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World reacts to ICJ’s order for Israel to stop Rafah offensive | Israel-Palestine conflict News

The top United Nations court has ordered Israel to “immediately” halt its military assault on Rafah, describing the humanitarian situation in the southern Gaza city, where hundreds of thousands of civilians are sheltering, as “disastrous”.

Israel must “immediately halt its military offensive and any other action in the Rafah Governorate which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part”, the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ’s) president, Nawaf Salam, said.

The emergency measures were ordered on the request of South Africa as part of its genocide case against Israel.

The ICJ has ordered Israel to report back to the court within a month about its progress in applying measures ordered by the institution. It has also ordered Israel to reopen the Rafah border crossing with Egypt for humanitarian assistance.

Here are some reactions from leaders and organisations across the world:

Palestinian Authority spokesperson Nabil Abu Rudeineh

“The presidency welcomes the decision issued by the International Court of Justice, which represents an international consensus on the demand to stop the all-out war on Gaza,” Rudeineh said.

Hamas official Basam Naim

Naim said Hamas welcomed the decision by the World Court “that calls on the Zionist occupation forces to end its military aggression on Rafah”.

He added that the group also welcomes the court’s request to allow investigators into the Gaza Strip to probe “acts of genocide against the Palestinian people and Hamas pledges to cooperate with investigation committees”.

Naim said Hamas also calls on the UN Security Council to immediately implement the ICJ’s demands.

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich

Shortly after the ICJ ruling, Smotrich wrote on the social media platform X: “Those who demand that the State of Israel stop the war, demand that it decree itself to cease to exist. We will not agree to that.”

“We continue to fight for ourselves and for the entire free world. History will judge who today stood by the Nazis of Hamas and ISIS [ISIL],” he added.

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid

“The fact that the court in The Hague did not make the connection in its ruling between the cessation of fighting in Rafah and the return of the hostages and Israel’s right to defend itself against terrorism is a moral collapse and a moral disaster,” Lapid said.

War cabinet minister Benny Gantz

Gantz said Israel “set out on a just and necessary campaign following the brutal massacre of its citizens, abhorrent sexual violence perpetrated against its women, kidnapping of its children and rockets fired at its cities”.

“The State of Israel is committed to continue fighting to return its hostages and promise the security of its citizens – wherever and whenever necessary – including in Rafah,” he added.

Israeli Culture and Sports Minister Miki Zohar

“Judges of the High Court in The Hague are invited to come to Gaza and convince Hamas to return our abductees home,” Zohar said on X.

“Until this happens, it is clear that there is no possibility of stopping the fighting in Rafah.”

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa

“South Africa welcomes the order handed down by the International Court of Justice today. We are gravely concerned that Israel has restricted necessary levels of aid from entering Gaza and has systematically targeted aid and aid infrastructure within Gaza.

“This case is thus focused on the ordinary Palestinians in Gaza who are now facing their seventh month of suffering through collective punishment for something for which they have no individual responsibility.

“South Africa remains concerned that the United Nations Security Council has so far not succeeded in stopping the human suffering.”

South African official Zane Dangor

Dangor said the court’s ruling “is groundbreaking”.

“This is de facto calling for a ceasefire. It is ordering the major party in this conflict to end its belligerent action against the people of Palestine,” he said.

“This order like the others … are binding, and Israel has to adhere to them.”

European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell

Borrell said the EU would have to state its position on the ICJ’s ruling.

“We will have to choose between our support to international institutions of the rule of law or our support to Israel,” he said.

Egyptian foreign ministry

“Egypt calls on Israel to comply with its legal obligations within the framework of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and international humanitarian law, and to implement all interim measures issued by the ICJ, which are considered legally binding and enforceable, as they are issued by the highest international judicial body.

“Egypt stresses that Israel bears full legal responsibility for the deteriorating humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip as the occupying power, calling on Israel to stop its systematic policies against the Palestinian people of targeting, starvation and siege in violation of all provisions of international law and international humanitarian law.”

United States senator Lindsay Graham

“As far as I’m concerned, the ICJ can go to hell. It is long past time to stand up to these so-called international justice organizations associated with the UN. Their anti-Israel bias is overwhelming.

“The ICJ’s ruling that Israel should stop operations that are necessary to destroy four battalions of Hamas killers and terrorists – who use Palestinians as human shields – is ridiculous.

“This will and should be ignored by Israel.”

Belgian Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib

In a post on X, Lahbib said Belgium calls for immediate implementation of the court decision.

“The violence and human suffering in Gaza must stop. We call for a ceasefire, the release of the hostages and negotiations for two states,” she said.

Jordanian Foreign Minister Ayman Safadi

Safadi said the ICJ had again exposed war crimes in Gaza.

“And once again, the Israeli Govt reacts with disdain to Int’l law, refusing to heed the Court’s orders. The SC [Security Council] must shoulder its responsibility, put an end to Israel’s impunity & to double standards in enforcing Int’l law,” he said in a statement on X.

War crimes prosecutor Reed Brody

Brody said the ICJ has stepped up to address the reality on the ground in the Gaza Strip.

“I’m really impressed, first of all by South Africa’s tenacity and perseverance and coming back to the court, and the court has responded almost unanimously,” he told Al Jazeera.

Brody noted that South Africa has been asking since the start of the war on Gaza for an order for Israel to stop its military offensive but the court had said it could not make such a move because Hamas and the Palestinian side were not present on the stand.

“But that’s what they have finally chosen to do here, and it’s a testament to this court and what it does. Together with the decision by the ICC prosecutor [to recommend arrest warrants against top Israeli officials], it is a real one-two legal punch,” he added.

Human Rights Watch

The international rights organisation said the ICJ rulings show how bad things are in Gaza.

