HISTORIC ICJ CASE OPENS AMID GAZA DEATH AND DESTRUCTION
▶ Palestinian PM says war has gained nothing as Jordan warns against displacement from enclave
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh yesterday said Israel had achieved nothing but death and destruction with its campaign in Gaza.
The comments came at the Munich Security Conference, with Rafah the focus of Israeli bombing and ground raids. The prospect of heavy fighting in the city on the Egyptian border where more than a million Palestinians are sheltering has drawn condemnation at the prospect of thousands more deaths.
“[Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu has achieved nothing until now,” Mr Shtayyeh said.
“He killed 28,000 people, he injured 70,000 people and he destroyed 281,000 housing units. This is the only thing that Israel has achieved in Gaza.”
Gaza health officials say more than 28,900 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the enclave since October 7. The war followed a Hamas attack in which about 1,200 Israelis were killed and 240 hostages taken.
Also yesterday, Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi warned that an assault on Rafah could lead to the expulsion of Palestinians into Egypt. “We will not allow the displacement of Palestinians. We have warned [Israel],” Mr Safadi said. “But beyond that it will solve nothing, it will just set the stage for future conflict.”
Mr Netanyahu rebuffed calls to halt the Rafah operation or find a political end to the conflict yesterday, saying his government would vote to formally oppose a two-state solution.
Israel faces more international pressure today as the UN’s highest court opens historic hearings into the legality of its 57-year occupation of lands sought for a Palestinian state.
Six days of hearings are scheduled at the International Court of Justice, during which an unprecedented number of countries will participate.
Egypt has said it will submit its own report to the ICJ
condemning Israel’s illegal policies and practices in Palestinian territories occupied in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
The hearings follow a landmark UN General Assembly vote in 2022, where member countries asked the world court for a non-binding advisory opinion on one of the world’s longest-running disputes. The request was promoted by the Palestinians and opposed vehemently by Israel. Fifty countries abstained from voting.
But today, after the Palestinians present their arguments, 51 countries and three organisations – the League of Arab States, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation, and the African Union – will address the panel of judges in the wood-panelled Great Hall of Justice.
Fifteen of the courts judges will hear the arguments over six days, although Israel will not be present at the hearings, which it considers illegitimate.
Experts say that while the ruling of the court will not be legally binding, it could have a significant impact on Israel’s already damaged international standing.
The hearings come after the ICJ ruled in January that Israel’s conduct in Gaza could be considered genocide unless more was done to protect civilians, amid massive Israeli bombardment of built up areas.
Palestinians and leading rights groups say Israel’s occupation of the West Bank has turned into an apartheid system, bolstered by settlement building on occupied lands, that gives Palestinians second-class status and is designed to maintain Jewish hegemony from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea.
Israel rejects any accusation of apartheid.