in deadliest shooting near Gaza's food distribution hubs
Israeli troops opened fire Monday as crowds tried to reach Israeli-and US-supported food distribution centres in Gaza, witnesses said. The 34 people killed, according to health officials, made it the deadliest day of such shootings since the new aid system launched last Israeli military didn't immediately comment on Monday's shootings. But after some previous ones that have been a near-daily occurrence since the aid centres opened three weeks ago, it said its troops had fired warning shots at what it called suspects approaching their positions, though it didn't say whether those shots struck say they face the choice of starving or risking death as they make their way past Israeli forces to reach the distribution points, which are run by a private contractor, the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation. The Health Ministry in Hamas-controlled Gaza says several hundred people have been killed and hundreds more wounded in such shootings since the centres opened. The ministry said 33 Palestinians were killed Monday trying to reach the GHF centre near the southern city of Rafah and another was killed while headed to a GHF hub in central Gaza. It said four other people who weren't trying to get to distribution centres were killed are desperate to feed their families after most food ran out during the 2 months this year when Israel barred all supplies from entering the territory. Israel has eased the blockade since last month to let in a trickle of DESCRIBE CROWDS UNDER FIREadvertisementIsraeli troops started firing as thousands of Palestinians massed around 4 am at the Flag Roundabout before the scheduled opening time of the Rafah food centre, according to Heba Jouda and Mohamed Abed, two Palestinians who were in the fell to the ground, trying to take cover, they said. "Fire was coming from everywhere," said Jouda, who has repeatedly made the journey to get food for her family over the past week. "It's getting worse day by day," she Red Cross field hospital nearby received some 200 injured Monday, the highest single mass casualty event it has seen, the International Committee of the Red Cross said in a statement. Only a day earlier, it said, around 170 were brought to the facility, most of them wounded by gunshots while trying to reach the GHF centre. The Health Ministry toll made it the deadliest day around the food sites since June 2, when 31 people were Flag Roundabout, hundreds of meters (yards) from the GHF centre, has been the scene of repeated shootings. It is on the route designated by the Israeli military for people to take to reach the over the past weeks have said Israeli troops open fire to prevent people from moving past a certain point on the road before the scheduled opening of the centre or because people leave the GHF spokesperson told The Associated Press on Sunday that "none of the incidents to date have occurred at our sites or during operating hours". It said the incidents have involved aid-seekers who were moving "during prohibited trying to take a short cut". It said it was trying to improve safety measures, including by recently moving the opening times from nighttime to daylight hours.A NEW AID DISTRIBUTION SYSTEMIsrael and the United States say the GHF system is intended to replace the UN-led humanitarian operation that has delivered aid across Gaza since the start of the 20-month Israel-Hamas war. Israel contends that the new mechanism is needed to prevent Hamas from siphoning off agencies and major aid groups deny that there is widespread theft of aid by Hamas and have rejected the new system. They say it can't meet the population's needs and turns food into a weapon for Israel to carry out its military goals, including moving the more than 2 million Palestinians into a "sterile" enclave in southern at Britain's House of Commons' Foreign Affairs Committee on Monday, an official with Doctors Without Borders said Israel's claims of extensive diversion by Hamas were "specious and cynical", and were intended "to undermine a humanitarian system which was actually functioning"."This is neither a humanitarian enterprise nor a system. This is basically lethal chaos," Anna Halford, a field coordinator for the group, said when asked by lawmakers about the GHF warn that Israel's ongoing military campaign and restrictions on aid entry have put Gaza at risk of military campaign since October 2023 has killed over 55,300 Palestinians, more than half of them women and children, according to Gaza's Health Ministry. Its count doesn't distinguish between civilians and launched its campaign aiming to destroy Hamas after the group's October 7, 2023, attack on southern Israel, in which militants killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and took another 251 hostage. The militants still hold 53 hostages, fewer than half of them alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other Watch IN THIS STORY#Israel#Gaza Strip
Time of India
14-06-2025
- Health
- Time of India
Israeli strikes on Gaza kill at least 16 as war rages on after opening of new front with Iran
At least 16 Palestinians were killed in Israeli strikes on the Gaza Strip overnight and into Saturday, according to local health officials. The 20-month war with Hamas has raged on even as Israel has opened a new front with heavy strikes on Iran that sparked retaliatory drone and missile attacks. Another 11 Palestinians were killed overnight near food distribution points run by an Israeli-and US-supported humanitarian group in the latest of almost daily shootings near the sites since they opened last month. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Elegant New Scooters For Seniors In 2024: The Prices May Surprise You Mobility Scooter | Search Ads Learn More Undo Palestinian witnesses say Israeli forces have fired on the crowds, while the military says it has only fired warning shots near people it describes as suspects who approached its forces. The military did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the latest shootings. The sites are located in military zones that are off limits to independent media. Live Events The Gaza Humanitarian Foundation, a private contractor that operates the sites, said they were closed Saturday. But witnesses said thousands had gathered near the sites anyway, desperate for food as Israel's blockade and military campaign have driven the territory to the brink of famine. The al-Awda Hospital said it received eight bodies and at least 125 wounded people from a shooting near a GHF site in central Gaza. Mohamed Abu Hussein, a resident of the built-up Bureij refugee camp nearby, said Israeli forces opened fire toward the crowd about a kilometre from the food distribution point. He said he saw several people fall to the ground as thousands ran away. In the southern city of Khan Younis , the Nasser Hospital said it received 16 dead, including five women, from multiple Israeli strikes late Friday and early Saturday. It said another three men were killed near two GHF aid sites in the southernmost city of Rafah, now a mostly uninhabited military zone. Israel and the United States say the new system is intended to replace a UN-run network that has distributed aid across Gaza through 20 months of war. They accuse Hamas of siphoning off the aid and reselling it to fund its militant activities. UN officials deny Hamas has diverted significant amounts of aid and say the new system is unable to meet mounting needs. They say the new system has militarised aid by allowing Israel to decide who has access and by forcing Palestinians to travel long distances or relocate again after waves of displacement. They say the UN has meanwhile struggled to deliver aid even after Israel eased its blockade last month because of military restrictions and rising lawlessness. Hamas, which is allied with Iran, sparked the war when its fighters led a rampage into southern Israel on October 7, 2023, killing some 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducting 251. They still hold 53 hostages, less than half of them believed to be alive, after most of the rest were released in ceasefire agreements or other deals. Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed over 55,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza's Health Ministry, which has said women and children make up more than half of the dead but does not distinguish between civilians and combatants in count. The offensive has destroyed vast areas of Gaza and displaced 90 per cent of the population of some 2 million Palestinians, leaving them almost entirely reliant on international aid. The war has drawn in Iran and its other allies across the region, igniting a chain of events that led to Israel's major strikes on Iran's nuclear and military facilities on Friday.
