The Israeli army is bombing Rafah this Friday, a town in southern Gaza where more than a million Palestinians displaced by the war are crowded together, amid fears of a humanitarian “disaster” from its American ally. “We have yet to see any evidence of serious planning for such an operation (in Rafah) and to carry out such an operation now without planning and without thought in an area where a million people are sheltered would be a disaster,” he said. State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel told reporters Thursday.
Information to remember
⇒ Around thirty rockets were fired from Lebanon
⇒ Israel’s response to Gaza is “excessive”, judges Joe Biden
⇒ It is “not possible” to replace UNRWA in Gaza, according to the UN Secretary General
Rocket salvos towards Israel after strike against Hezbollah “commander”
Around thirty rockets were fired overnight from Thursday to Friday from Lebanon towards northern Israel, shortly after an Israeli airstrike against a “commander” of Lebanese Hezbollah, the Israeli army said. “We can confirm that around 30 shots took place from Lebanon towards the areas of Ein Zeitim and Dalton in northern Israel,” an army spokesperson told AFP when asked about the shots. rockets in the night from neighboring Lebanon. According to initial information, these shots caused “no injuries”, said this military official.
Earlier in the evening, a Lebanese security source announced to AFP that a Hezbollah military official had been seriously injured in an aerial bombardment which targeted his car on Thursday in Nabatiyé, in southern Lebanon. The head of the Islamist group, which supports the Palestinian movement Hamas in its war against Israel, “was seriously injured and a person who accompanied him was also injured”, said this source who requested anonymity.
The target of the bombing is a Hezbollah commander who was involved in several attacks on northern Israel, near the Lebanese border, an Israeli army spokesperson said, without further details.
Israel’s response to Gaza is “excessive”, judges Joe Biden
The military response carried out by Israel in Gaza, in response to the Hamas attack, is “excessive”, American President Joe Biden judged on Thursday. “I think, as you know, that the response in Gaza, in the Gaza Strip, has been excessive,” the leader said during an exchange with journalists at the White House.
The Israeli army intensified its strikes on Rafah on Thursday, and Washington warned its historic ally of the risk of a “disaster” in this city in the Gaza Strip. “I am pushing very hard, very very hard for humanitarian aid to reach Gaza,” Joe Biden also said on Thursday. The Palestinian territory is facing a “nightmare” humanitarian situation according to the UN.
Impossible to replace UNRWA in Gaza, insists UN chief
It is “not possible” to replace the UN Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) in Gaza, the Secretary-General of the United Nations insisted on Thursday, while major donors have suspended their funding to this agency in turmoil. UNRWA has been at the center of controversy since Israel accused 12 of its 30,000 regional employees of involvement in the October 7 attack by the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas that resulted in the deaths of 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data.
In response, several countries, including major donors such as the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom and Sweden, announced that they were suspending their funding to the agency, which said it was threatened with having to cease its activities. by the end of February. While some have raised the idea of redirecting funding to other UN organizations, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres on Thursday rejected the possibility. “It is not possible to replace the work of UNRWA in Gaza,” he said at a press conference.
ICJ referral to Israel: Nicaragua requests to join the procedure
Nicaragua has asked to join Pretoria’s referral to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Israel, the UN’s highest court announced on Thursday, with Managua citing “legal interests” in the case.
The Central American country announced last month its intention to join South Africa’s referral to the ICJ. A long-time supporter of the Palestinian cause, Pretoria accuses Israel of having violated the United Nations Convention on Genocide of 1948 by its military campaign in Gaza, triggered by the Hamas attacks of October 7.
Managua filed its request on January 23, which the ICJ, based in The Hague, confirmed on Thursday. “In its request for authorization to intervene, Nicaragua declares that it ‘has interests of a legal nature which arise from the rights and obligations imposed by the Genocide Convention on all States parties'”, declares the ICJ. Managua indicates that its decision arises from the “universal character of both the condemnation of the genocide and the cooperation required ‘in order to free humanity from such an odious scourge,'” the court said in a statement.