In addition to the many war deaths in the Gaza Strip, there are now also deaths from starvation. South Africa wants to provide people with help through an urgent application. Israel makes a different calculation.
Israel has called for the International Court of Justice in The Hague to forcefully reject South Africa’s urgent request for humanitarian aid in the Gaza Strip.
“South Africa continues to act as the legal arm of Hamas and acts against Israel’s right to defend itself and its citizens and to advocate for the release of those abducted,” Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Lior Haiat said on X. Israel is acting in accordance with international law and allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.
“Widespread famine”
South Africa had urgently requested the International Court of Justice to order Israel to allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. Pretoria justified this with “widespread famine” in the sealed-off coastal strip, according to a statement from the court in The Hague on Wednesday.
At the end of December, South Africa sued Israel before the International Court of Justice for alleged violations of the Genocide Convention committed in the Gaza war. The UN court ruled in an interim ruling that Israel must take protective measures to prevent genocide.
In view of increasingly harsh criticism from other countries over the catastrophic supply situation in the Gaza Strip, the government in Jerusalem emphasized on Wednesday that more aid supplies are currently arriving in the coastal strip than before the start of the war. “In the past two weeks, an average of 102 food shipments have entered the Gaza Strip every day. That is almost 50 percent more than before Hamas started the war on October 7,” said government spokesman Eylon Levy. There is a “flood of false reports that Israel would limit the amount of aid deliveries. “There are no restrictions. I repeat: none,” the spokesman emphasized. The problem is the distribution within the Gaza Strip, for which the UN is responsible.
Hamas: 30,800 dead and almost 72,300 injured
The situation of the people in the small coastal strip is becoming increasingly desperate; according to the UN, there is a risk of famine if aid deliveries, especially by trucks, are not increased. The Hamas-controlled health authority said on Wednesday that at least 20 people had died due to starvation and dehydration. South Africa complained that at least 15 children starved to death last week. An employee of the German Press Agency in the Gaza Strip also reported that many young mothers had problems breastfeeding their babies because of the poor nutritional situation.
The Gaza war was triggered by the worst massacre in Israel’s history, which terrorists from the Islamist Hamas and other extremist groups carried out in Israel on October 7th. Israel responded with massive bombings and shortly afterwards with a ground offensive in the Gaza Strip. The Hamas health authority has since put the number of deaths at 30,800 and the number of injured at almost 72,300.
Source: Stern
I have been working in the news industry for over 6 years, first as a reporter and now as an editor. I have covered politics extensively, and my work has appeared in major newspapers and online news outlets around the world. In addition to my writing, I also contribute regularly to 24 Hours World.