“The International Court of Justice’s order underlines the gravity of the situation facing Palestinians in Gaza,” said Balkees Jarrah, associate director of the group’s International Justice Program.

“This decision opens up the possibility for relief, but only if governments use their leverage to press Israel to urgently enforce the court’s measures.”

Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR)

The US-based civil rights group “applauded” the rulings by the ICJ.

“While the [US President Joe] Biden administration stands alone in continuing to offer full support for Israel’s genocide in Gaza, the international community is increasingly pushing back against the slaughter, forced starvation and ethnic cleansing Israel’s far-right government is inflicting on the Palestinian people,” CAIR said in a statement.

“Israel is clearly attempting to make Gaza uninhabitable. It must be stopped from completing this monstrous goal. President Biden must honor this important ruling by immediately ending all military assistance to Israel’s genocide.”

Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Bathe Eide

“I expect Israel to carry out the measures that have been ordered. Respect for the court and its functions, including the authority to order interim measures, is essential to strengthening international law and the international legal order.”

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Rights groups demand Biden halt Israel arms transfers after ICJ ruling | Gaza News

Rights groups have renewed calls for US President Joe Biden to halt weapons transfers to Israel, after the United Nations’ top court ordered the Israeli government to immediately halt its ground offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah and allow aid into the area.

The United States has faced months of pressure to suspend military assistance to Israel as the Palestinian death toll in the Gaza Strip rose steadily and a humanitarian crisis deepened across the besieged enclave.

Biden himself has publicly opposed Israel’s offensive in Rafah – where the majority of Gaza’s displaced residents had gathered – and his administration suspended one shipment of weapons to Israel over its concerns.

Yet despite saying in early May that he would withhold more weapons if the country went ahead with a large-scale operation in Rafah, Biden has largely backed away from using such leverage as Israeli leaders rejected Washington’s warnings.

On Friday, Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN), said the International Court of Justice’s order “leaves no ambiguity about what should follow: an arms embargo on Israel”.

“Continued US arms transfers to Israel would constitute deliberate defiance of the Court’s orders and make our government complicit in genocide,” she said in a statement.

Citing the “immense risk” to Palestinians in Gaza, the ICJ said Israel must “immediately halt its military offensive, and any other action in the Rafah Governorate, which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part”.

Friday’s order did not offer a final determination on whether Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, as alleged by South Africa, which brought the case before the international tribunal.

Still, the court’s provisional ruling “opens up the possibility for relief” for the people of Rafah, said Balkees Jarrah, associate director of the international justice programme at Human Rights Watch (HRW).

“But only if governments use their leverage, including through arms embargoes and targeted sanctions, to force Israel to urgently enforce the court’s measures,” Jarrah said.

Rights observers also noted that the ruling creates a foundation for the UN Security Council to take more resolute action against Israel.

The US – one of five members on the council with veto power – has repeatedly shielded Israel from Security Council action since the Gaza war began in early October.

Michael Schaeffer Omer-Man, director of Israel-Palestine research at DAWN, said the ICJ’s ruling should push the US to “support any UNSC actions to enforce the Court’s order”, or risk appearing “again before the entire world as the guarantor of Israeli impunity”.

Nihad Awad, national executive director of the Council on American Islamic Relations, also urged Biden to honour the ICJ’s ruling “by immediately ending all military assistance to Israel’s genocide”.

“Israel is clearly attempting to make Gaza uninhabitable. It must be stopped from completing this monstrous goal,” Awad said in a statement.

Bipartisan Israel support

Israel continues to enjoy widespread support among senior Biden administration officials, including the US president himself, as well as lawmakers from both major parties.

Still, a growing number of legislators in Washington, DC, have demanded a clearer accounting of whether Israel is using American weapons in Gaza in violation of US and international law.

Israel’s bombardment of Gaza has killed more than 35,500 Palestinians, most of them women and children, while its siege on the coastal territory has led to dire shortages of humanitarian aid and pushed Palestinians to the brink of starvation.

“The whole world is taking action to stop the genocide of Palestinians, including the International Court of Justice,” US Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib, a member of Biden’s Democratic Party, wrote on X on Friday.

“Where is President Biden’s ‘red line’?” she said.

Earlier this month, the US Department of State released a report that found it was “reasonable to assess” that Israeli forces had used US weapons in violation of international humanitarian law in Gaza.

But the department said that did not necessarily disprove Israel’s “overall commitment” to those standards, and the report concluded that the US could continue to send weapons to Israel.

The Biden administration did not immediately comment on the ICJ’s order on Friday, or on renewed calls to suspend weapons transfers to Israel.

James Bays, Al Jazeera’s diplomatic editor, said the court’s ruling creates a predicament for the US government, however, since it is in line with Biden’s recent positions.

“The Biden administration has repeatedly said the Rafah crossing needs to be opened. The Biden administration has repeatedly said it didn’t want a Rafah offensive,” Bays noted.

“So the court is simply backing up entirely what the US administration has been saying,” he said. “It’s going to be very, very hard for the Biden administration to say that this is in some way biased.”

Prominent Republican lawmakers swiftly condemned the ICJ’s order on Friday, however, with some calling on Biden to reject efforts to get Israel to abide by the decision.

“The ICJ is blinded by anti-Israel bias,” Steve Scalise, the second-ranking Republican in the House of Representatives, wrote on social media. “Biden must commit to vetoing any UN Security Council resolution that would enforce this outrageous decision.”

US Senator Lindsey Graham also said the “ICJ can go to hell”.

“It is long past time to stand up to these so-called international justice organizations associated with the UN. Their anti-Israel bias is overwhelming,” he wrote on X. “This will and should be ignored by Israel.”

