Content about gaza strip

South Africa filed an urgent request with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for additional provisional measures to the court's January and February rulings in the country's case against Israel, charging that Israel is carrying out genocide in the Gaza Strip. South Africa said the request is necessitated by changes to the situation in Gaza that have arisen since it originally filed the case with the ICJ, such as imminent risk of famine, particularly in north Gaza. South Africa said the request is meant "to ensure the safety and security of 2.3 million Palestinians in Gaza" and prevent Israel from "continuing egregious breaches" of the measures the ICJ handed down in January.

A statement released by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on behalf of United Nations rights experts warns countries against the transfer of war material to Israel, as such transfers could constitute violations international humanitarian law if weapons are used contrary to the Geneva Conventions. Invoking the recent Word Court orders concerning Israel's siege and bombardment of Gaza, the statement asserts that "states must accordingly refrain from transferring any weapon or ammunition—or parts for them—if it is expected, given the facts and past patterns of behaviour, that they would be used to violate international law."

In Episode 213 of the CounterVortex podcast, Bill Weinberg notes how divergent responses to the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinians and mass internment of the Uyghurs reveal the West’s shifting definition of genocide. Tragically, elements of the Palestinian leadership merely reverse the double standard, causing elements of the exiled Uyghur leadership to balk at supporting the Palestinians. Yet another example of how a global divide-and-rule racket is the essence of the state system. Illustrating the irony, the same corporate nexus is involved in putting in place the surveillance state that monitors the Uyghurs for China and the Palestinians for Israel. Fortunately, principled voices of dissent among both the Palestinians and the Uyghurs are calling for Palestinian-Uyghur solidarity.

UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, was plunged into crisis when Israel accused 12 of its Gaza employees of involvement in Hamas' Oct. 7 attack on Israel. In response to Israel's claims, the US, UK, Germany, and other top donor countries suspended funding to UNRWA. In a statement, some two dozen aid organizations said they are "deeply concerned and outraged" by the suspension of funding, as some 2.3 million Gazans face "starvation, looming famine and an outbreak of disease under Israel's continued indiscriminate bombardment and deliberate deprivation of aid." 

The genocide case brought against Israel at the International Court of Justice charges that "Israel has damaged and destroyed numerous centres of Palestinian learning and culture" in the Gaza Strip, including schools, libraries, religious sites and places of historical importance. The United Nations Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organization (UNESCO) reports that in the two-and-a-half months of bombardment, more than 200 schools have been damaged—around 40% of the total number in the Strip, about 40 of them seriously. UNESCO is also attempting to monitor damage to heritage sites using satellite data and sources on the ground. The agency has especially expressed concern over the ruins of fourth-century Saint Hilarion Monastery, which has been placed under "provisional enhanced protection." The oldest mosque in Gaza, the Omari Mosque, has been severely damaged in Israeli bombardment.