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Live updates | UN court keeps genocide case against Israel alive as Gaza death toll surpasses 26,000

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The death toll from the Israel-Hamas war in the Gaza Strip surpassed 26,000 on Friday as the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to limit deaths and damage but stopped short of demanding a cease-fire in the Palestinian territory.

The Health Ministry in Hamas-ruled Gaza said that 26,083 people have been killed and more than 64,400 wounded since Oct. 7, the day militants from the territory launched a surprise attack in southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking about 250 hostages.

South Africa has accused Israel of genocide and asked the world court in The Hague, Netherlands, to impose interim measures as the case proceeds. The requested measures included ordering Israel to stop its offensive, to allow Gaza residents access to aid and to take “reasonable measures” to prevent genocide.

Israel has denied committing genocide and asked the court to throw out the case, which the panel of 17 judges refused to do.

Currently:

— Israel vows to fight Hamas all the way to Gaza’s southern border. That’s fueling tension with Egypt.

— How genocide officially became a crime, and why South Africa is accusing Israel of committing it.

— Georgia lawmakers, in support of Israel, pass a bill that would define antisemitism in state law.

— The U.S. and the U.K. sanction four Yemeni Houthi leaders over Red Sea shipping attacks.

— Find more of AP’s coverage at https://apnews.com/hub/israel-hamas-war.

Here's the latest:

NETANYAHU SAYS ISRAEL WILL DO ‘WHAT IS NECESSARY’ DESPITE UN COURT'S ORDERS

JERUSALEM — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel will continue to do "what is necessary” to defend itself after the U.N.'s top court issued a ruling that harshly criticized Israel’s war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.

The International Court of Justice stopped short Friday of ordering a cease-fire in Gaza but demanded that Israel try to contain death and damage from its military offensive in the tiny coastal enclave.

The world court based in The Hague, Netherlands, issued six interim actions it wants Israel to take as a panel of 17 judges considers genocide charges against the country brought by South Africa. The court on Friday denied Israel's request to throw out the case.

Netanyahu rejected the genocide claims as “outrageous” and vowed to press ahead with the war. “We will continue to do what is necessary to defend out country and defend our people,” he said.

“Israel’s commitment to international law is unwavering. Equally unwavering is our sacred commitment to continue to defend our country and defend our people," the Israeli leader added.

He said Israel would “continue to facilitate humanitarian assistance, and to do our utmost to keep civilians out of harm’s way, even as Hamas uses civilians as human shields.”

UN COURT TELLS ISRAEL TO ENSURE IMMEDIATE PROVISION OF AID TO GAZA

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The president of the International Court of Justice says Israel must report back to the U.N.'s top tribunal in one month to show it has implemented the interim measures it ordered Friday to limit further deaths and destruction in the Gaza Strip.

During a one-hour hearing in The Hague, Netherlands, Judge Joan E. Donoghue listed the steps the court is demanding while it considers genocide charges that South Africa brought against Israel over the tens of thousands civilian casualties from its military campaign against Hamas.

The orders call on Israel to take all steps within its power to prevent a genocide, to make sure that any evidence that could point toward genocide is not destroyed, and to “prevent and punish public incitement” that could encourage genocide.

Israel also must also take “immediate and effective measures to ensure the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to address the adverse conditions of life faced by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.”

While the ruling stopped short of South Africa’s request for a cease-fire, it nonetheless amounted to an rebuke of Israel’s wartime conduct.

CONTAINING CASUALTIES FROM ISRAEL'S OFFENSIVE GETS BROAD SUPPORT FROM JUDGES

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The six interim actions that the U.N.'s top court ordered Israel to take to reduce civilian casualties in Gaza received broad support among the 17 judges participating in the genocide case South Africa brought against Israel.

Many of the provisional measures ordered by the International Court of Justice on Friday were endorsed by an overwhelming majority of the panel, which included an Israeli judge who voted with the majority on several orders.

The Israeli judge, Aharon Barak, wrote in a separate opinion that “although I am convinced there is no plausibility of genocide,” he voted for two of the measures. He said he joined the majority in ordering Israel to refrain from public incitement “in the hope that the measure will help to decrease tensions and discourage damaging rhetoric.”

He said he voted for a measure about ensuring humanitarian aid in the hope that it “will alleviate the consequences of the armed conflict for the most vulnerable.”

During a one-hour reading of the court’s findings in The Hague, Netherlands, Israel was criticized time and again for its extraordinary use of force in Gaza, for top officials inciting the public in a way that dehumanized Palestinians, and for the tens of thousands of dead and wounded among the territory’s civilian population.

INTERNATIONAL COURT TELLS ISRAEL TO LIMIT DEATHS IN GAZA

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The International Court of Justice has ordered Israel to take steps to try to reduce further deaths and damage in the Gaza Strip but stopped short of demanding a stop to the blistering offensive that has decimated the Palestinian territory.

The court in The Hague, Netherlands, ordered a total of six provisional measures on Friday as it considers the genocide charges that South Africa brought against Israel. South Africa requested interim steps since the proceedings could take several years.

Court President Joan E. Donoghue said there were enough elements in South Africa’s arguments to continue the genocide case but that Israeli troops had to do much more in the meantime to protect Palestinian civilians in Gaza.

She said the court was “of the view that Israel must take measures within its power to prevent and punish the direct and public incitement to commit genocide.”