Graham is among several US lawmakers who have urged the Biden administration to impose sanctions against the International Criminal Court (ICC) after the court’s top prosecutor this week requested arrest warrants for senior Israeli leaders over alleged war crimes in Gaza.

Biden called the prosecutor’s move “outrageous” while Secretary of State Antony Blinken suggested that the administration would be willing to work with members of Congress on legislation to penalise the international tribunal.



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UN Security Council passes motion denouncing attacks on aid workers | United Nations News

The United Nations Security Council has passed a resolution denouncing attacks on UN staff and aid workers in conflict zones as record numbers of UN personnel have been killed in Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip.

The resolution, which calls on all countries to protect humanitarian workers in accordance with international law, passed on Friday with 14 votes in favour, zero against and one abstention.

“This resolution [sends] a strong message,” said Pascale Baeriswyl, the UN ambassador for Switzerland, which put forward the measure.

“This resolution reaffirms state responsibility and that of parties to conflict to respect and protect the civilian population and, more particularly, to respect and protect these men and women who every day work alongside those affected by armed conflicts,” Baeriswyl told the council.

The resolution passed amid threats and attacks against humanitarian workers in conflict zones around the world, including in Sudan and Ukraine.

But since October, the Gaza Strip has seen an unprecedented death toll among UN personnel and other aid workers.

More than 190 UN staff have been killed in the Israeli war on Gaza, according to the latest figures from the global body, sparking widespread concern and calls for a permanent ceasefire in the besieged Palestinian enclave.

Robert Wood, the United States deputy ambassador to the UN, said on Friday that “harm to workers of great courage who are risking their lives to help Palestinian civilians [in Gaza] is unacceptable”.

Wood condemned the Palestinian group Hamas for taking captives from Israel and holding them in the coastal enclave and said Israel must do “much more to prevent the death and harm of aid workers and UN personnel”.

“We insist that all attacks on humanitarian personnel in Gaza, regardless of whether against local or international staff, be investigated thoroughly, and there must be full and public accountability for those responsible for any wrongdoing,” he said.

Washington faces calls to do much more to help reach a ceasefire in Gaza, however, including by conditioning military and diplomatic support to Israel.

But US President Joe Biden’s administration continues to provide staunch backing to its top Middle East ally. Since October, the country has vetoed three separate efforts at the Security Council to secure a ceasefire.

Al Jazeera’s diplomatic editor James Bays noted that Friday’s resolution was passed shortly after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) – the top UN court – ordered Israel to immediately halt its military offensive on the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

Wood was asked on his way into the Security Council about the ICJ’s ruling, Bays said, but the US envoy did not have an immediate response.

“The ruling of the International Court of Justice matches very much what the US has been asking for,” Bays reported.

“But it’s a strong, binding international law ruling, and it puts Israel in a hard place – and diplomatically, in the end when it’s come to it, the US has had Israel’s back at every twist and turn since October 7.”

Meanwhile, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) welcomed the passage of the Security Council resolution on Friday.

The motion, the ICRC said in a statement, serves as “a clear reminder of the absolute necessity and obligation for all parties of armed conflicts to respect and protect humanitarian personnel, their premises and assets”.

“Just as the civilian population is paying an increasingly unbearable price in today’s conflicts, so too are humanitarian personnel, who face daily risks such as verbal threats and intimidation, disappearance, serious injury, and death,” the committee said.

“The unacceptably high price paid by humanitarian personnel must stop, and it is only the vigorous application in practice of this resolution that will make a difference on the ground.”



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What’s behind Norway’s recognition of Palestinian statehood? | Israel-Palestine conflict News

Norway, alongside Ireland and Spain, recently announced its decision to formally recognise Palestinian statehood based on the pre-1967 borders, starting from Tuesday.

Predictably, as the Palestinian Authority and Hamas welcomed this development, the Israeli government lashed out by quickly withdrawing its ambassadors from Oslo, Dublin and Madrid and summoning the Norwegian, Irish and Spanish representatives in Tel Aviv.

Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Store explained that Norway’s decision was “in support of moderate forces that are on a retreating front in a protracted and cruel conflict”.

He said the move is an investment in the “only solution” that can bring lasting peace in the Middle East – “two states living side by side in peace and security”.

Analysts were not surprised by Norway’s move, which comes 30 years after it hosted the Oslo Accords, the early 1990s peace agreements that ultimately failed.

“The Norwegian population has over a long time been moving towards a more pro-Palestinian view. The political establishment has been more hesitant, not least because of its close ties to the US,” Bjorn Olav Utvik, a professor of Middle East studies at the University of Oslo, told Al Jazeera. “Since the outbreak of the current conflict, popular opinion has swung even further towards the Palestinian cause.”

He cast the recognition as “an important symbolic move” and one that is easier to make than, for instance, “cutting off all investments linked to Israel by the Norwegian sovereign wealth fund”.

With European countries deeply divided by the Israeli war on Gaza, Norway has moved closer to those who vocally support Palestinian rights to self-determination and basic dignity.

“We can’t wait any longer,” Espen Barth Eide, Norway’s foreign minister, recently told Al Jazeera. “The only viable long-term settlement which can bring peace to the Palestinian people and the Israeli people is a two-state solution. These two states, of course, must have logical territories. A lot will have to change.”

What were the Oslo accords? (Al Jazeera)

Looking back, Oslo’s position on the Israel-Palestine conflict has been steady.

Norwegian officials have maintained high levels of support for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) and have been quick to demand a ceasefire after the latest conflict erupted.

Previously, Norway has condemned the Israeli occupation before the International Court of Justice. It does not export weapons to Israel and has sanctioned some “extremist” settlers.

