Washington, DC —
The White House expressed hope Friday that there was progress in talks regarding the release of the remaining Hamas hostages in Gaza, as President Joe Biden's envoy to the Middle East returned to Washington from the region.
National Security Council spokesman John Kirby said Biden spoke with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi on Friday. The US president also spoke with Qatari Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani in an effort to free the hostages, Kirby said.
Meanwhile, CIA chief William Burns will meet with his Israeli and Egyptian counterparts, as well as the Emir of Qatar, regarding the release of the remaining hostages, and on efforts to broker a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, US media reported.
Biden's Middle East envoy, Brett McGurk, is engaged in “active” discussions to ensure the release of the hostages, according to the White House.
Qatar has played a key role in the negotiations since November, when the first group of hostages was freed from Gaza.
The warring parties are trying to negotiate a new ceasefire that would allow the release of more hostages and the release of Palestinians detained by Israel. Around 100 hostages held by Hamas and 240 Palestinians imprisoned by Israel were freed in a ceasefire that took place at the end of November.
However, to date no new ceasefire agreement has been reached.
Judges and related parties sat in a hearing at the International Court of Justice discussing Israel's accusation of genocide in Gaza, which was held in The Hague, Netherlands (photo: doc).
International Court Orders Israel to Prevent Genocide in Gaza
Meanwhile, in a majority decision attended by at least 15 of the 17 judges on Friday (26/1), the International Court of Justice or ICJ in The Hague, ordered Israel to prevent acts of genocide against Palestinians and do more to help civilians, but did not order Israel to carry out a ceasefire as requested by South Africa as the plaintiff.
South Africa took the case against Israel to a UN court this month, accusing Israel of state-led genocide in its attacks on Hamas.
The premise of South African law in this case is that genocide is a crime so serious that all states have a duty to prevent it.
While the decision dashes Palestinian hopes of a binding ceasefire order in Gaza, it also represents a legal setback for Israel, which had hoped that the UN tribunal would dismiss the case brought under the genocide convention established after the Holocaust.
The International Court of Justice said the war caused grievous humanitarian harm. They also said they were “deeply concerned” about the fate of the hostages being held in Gaza and called on Hamas and other armed groups to immediately and unconditionally release them. The hostages were captured in the October 7 attack on Israel that sparked conflict between Israel and Hamas.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said the decision was a reminder that “no country is above the law.” Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters the decision would contribute to “isolation of the occupation and exposing (Israel's) crimes in Gaza.”
Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu welcomed the ICJ's decision not to order a ceasefire but rejected claims of genocide as “outrageous” and said that Israel would continue to defend itself.
Israel is required to submit a report to the court on the steps it has taken to comply with the order within one month of the ruling. The court will examine in detail the merits of the case, a process that could take years.
Although the ICJ's decision is final and without appeal, the court has no way to enforce the decision.
Israel said it was making its best efforts to avoid civilian casualties.
Palestinians arrive in the southern Gaza town of Rafah after fleeing Israeli ground and air strikes near Khan Younis, January 26, 2024. Israel expands its offensive in Khan Younis, saying the town is a stronghold of the militant group Hamas.
Tewan's victims have exceeded 26 thousand people
Gaza's Health Ministry said on Friday that the death toll in the territory had risen to more than 26,000 people, with more than 64,400 injured, in more than three months of war.
The ministry said Friday morning that in the past 24 hours, 183 Palestinians were killed in Israeli attacks and 377 others were injured.
The Israeli military said it was investigating an attack on Thursday that killed at least 20 people and injured 150 others at a roundabout in Gaza City. The attack occurred as Palestinians waited for humanitarian aid, Hamas health officials said.
Also in central Gaza, Palestinian health officials said an overnight Israeli airstrike on a house in the Al-Nusseirat refugee camp had killed six people.
The fighting has severely disrupted the flow of humanitarian aid to Gaza, and international charity ActionAid said on Thursday that hunger there had reached catastrophic levels, prompting people to grind animal feed to make flour.
“Famine is occurring across the region,” ActionAid said in a statement, “while pockets of famine are strongly suspected in the north, where aid is extremely difficult to reach.”
The fighting is part of Israel's efforts to end Hamas' control of the Gaza Strip since the Oct. 7 terror attack, when Hamas militants invaded southern Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking around 240 hostage. (pp/ft)
Some information for this report came from the AP, AFP and Reuters news agencies.