JOHANNESBURG: South Africa on Wednesday denounced Israel’s restriction of aid into war-ravaged Gaza since the weekend, saying it amounted to using starvation as a weapon of war.
A fragile ceasefire since January saw an influx of humanitarian aid into Gaza, before Israel on Sunday announced it was blocking deliveries until Hamas accepted its terms for an extension of the truce.
“Preventing food from entering Gaza is a continuation of Israel’s use of starvation as a weapon of war as part of the ongoing campaign of what the ICJ ruled to be plausible genocide against the Palestinian people,” the South African foreign ministry said in a statement, referring to Pretoria’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice.
“The people of Gaza are experiencing immeasurable suffering and urgently need food, shelter and medical supplies,” it added.
“South Africa calls on the international community to hold Israel accountable,” it said.
While Israel has said it wants to extend the first phase of the ceasefire until mid-April, Hamas — which sparked the war in Gaza with its October 2023 attack on Israel — has insisted on a transition to the deal’s second phase, which should lead to a permanent end to the war.
South Africa in December 2023 brought a case before the ICJ, arguing that the war in Gaza breached the 1948 United Nations Genocide Convention, an accusation Israel has strongly denied.
Several nations have added their weight to the proceedings, including Spain, Bolivia, Colombia, Mexico, Turkiye, Chile and Libya.
While ICJ rulings are legally binding, the court has no concrete means to enforce them.
South Africa also said it condemned Israel’s offensive in the occupied West Bank which has expanded to more areas of Jenin city.
At least three people were killed on Tuesday, the Israeli military said although Palestinian officials reported two dead.
The offensive was “a dangerous escalation, and which further threatens the Palestinian quest for self-determination and statehood,” South Africa said.
“The expanded Israeli military presence, now at its highest levels in the West Bank since 2002, signals an intent to re-establish full-scale military occupation,” it said.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967 and its troops carry out regular raids there.
The current offensive in the northern West Bank began on January 21 around refugee camps regarded as bastions of Palestinian militancy.
It has since expanded to more areas and displaced tens of thousands of people and saw the first deployment of Israeli tanks in the territory in 20 years.
South Africa accuses Israel of using ‘starvation’ in Gaza
https://arab.news/9vm5x
South Africa accuses Israel of using ‘starvation’ in Gaza
- “South Africa calls on the international community to hold Israel accountable,” foreign ministry said
- S.Africa in December 2023 brought a case before the ICJ, arguing that the war in Gaza breached the 1948 United Nations Genocide Convention
5 bodies of migrants washed ashore in east of Libya’s capital Tripoli, police officer says
TRIPOLI: At least five bodies of migrants including two women have been washed ashore in َQasr Al-Akhyar, a coastal town in the east of Libya’s capital Tripoli, a police officer told Reuters on Saturday.
Hassan Al-Ghawil, head of investigations at the Qasr Al-Akhyar police station, said that according to people in the area, a child’s body washed ashore and because of the waves’ height the body returned to the sea, and the coast guard was asked to search for it.
Ghawil said the bodies are all dark-skinned people. The bodies were found on Emhamid Al-Sharif shore in the western part of the town by people who reported to the police station.
Libya has become a transit route for migrants fleeing conflict and poverty to Europe across the Mediterranean since the fall in 2011 of dictator Muammar Qaddafi to a NATO-backed uprising. Factional conflict has split the country into western and eastern factions since 2014.
Qasr Al-Akhyar is a coastal town some 73 kilometers (45 miles) east of Tripoli.
Pictures were posted on the Internet, and also seen by Reuters, showing the bodies of the migrants lying on the shore, where some were still within black inflatable lifebuoys.
“We reported to the Red Crescent to recover the bodies,” said Ghawil. “The bodies we found are still intact and we think there are more bodies to wash ashore.”
Earlier this month, fifty-three migrants, including two babies, were dead or missing after a rubber boat carrying 55 people capsized off the coast of Zuwara town in western Tripoli, the International Organization for Migration said.
Last week, a UN report said migrants in Libya, including young girls, are at risk of being killed, tortured, raped or put into domestic slavery, calling for a moratorium on the return of migrant boats to the country until human rights are ensured.