“Norway believes that Israeli settlement activity on occupied land is illegal under international law and hinders the peace process and is in firm belief of a two-state solution as the only durable solution,” said Hasini Ransala Liyanage, a doctoral research fellow at the University of Oslo’s political science department.

She described Norway as a “prominent mediator of multiple conflicts in the world” that has “always focused on peaceful solutions”.

Norwegian mediation is characterised by a willingness to provide long-term assistance, impartial facilitation of peace talks and close corporation with parties in conflict, she added.

Oslo’s recognition of a Palestinian state also underlines its support for the Arab Peace Initiative, which calls for recognition of Israel’s right to exist and normalisation of ties in exchange for its withdrawal from lands captured since 1967 and a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

“To me, it seems the announcement is designed to create attention for this initiative and contribute to diplomatic momentum to increase European support for the Arab peace plan,” Sverke Runde Saxegaard, a doctoral researcher at the University of Oslo, told Al Jazeera.

“The government has been emphasising throughout the day that this is not in any way a sign of support for Hamas but a sign of support for forces and actors that seek a nonviolent solution to the conflict within both Israel and Palestine. To provide a glimmer of hope in a dark time, so to speak,” he added.

Israel’s latest and deadliest war on Gaza has killed almost 36,000 people, most of them women and children. Its campaign began after Hamas, the group that governs the Gaza Strip, launched an unprecedented incursion into southern Israel during which 1,139 people were killed and dozens captured.

‘Strong diplomatic move’

Oslo’s recognition of a Palestinian state may also bode well for Norway’s image and reputation in the Global South.

Liyanage said Oslo’s “strong diplomatic move” signals support for people in the Middle East and Muslim world as well as citizens of Global South nations who suffer from violence and protracted conflicts.

Norway will “stand as a state that acts against war crimes [and] violations of international humanitarian law and a state that recognises another state’s legitimate right to defend its citizens and borders”.

Norwegian politicians have also acknowledged the risks of applying international law inconsistently and the message that sends to non-Western audiences.

“Doing and saying popular things rarely hurt a country’s standing. And although I do not see this as the primary motivation here, the minister of foreign affairs has long been vocal about how Norway and the West cannot afford to be seen as hypocritical,” Saxegaard said. “If the West wants the world to be outraged about Russia in Ukraine, it needs to be outraged about Israel in Gaza.”

Noting how Arab governments welcomed Norway’s recent move, Hugh Lovatt, a senior policy fellow at the European Council on Foreign Relations, said the move “goes some small way to counter Global South perceptions of European double standards and blind support for Israel”.

‘Final demise of the Oslo peace process’

It seems as though Oslo has realised that the time has come to approach the Israel-Palestine issue in new ways and abandon failed approaches from previous decades.

Jorgen Jensehaugen, a senior researcher at the Peace Research Institute Oslo, said the prime minister has implied that he believes that since there is no peace process, waiting for one to start as the war rages on “is no longer a viable alternative”.

Lovatt added: “This move by Norway in my opinion also symbolises the final demise of the Oslo peace process and the urgent need to elaborate a new post-Oslo peacemaking strategy which should involve concrete steps to challenge Israeli occupation and support Palestinian rights.

“The hope is that a strong endorsement of Palestinian self-determination can demonstrate to the Palestinian public that diplomacy can deliver results and provide a credible alternative to armed violence.”

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‘Major non-NATO ally’: What does Biden’s new Kenya pledge mean? | Explainer News

EXPLAINER

Here’s more about the non-NATO ally designation, promised to Kenya during President Ruto’s Washington visit.

United States President Joe Biden pledged to designate Kenya as a major non-NATO ally on Thursday, which will make Kenya the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to hold the designation. This was during Kenyan President William Ruto’s three-day visit to the US.

Biden described the decision as “a fulfilment of years of collaboration”.

“Our joint counterterrorism operations have degraded ISIS [ISIL] and al-Shabab across East Africa, our mutual support for Ukraine has rallied the world to stand behind the UN Charter, and our work together on Haiti is helping pave the way to reduce instability and insecurity,” Biden told a news conference at the White House on Thursday.

But what does a major non-NATO ally status mean?

What is a major non-NATO ally?

A major non-NATO ally (MNNA) refers to a country that is not part of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), yet has a deep strategic and security partnership with the US.

It is a designation that denotes a high level of trust, but falls short of involving commitments that full-fledged treaty allies agree to. In particular, this status would not bind the US and Kenya to mutual defence of each other, if either one of them were under attack.

What benefits do non-NATO allies receive?

The MNNA status entails certain economic and military benefits alongside benefits in areas of defence trade and security cooperation, but it “does not entail any security commitments to the designated country”, the US Department of State website says. The designation will allow Nairobi to buy military technologies that would be harder for other countries to obtain from Washington.

In addition to that, the State Department website enumerates other benefits, including:

  • MNNAs are eligible for loans of materials and equipment for research, development or testing.
  • US-owned War Reserve Stockpiles can be placed on MNNA territory.
  • MNNAs can be considered for the purchase of depleted uranium ammunition.
  • The allies can enter a formal agreement with the US Department of Defense to carry out research and development projects. Additionally, firms of the MNNA can bid on contracts to repair and maintain US Defense Department equipment outside of the US.

But the designation would not guarantee new defence agreements or weapon sales between Nairobi and Washington.

Which other countries has the US designated major non-NATO allies?

The US has currently designated 18 countries as MNNAs. These include Argentina, Australia, Bahrain, Brazil, Colombia, Egypt, Israel, Japan, Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, New Zealand, Pakistan, the Philippines, Qatar, South Korea, Thailand and Tunisia.