TOP UN COURT REFUSES TO THROW OUT GENOCIDE CASE AGAINST ISRAEL

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — The United Nations’ top court has refused to throw out the genocide case that South Africa filed against Israel.

The International Court of Justice is not deciding Friday whether Israel has committed genocide in the Gaza Strip but only ruling on South Africa's request for interim measures, including an order for Israel to halt its military offensive in Gaza.

While Israel asked the court to throw out the case, court president Joan E. Donoghue said a panel of 17 judges concluded that it has appropriate jurisdiction and therefore “cannot accede to Israel’s request for the case to be removed.”

Donoghue opened the hearing in The Hague, Netherlands, by noting that Israel's war against Hamas "is causing massive civilian casualties, extensive destruction of civilian infrastructure and the displacement of the overwhelming majority of the population in Gaza.

"The court is acutely aware of the extent of the human tragedy that is unfolding in the region and is deeply concerned about the continuing loss of life and human suffering,” the judge said.

HAMAS OFFICIAL SAYS GROUP WOULD ABIDE BY A COURT-ORDERED CEASE-FIRE

RAMALLAH, West Bank — A Palestinian delegation plans to be in The Hague when the International Court of Justice announces whether it is ordering Israel to suspend its offensive against Hamas militants and to take other steps to protect Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

The world court is delivering its preliminary decisions in a genocide case that South Africa brought against Israel. The court is set to rule Friday only on South Africa's request for interim measures to ease the suffering in Gaza while the case proceeds, a process expected to take several years.

“By moving quickly and issuing the ruling only two weeks after the oral hearings, the court acknowledges the urgency of the situation on the ground,” the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Meanwhile, a top official with Hamas says his group will abide by a cease-fire if the court in the Netherlands calls for one.

Osama Hamdan said Thursday that Hamas also would be ready to release the remaining hostages it is holding if Israel releases Palestinian prisoners.

Hamdan says Hamas is open to all initiatives for an exchange but that the hostages would not return home until there was “a comprehensive cease of the aggression against our people.” He added that any delays or procrastination “means more deaths among (Israelis).”

ISRAELI STRIKES ON A REFUGEE CAMP KILL 15 PALESTINIANS

DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip — Fifteen Palestinians, including an infant, were killed in Israeli airstrikes on two apartment buildings in the central Gaza Strip, according to an Associated Press journalist who saw the bodies at a local hospital Friday.

The strikes hit the Nuseirat refugee camp on Thursday evening, and the dead were taken to the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Hospital in the nearby town of Deir al-Balah.

One of the bombardments killed seven members of the Rawah family, including a 5-month-old baby.

The strikes came as the Israeli army continued to expand its assault on the southern half of war-stricken Gaza, with a focus on Khan Younis, Gaza’s second-largest city.

The Israeli military said its troops were engaging in close, urban combat with Hamas fighters in neighborhoods of Khan Younis. The military says it is calling in airstrikes and attack helicopters to hit militants allegedly spotted with rocket-propelled grenades and other weapons.

Earlier this week,the military ordered civilians to evacuate most of the western half of the city and the Khan Younis refugee camp.

Hamas has reported that troops from the Izzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the group’s military wing, are battling Israeli forces in the heart of the city.

MORE THAN 26,000 PEOPLE HAVE BEEN KILLED IN GAZA SINCE THE ISRAEL-HAMAS WAR STARTED, HEALTH MINISTRY SAYS

RAFAH, Gaza Strip — The number of Palestinians killed in Gaza since the start of the Israel-Hamas war has surpassed 26,000, the Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Friday.

The ministry said the total number of dead is 26,083, with 64,487 Palestinians wounded since the start of the war on Oct. 7. The ministry does not differentiate between combatants and civilians in its death toll, but has said about two-thirds of those killed were women and children.

In the past 24 hours, 183 people were killed and 377 others were injured, ministry spokesperson Ashraf al-Qidra said in a statement.

Israel’s blistering ground and air offensive has decimated vast swaths of Gaza during the nearly 4-month-old war. The conflict broke out on Oct. 7 when Hamas militants stormed southern Israel, killing about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and abducted some 250.

SOUTH AFRICA ISSUES A STATEMENT AHEAD OF THE INTERNATIONAL COURT'S INTERIM RULING EXPECTED FRIDAY

CAPE TOWN, South Africa — South Africa’s foreign ministry said in a statement that it was seeking an interim ruling that “Israel immediately cease its military operations in Gaza, take reasonable measures to prevent the genocide of Palestinians, ensure that the displaced return to their homes and have access to humanitarian assistance, including adequate food, water, fuel, medical and hygiene supplies, shelter and clothing.”

The statement late Thursday also said Israel should “take necessary steps to punish those involved in the genocide and preserve the evidence of genocide.” Israel has denied the allegations of genocide.

South Africa will be represented at the ruling at The Hague by Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor, who spoke with United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken by phone Thursday, according to the State Department. State Department spokesperson Matthew Miller said Blinken spoke about the need to protect civilians in the war in Gaza and ensure there was humanitarian assistance to Palestinian civilians, while working toward lasting regional peace that “ensures Israel’s security and advances the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.”

“The secretary reaffirmed support for Israel’s right to ensure the terrorist attacks of Oct. 7 can never be repeated,” Miller said.


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