Palestinians - The African Mirror

Feb

2024

Egypt setting up area at Gaza border which could be used to shelter Palestinians, sources say

EGYPT is preparing an area at the Gaza border which could accommodate Palestinians in case an Israeli offensive into Rafah prompts an exodus across the frontier, four sources said, in what they described as a contingency move by Cairo. Egypt, which denied making any such preparations, has repeatedly raised the alarm over the possibility that Israel's devastating Gaza offensive could displace Palestinians into Sinai - something Cairo says would be completely unacceptable- echoing warnings from Arab states such as Jordan. The United States has repeatedly said it would oppose any displacement of Palestinians out of Gaza. One of the sources said Egypt…

Feb

2024

By ANAIT MIRIDZHANIAN and NELLIE PEYTON

South Africa says all states must stop funding Israel’s military

NEWS

ALL states have an obligation to stop funding and facilitating Israel's military actions in Gaza after the World Court made clear those actions could be genocidal, South Africa's foreign minister said. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) last week ordered Israel to take all measures within its power to prevent its troops from committing genocide and take steps to improve the humanitarian situation of Palestinians in Gaza, in a case brought by South Africa. It stopped short of demanding a ceasefire and has not yet ruled on the core of South Africa's case, whether genocide has occurred in Gaza. That ruling could take years.…

Jan

2024

By FADI SHANA, NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI and DAN WILLIAMS

Israeli tanks pound hospital districts in south Gaza, displaced set to flee anew

WORLD

ISRAELI tanks battered areas around two hospitals in Gaza's main southern city Khan Younis on Thursday, forcing displaced people into a new desperate scramble for safety, residents said, in an escalating offensive Israel says is targeting Hamas militants. In Gaza City in the north of the embattled enclave, 20 Palestinians were killed and 150 injured when were hit by an Israeli strike while queuing to collect food aid, said Ashraf al-Qidra, spokesperson for Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry. The Israeli military said it was looking into the report. Gaza health officials said at least 50 Palestinians had been killed in the…

Jan

2024

By SETH ONYANGO, BIRD STORY AGENCY

South Africa transitions from apartheid victim to global advocate in Israel case

THOUGHT LEADERSHIP, EDITORS CHOICE

SOUTH Africa's unprecedented move to sue Israel for genocide at the ICJ, inspired by its own history of resistance to apartheid, is reinforcing Africa's heft in the increasingly combustible global geopolitical scene. The ICJ in The Hague will hear arguments from South Africa accusing Israel of committing genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza. The case, which has drawn support from several states, as well as human rights groups, is seen as a historic challenge to Israel's military actions and policies in the occupied territories. South Africa, which suffered under the brutal system of apartheid for decades, claims to have a…

Jan

2024

By FADI SHANA and MOHAMMED SALEM

In Gaza, a family suffer painful wait for children’s bodies

WORLD

DAUBED in red paint on a fallen wall, the names Omar, Abdullah and Massa mark the spot where the three children were buried alive by an Israeli air strike in the Gaza Strip in November, their relatives say. Mohammad Abu Aweidah, an uncle of the missing children, said he visits the rubble of the home in Rafah every day in the "hope one can pull out their bodies, or take a last look at their remains". "We pray to God that we will be able to pull them out and see them," said Abu Aweidah. They were among 16 children killed in…

Jan

2024

By ANTHONY DEUTSCH, TOBY STERLING and STEPHANIE VAN DEN BERG

Israel rejects genocide charges, tells World Court it must defend itself

WORLD

ISRAEL rejected as false and "grossly distorted" accusations brought by South Africa at the U.N.'s top court that its military operation in Gaza is a state-led genocide campaign against Palestinians. Arguing it was acting to defend itself and was fighting Hamas, not the Palestinian population, Israel called on the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to dismiss the case as groundless and reject South Africa's request to order it to halt the offensive. "This is no genocide," lawyer Malcolm Shaw said. South Africa told the court on Thursday that Israel's aerial and ground offensive - which has laid waste to much of the enclave…

Jan

2024

By The African Mirror

Reaction to South Africa’s UN court case against Israel’s war in Gaza

NEWS

SOUTH Africa accused Israel of subjecting Palestinians to genocidal acts at the opening of hearings at the top U.N. court on a case the country brought against the Israeli military campaign in Gaza. Israel says the case is baseless. The following are reactions to the proceedings that began at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague. PALESTINIAN FOREIGN MINISTRY STATEMENT ISSUED IN RAMALLAH IN THE ISRAELI-OCCUPIED WEST BANK "South Africa's case before the International Court of Justice... is a historic event in the process of the joint Palestinian and South African struggle in the face of injustice and genocide. "Holding Israel, the…

Jan

2024

By MOHAMMED SALEM, NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI and ANTHONY DEUTSCH

Netanyahu condemns ICJ genocide case; Gazans return to wasteland in north

WORLD

BENJAMIN Netanyahu condemned South Africa's genocide case against Israel in Gaza as "hypocrisy and lies", as some Gazans returned to scenes of total devastation in the north of the enclave where Israeli forces have begun withdrawing. Three months of Israeli bombardment have laid much of the coastal enclave to waste, killing more than 23,000 people and driving nearly the entire population of 2.3 million Palestinians from their homes. An Israeli blockade has sharply restricted supplies of food, fuel and medicine, creating what the United Nations describes as a humanitarian catastrophe. Israel says its only means to defend itself is by eradicating…

Jan

2024

By The African Mirror

What Israelis, Palestinians, US and others say about ‘the day after’ the Gaza war

WORLD

AS the conflict in Gaza nears a three-month milestone, Israelis, Palestinians, Americans and others have begun talking more openly about what comes next once the war is over. None of the plans being discussed will satisfy the desires of all of the parties but they do provide a framework for any negotiations that might emerge. Hamas killed 1,200 people and abducted 240 by Israel's count in a cross-border rampage from Gaza on October 7. More than 22,000 Palestinians have died since Israel's counterattack in Hamas-run Gaza, Palestinian health officials say. ISRAEL Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant on Thursday became the…

Jan

2024

By NIDAL AL-MUGHRABI, ARAFAT BARBAKH and DAN WILLIAMS

Israeli jets pound central Gaza as Netanyahu indicates longer war

WORLD

ISRAELI jets intensified attacks on central Gaza, residents and medics said, as battles raged through the rubble of towns and refugee camps in a war that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said would take "many more months" to end. Netanyahu's comments signal no let-up in a campaign that has killed many thousands and levelled much of Gaza, while his vow to restore Israeli control over the enclave's border with Egypt raises new questions over an eventual two-state solution. Air strikes pounded al-Maghazi and al-Bureij in the centre of Gaza, killing 10 people in one house and driving more to flee…