In 2022, Biden rescinded Afghanistan’s status as an MNNA, 10 years after the designation was first announced.

What about other major US defence partners?

The US State Department says it treats Taiwan “as an MNNA, without formal designation as such” based on a 2002 statute — effectively giving the self-governing territory the benefits of that status without the legal recognition restricted to sovereign states.

This is because of the one China policy under which the US does not recognise Taiwan as an independent nation — even as it supports the territory economically and militarily. The relationship is fundamentally governed through the 1979 Taiwan Relations Act.

In 2016, the US designated India as a Major Defense Partner, under this designation, India can get licence-free access to military and dual-use equipment regulated by the US Department of Commerce.

What else happened during Ruto’s US visit?

Ruto arrived in Washington on Wednesday for a three-day visit. Here are the key developments that have taken place since:

  • During bilateral discussions between Biden and Ruto, the two countries decided to establish dialogue on artificial intelligence, collaboratively support Somali “antiterrorism” efforts and push for a ceasefire in Sudan.
  • Ruto also affirmed that both countries are committed to the US-backed initiative to send a Kenya-led police force to Haiti, which is currently rife with gang violence. Biden defended his decision to withhold US forces from the Haiti mission.
  • Biden and Ruto launched the US-Kenya Climate and Clean Energy Industrial Partnership, where the two will work with international financial institutions and multilateral trust funds to mobilise investment in clean energy.
  • The two countries additionally announced collaboration in healthcare, between US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and Kenya’s government to work towards the launch of the Kenyan National Public Health Institute.
  • Biden hosted a state dinner for Ruto on Thursday with about 500 guests including former President Bill Clinton and his wife and former presidential nominee, Hillary, as well as former President Barack Obama.

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Patients in Gaza’s Al-Aqsa Hospital at ‘risk of death’ amid fuel shortages | Israel-Palestine conflict News

Severe fuel shortages have caused power outages at Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in central Gaza, with hospital officials warning that many sick and wounded patients face certain death if supplies needed to run medical equipment and generators are not replenished.

Early on Friday, the hospital in Deir el-Balah received 15,000 litres (4,000 gallons) of fuel but that will only last a few more days, Al Jazeera’s reporters in Gaza said. Overnight, the shortage forced medical workers to work in an almost pitch-dark environment, with doctors using the light from their mobile phones while tending to premature babies.

“We have hundreds of patients including the injured and those that are diagnosed with kidney failure and need electricity for their dialysis treatment,” Iyad al-Jabri, Al-Aqsa’s medical director, said in a statement on Friday.

“All the patients will be condemned to death. Especially those in the ICU, the incubators and those relying on dialysis treatment,” he added.

The hospital requires more than 4,000 litres (1,000 gallons) of fuel each day to continue operations and care for patients. Al-Jabri said any help they can offer patients “will stop completely” without any fuel.

“We are calling on international organisations to send 50,000 litres [13,200 gallons] of fuel before there is an imminent crisis here,” he added.

Israel’s months-long siege of Gaza has either destroyed or left most hospitals out of service. Those that have remained open, including Al-Aqsa, are barely functioning with supplies of medicine and fuel almost running out amid an overflow of patients.

Israel’s destruction of Gaza’s healthcare system, as well as its denial of treatment for Palestinian patients, are considered war crimes according to legal experts and human rights groups. On Friday the International Court of Justice will make a ruling on Israel’s military offensive in Rafah after South Africa approached the court to order Israel to stop.

At Al-Aqsa, hospital spokesman Khalil al-Deqran told Al Jazeera that the medical staff there have resorted to manually operating some equipment to be able to treat patients.

“This crisis is all over the place. We suffer a lot because of this crisis,” al-Deqran said.

“This will lead to the death of so many sick and wounded people,” he said, adding that some patients are being attended to on the hospital floor due to lack of space and overcrowding.

Al Jazeera’s Tareq Abu Azzoum, reporting outside Al-Aqsa Hospital, described the situation as “getting dire” by the day.

Other hospitals targeted

While Al-Aqsa turned dark overnight, other hospitals in northern Gaza are also facing more severe threats due to Israeli bombardment.

Abu Azzoum reported that Kamal Adwan Hospital was twice hit by Israeli artillery overnight, while al-Awda Hospital was hit at least once. Both hospitals have been repeatedly hit by Israeli forces over the last few months.

“We’ve been hearing from medics in al-Awda Hospital that Israeli soldiers have been destroying everything, including hospital doors, as they use loudspeakers to order patients and their families to flee,” he said.

Some medics refused to leave until the Israeli military brought ambulances that could help patients in critical condition get to the western side of Gaza City, or at least to a place where they could get proper medical treatment.

Israeli forces have also reportedly targeted other areas in northern Gaza, hitting both al-Faluja area of Jabalia camp and the nearby al-Fakhoura area.

At least two people were also reported killed in az-Zawadya area of central Gaza.

Further south, the Israeli military is inching closer to the outskirts of the Shaboura area of the Rafah refugee camp, where rocket and artillery fire can be heard, according to Palestinian news agency Wafa.

Israeli military vehicles had also made their way towards Rafah’s densely populated Yibna area in the west.

Right outside Rafah, Israeli quadcopters are said to be hovering over the European Gaza Hospital, the largest operating hospital in southern Gaza.

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Armenia returns four border villages to Azerbaijan as part of deal | Border Disputes News

Armenian PM Pashinyan has called the deal a ‘milestone’ on the road to peace between the rivals, but protesters accuse him of betrayal.

Armenia has returned four border villages to Azerbaijan, a key step towards normalising ties between the historic rivals who have fought two wars since the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Armenia’s security service said on Friday that its border guards had “officially” taken up new positions reflecting a border delimitation agreement between the two countries, handing back the villages of Baghanis, Voskepar, Kirants and Berkaber.

Confirming the handover, Azerbaijan’s Deputy Prime Minister Shahin Mustafayev meanwhile announced that his country’s border guards had taken control of the four settlements, which Azeris know as Baghanis Ayrum, Asagi Eskipara, Heyrimli and Kizilhacili.

Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan had agreed to the move in March as part of efforts to secure a lasting peace agreement between the countries. On May 16, Yerevan and Baku redrew 12.7km (8 miles) of borderland, reflecting the return of the four uninhabited villages that were seized in the 1990s by Armenia.

Pashinyan last week described the deal as a “very important milestone for further strengthening Armenia’s sovereignty and independence”.

However, Armenian residents of nearby settlements say the transfer could cut them off from the rest of the country and accuse Pashinyan of unilaterally giving away territory without any guarantees in return.

The premier’s move has set off weeks of antigovernment protests in Armenia, with thousands of demonstrators led by charismatic Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan accusing him of betrayal and demanding his resignation.

While the settlements are deserted, they are considered strategically important since they are located close to Armenia’s main highway north towards the border with Georgia. Much of Armenia’s trade travels on this road, and it goes to the pipeline through which it receives gas from Russia.

Peace deal

Azerbaijan had been demanding the return of the villages as a condition for a peace deal after more than three decades of conflict, mostly centred on the region of Nagorno-Karabakh.

Momentum shifted dramatically in favour of Azerbaijan last September when its forces staged a lightning offensive to regain control of Nagorno-Karabakh, where ethnic Armenians had enjoyed de facto independence since the mid-1990s.

Virtually the entire population of 100,000 people fled to Armenia within days.

The episode was a heavy blow to Yerevan, but it also removed a long-running source of disagreement from the table, paving the way for a deal that has been so far elusive.

Azerbaijan and Armenia still have other unresolved territorial disputes though, mostly focused on enclaves, with both sides demanding the other party relinquish control or provide access to them.

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Jeremy Corbyn to run as an independent in UK general election | Elections News

The 74-year-old ex-party leader will stand in his constituency of Islington North after being dropped from Labour candidate shortlist.

Former Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn will stand as an independent candidate in the United Kingdom’s general election on July 4, a move that could lead to a potential upset for Labour in his north London seat.

Corbyn, who has represented the London constituency of Islington North for more than 40 years, announced on Friday that he would contest the seat to be “an independent voice for equality, democracy and peace”.

Labour officials have not included the 74-year-old in a shortlist of candidates for the seat, prompting his decision to go it alone.

“I want our political parties to be democratic, but members of Islington North Labour have been denied the right to choose a candidate,” Corbyn said in a video announcing his plan.

“So we have to stand up. We have to stand up and say, we’re not taking this anymore. We will assert our rights. That’s why I’m standing to be an independent candidate for the people of Islington North.”

Labour suspended Corbyn in 2020 following a report into how anti-Semitism complaints were handled under his leadership. Corbyn was Labour leader at the last election in 2019 and has held the Islington North seat since 1983.

Corbyn, who has been a longtime, staunch critic of Israel’s policies on Palestine, had acknowledged some of the findings during his leadership, adding that Jewish members of the Labour Party and the wider community “were right to expect us to deal with it”. But he added that he did not accept “all the findings”.

An Al Jazeera investigation into the crisis found that senior Labour officials had at the time attempted to undermine support for Corbyn and, on some occasions, silence debate about Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.

Critic of Israel’s war on Gaza

After the October 7 attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Israel and the start of Israel’s relentless war on Gaza that killed over 35,000 Palestinians, Corbyn emerged anew as a critic of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and the overall policy of the Israeli government.

In November, he was one of the earliest politicians to urge the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate what he described as a “genocide” in Gaza.

“People in Gaza have been living under a blockade for the past 16 years and the Israeli occupation controls most of what goes in and out of Gaza,” he said, while also accusing politicians around the world of giving Israel a “green light to starve and slaughter the Palestinian people in the name of self-defence”.

He said the Hamas-led attack cannot justify “the indiscriminate bombing and starvation of the Palestinian people, who are being punished for a heinous crime they did not commit”.

Since October, Corbyn has also joined several protests in the UK denouncing Israel’s military operation in Gaza.

On Thursday, UK political leaders kicked off six weeks of campaigning before the country votes for a new government on July 4.

A snap Survation poll of voting intentions after Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s announcement put centre-left Labour on 48 points – its highest since November 2022 and 21 points ahead of the governing Conservatives, at 27.

Survation said the results were consistent with Labour’s polling throughout 2023 and this year. Other surveys have suggested similar results.

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After northern distraction, Russia steps up attacks on Ukraine’s east | Russia-Ukraine war News

Russia has intensified its attacks on the strategically important town of Chasiv Yar and other targets in Ukraine’s east, taking advantage of the fact that some Ukrainian units were diverted to fight its new incursion in the northern region of Kharkiv.

But Ukraine held the line during the past week, recapturing Russian footholds in Chasiv Yar.

Should the town fall, military observers say, it would put Russian forces in a position to attack the last remaining free cities in Donetsk – Kostiantynivka, Druzhivka, Sloviansk and Kramatorsk – which form Ukraine’s main line of defence in the region.

Ukraine also unleashed waves of aerial and naval drones, striking Russian refineries, oil depots, airfields and ports, and sinking the last missile carrier Russia had in the Black Sea.

Ukrainian officials have warned that they expect further waves of attacks in Kharkiv, and some observed a new build-up of Russian troops on Russian soil north of the city of Sumy, a possible indication of a new incursion.

But so far Ukraine has managed its slender resources efficiently enough to thwart Russia at every turn.

(Al Jazeera)

Russian forces unleashed a company-sized mechanised assault in Chasiv Yar on May 17 and 18, including two tanks and 21 infantry fighting vehicles. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said at least 20 of the vehicles were destroyed.

The Institute for the Study of War (ISW), a Washington-based think tank, said it was the first assault of such ambition in six weeks, as Russian forces sought to exploit the pressure on Ukraine’s defenders from their incursion in Kharkiv.

“Ukrainian forces have recently transferred elements of a Ukrainian brigade defending in the Chasiv Yar area to the Vovchansk area, and Russian forces have likely intensified offensive operations near Chasiv Yar to quickly take advantage of weakened Ukrainian defences,” said the ISW.

Zelenskyy told Reuters that the Russian incursion in Kharkiv had been stabilised, whereas the real fight was in the east.

“No one even notices that there are actually more battles in the east of the country, specifically in the Donbas direction: Kurakhove, Pokrovsk, Chasiv Yar,” he told the news agency.

The main thrust of the Kharkiv offensive was directed at Vovchansk, about 40km (25 miles) northeast of Kharkiv city, where Russian troops made gradual inroads throughout the week, but still only held about a quarter of the town.

A second Russian line of attack in Kharkiv was trying to reach the village of Lyptsi, but Zelenskyy said Ukraine had stalled both efforts 5-10km (3-6 miles) from the Russian border, less than two weeks after the May 10 incursion.

(Al Jazeera)

The Economist revealed details of an undated invasion plan that called for Russian forces to have reached a point 16km (10 miles) from the border within 72 hours, in order to be within shelling distance of Kharkiv.

Details began to emerge about how Russia had managed to get even as far as it did.

A Ukrainian officer told the Washington Post that Russian electronic warfare jamming had blinded the surveillance drones it flies daily along the border in the hours leading up to the invasion, delaying the mobilisation of defences.

The mayor of Vovchansk, Tamaz Gambarashvili, also told the New York Times that for  months before the invasion, a combination of Russian drone surveillance and artillery fire harassed Ukrainian soldiers trying to build trenches and concrete bunkers, leaving the first line of defence unprepared.

“Russia was constantly shelling everything we were building,” he said.

Zelenskyy sought to reassure Ukrainians at a media conference: “This is the first line – a line built in the war, under constant fire, by our military. The first and second lines are built by the military, the third line is built by local authorities. It is the most powerful – not because they are better than the military, but simply because it is further from weapons, from shells, from shelling.”

At the same time, Zelenskyy reportedly stepped up pressure on Washington to allow Ukraine to use United States-supplied weapons inside Russian territory.

So far Britain is the only NATO member that has explicitly said Ukraine may do so, and publicly US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin reiterated the Washington line.

(Al Jazeera)

But military observers say defending Ukraine is impossible if Russia can marshal its forces on the other side of the border immune from strikes.

“The Russian Air Force can strike no fewer than 2,480 Ukrainian settlements in Chernihiv, Sumy and Kharkiv [regions] together without ever leaving Russian airspace,” wrote George Barros at the ISW.

“Ukraine cannot defend its frontline positions from Russian glide bombs so long as Ukraine cannot intercept Russian aircraft in Russian airspace with US-provided air defence systems.”

Ukraine has been able to use its domestically built drones to attack Russia and US-made weapons to attack Russian-occupied Crimea and did so to great effect during the past week.

Ukraine attacked the Belbek airfield in western Crimea on the night of May 14-15, probably using US Army Tactical Missiles (ATACMS).

Russia’s defence ministry said it had shot down 10 of the missiles, but Ukrainian journalist Yuriy Butusov said a MiG-31 aircraft and two air defence systems were destroyed, and three Sukhoi Su-27 aircraft were damaged.

More missiles struck Belbek the following night. The partisan movement Atesh said its agents had confirmed “many hours of subsequent detonation of the main missile and artillery weapons warehouse.”

The following day Ukrainian military intelligence and security sources told Suspilne, the public broadcasting company of Ukraine, that their drones had struck the ports of Novorossiysk in Russia and Sevastopol in Crimea, and the Tuapse refinery in Russia.

The attack was massive. Russia’s defence ministry said it had destroyed 123 aerial drones and 25 naval drones.

On May 19 three ATACMS missiles hit a vessel in Sevastopol, and Ukrainian drones hit the Slavyansk refinery and the Kushchyovskaya airfield, both in the Russian border region of Krasnodar Krai, to the east of Crimea. Intelligence sources told Suspilne the drones had damaged several aircraft and several distillation columns.

Further afield, near Leningrad, a sabotage operation appeared to have detonated fuel tanks at the Vyborg oil depot.

Ukraine’s crowning achievement of the week may have been to sink the Tsyklon, a Karakhut-class missile carrier – apparently the ship that was struck by ATACMS missiles in Sevastopol. Ukrainian Navy spokesman Dmytro Pletenchuk said it was the last remaining missile carrier of its class in the Black Sea.

(Al Jazeera)

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India Lok Sabha election 2024 Phase 6: Who votes and what’s at stake? | India Election 2024 News

India’s staggered general election is heading towards its penultimate phase, with voters from eight states and federally-governed union territories poised to decide the fate of 889 candidates on May 25.

Among some prominent candidates, Kanhaiya Kumar, a former student leader and fierce critic of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, is challenging sitting MP Manoj Tiwari, regional Bhojpuri language cinema actor and singer, in the North East Delhi constituency, while Minister of Education Dharmendra Pradhan is seeking to enter the Lok Sabha, the lower House of Indian Parliament, from Sambalpur in the eastern state of Odisha.

The sixth phase will see all seven seats in the Indian capital region, a stronghold of the local governing Aam Aadmi Party (AAP), go to polls. The first five phases – April 19, April 26, May 7, May 13 and May 20 – saw voter turnouts of 66.1, 66.7, 61, 67.3 and 60.5 percent, respectively.

The Indian National Developmental Inclusive Alliance (INDIA), led by the main opposition Congress party, has promised to address the economic distress and lack of employment generation as it aims to challenge the electoral dominance of the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), led by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).

Who is voting in the sixth phase?

Registered voters in the following six states and two union territories will cast their ballots for 58 seats:

  • Haryana: All 10 of the northern state’s constituencies
  • Jharkhand: Four of the eastern state’s 14 constituencies
  • Odisha: Six of the eastern state’s 21 constituencies
  • Uttar Pradesh: 14 of the northern state’s 80 constituencies
  • Bihar: Eight of the eastern state’s 40 constituencies
  • West Bengal: Eight of the eastern state’s 42 constituencies
  • Delhi: All seven National Capital Territory (NCT) constituencies
  • Jammu and Kashmir: Anantnag-Rajouri, one of the union territory’s five constituencies where polling was deferred from Phase 3 to Phase 6 due to weather conditions

What are some of the key constituencies?

New Delhi, North East Delhi (NCT): The battle for Delhi has gotten ugly with the region’s popular Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal unleashing a sharp attack on Modi after getting out of jail on bail in a corruption case. He has accused the BJP of using investigative agencies to frame him. A number of opposition leaders have either been jailed or are facing corruption cases. Kejriwal’s AAP has joined forces with the Congress to wrest the seven seats from the BJP.

It is going to be an uphill task for Congress candidate Kanhaiya Kumar, who lost to BJP’s Giriraj Singh in Bihar’s Begusarai in the 2019 elections, to defeat Tiwari – a two-time MP representing North East Delhi. In 2019, Tiwari defeated Congress stalwart and three-time Chief Minister of Delhi Sheila Dikshit by a margin of more than 360,000 votes.

The BJP, which swept Delhi Lok Sabha seats in 2014 and 2019, has fielded Bansuri Swaraj, the 40-year-old daughter of former Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj, for the New Delhi seat. She is being challenged by AAP’s Somnath Bharti.

Kurukshetra, Gurgaon and Karnal (Haryana): The BJP swept all the 10 seats in Haryana state, primarily an agricultural belt neighbouring Delhi, in 2019. But since then, the party has faced backlash from sections of the state, after cracking down on the 2021 farmers’ agitation. The Modi government, which promised to double farm income by 2022, has been accused of helping corporate groups at the expense of farmers. The BJP, which governs the state, has denied the accusations.

Leading industrialist Naveen Jindal is seeking election from Kurukshetra after switching from the Congress to the BJP. He lost the last two elections (2014 and 2019) to the BJP after previously representing the constituency for 10 years. BJP leader and former Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar is contesting from Karnal against Congress’s Satpal Brahmachari, while the BJP’s Rao Inderjit Singh, a federal minister, is hoping to continue his victory run from Gurgaon – a satellite city on the outskirts of Delhi – with actor-turned-politician Raj Babbar of the Congress as the key challenger.

Anantnag-Rajouri (J&K): People’s Democratic Party leader and former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti is aiming to enter parliament from Anantnag-Rajouri. She is facing Mian Altaf Ahmad of the National Conference party.

Azamgarh, Sultanpur (Uttar Pradesh): Azamgarh in eastern Uttar Pradesh voted for the BJP in 2019, when Dinesh Lal Yadav Nirahua, a popular Bhojpuri actor, was elected. The Samajwadi Party, which is the main opposition party in the state, has fielded Dharmendra Yadav, nephew of former Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav. The constituency has in the past sent Mulayam and his son Akhilesh Yadav, also a former chief minister and the party chief, to parliament.

Tamluk (West Bengal): Abhijit Gangopadhyay, who resigned as a judge, is contesting the election on a BJP ticket from this constituency. He will be up against Debangshu Bhattacharya of the governing Trinamool Congress (TMC) party – a constituent of the INDIA alliance.

When does the voting start and end?

Voting will begin at 7am (01:30 GMT) and end at 6pm (12:30 GMT). Voters already in the queue by the time polls close will get to vote even if that means keeping polling stations open longer.

The seventh and final phase of the election will be held on June 1. Vote counting will be done on June 4 and results will likely be announced the same day.

Which parties rule the states being polled in the sixth phase?

  • The BJP governs Uttar Pradesh and Haryana outright and governs Bihar in an alliance.
  • Odisha is governed by the NDA-aligned Biju Janata Dal (BJD).
  • Jharkhand is governed by the INDIA alliance led by the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM).
  • The TMC of INDIA has been governing West Bengal since 2011.
  • The AAP, a part of the INDIA alliance, rules Delhi.
  • Jammu and Kashmir is governed directly by the central government under Prime Minister Modi.

Who won these Lok Sabha seats in 2019?

In the last Lok Sabha elections, the Congress, parties now affiliated with the INDIA alliance and the constituents of the erstwhile Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) won seven of the 58 seats to be decided on May 25.

The BJP and the NDA-allied parties won 42 of these seats.

The BJD won four of the seats in Odisha while the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) won four seats in Uttar Pradesh.

How much of India has voted so far?

The first five phases of the Lok Sabha elections have already decided the fate of 429 MPs.

So far, voting has concluded for all seats in the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Meghalaya, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Karnataka, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh, Telangana, Nagaland, Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh, Goa, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura, and union territories of Andaman and Nicobar Islands; Dadra and Nagar Haveli, Daman and Diu, Ladakh, Lakshadweep and Puducherry.

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