Netanyahu claims 'hypocrisy' at ICJ, says Israel is 'fighting genocide': Day 97 of Hamas-Israel war

Thank you for following our LIVE coverage from day 97 of the Hamas-Israel war.

We'll be back tomorrow with more news updates and analysis, right here at L'Orient Today.

The Palestinian squad at the Asian Cup in Qatar hope to bring honor to their compatriots in the war-ravaged Gaza Strip with their first victory at the tournament since the team's debut in 2015.

Midfielder Oday Kharoub said it has been difficult for players, especially those with families in Gaza, to focus on training when their eyes are glued to the news between sessions, keenly following what is happening back home.

"Our hearts are with them and we can only pray for them," Kharoub said. "Inshallah, we can make them happy, even if it's just a little bit, by qualifying for the next round. This is our ambition."

Defender Mousa Farawi said they have steeled themselves to play in high spirits despite the situation in Gaza.

"The group we have is really special, so we hope for God to give us good fortune and give each player the bravery to deliver on a high level. I see Palestine in the second round, God willing."

👉 Read more here.

Israeli artillery targeted the outskirts of the southern Lebanese towns of Dhaira and Alma al-Shaab, both located in Sour district, a security source told our correspondent in the south, Muntasser Abdallah.

From...

"Israel has always been a state above the law. They did what they did in Gaza because they knew they couldn't be punished as long as America was on their side. It is time to change that."

To...

"Today we witnessed one of the greatest shows of hypocrisy in history and a series of baseless and false claims."

👉 Read some of the world's reactions on the first day of South Africa's case against Israel at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands.

Israeli artillery targeted Hamams Hill, south of the Lebanese town of Khiam, Nabatieh district, local residents told L'Orient Today's correspondent in the south.

Israeli artillery targeted the area of Khallet al-Naml, near the government hospital in Mais al-Jabal, Marjayoun district.

Israeli machine gun fire also targeted the vicinity of the town of Kfar Kila, Marjayoun district, according to local residents there.

The head of Human Rights Watch praised South Africa for bringing Israel's military campaign against Gaza to the top UN court and said the international community would be responsible for ensuring that Israel complies with any judicial decision, Reuters reports.

South Africa demanded an emergency suspension of Israel's aerial and ground offensive in the Palestinian enclave, telling the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague that Israel was committing genocidal acts.

"South Africa is providing important leadership here. It's really using this important opportunity," said Tirana Hassan, executive director of Human Rights Watch.

👉 Read more here.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says that hypocrisy and lies were presented to the UN's top court, adding that South Africa's accusation against Israel of genocide in Gaza could only happen in a world turned upside-down, according to a report from Reuters.

"We are fighting terrorists, we are fighting lies," Netanyahu said. "Today we saw an upside-down world. Israel is accused of genocide while it is fighting against genocide."

The number of Israeli soldiers killed in Gaza sits at 187 according to the army's latest tally, and 1,140 people were killed during the initial Oct. 7 Hamas attack, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.

In Gaza, the death toll has reached 23,469 Palestinians killed since Oct. 7 by Israeli bombardment and ground invasion.

👉 Read more here.

Palestinian-American House representative and lawyer Rashida Tlaib along with progressive Congresswoman Cori Bush have released a statement in support of the genocide hearings against Israel, initiated by South Africa and currently underway at the International Court of Justice, saying that the United States has had a “devastating role in the ongoing violence in Gaza.”

“As one of the countries that has agreed to the Genocide Convention, the US must stop trying to discredit and undermine this case and the international legal system it claims to support,” the joint statement reads. “Our commitment to supporting the human rights of all people must be unconditional.”

Israeli artillery shelling targeted the outskirts of the southern Lebanese town of Alma al-Shaab, Sour district, according to residents there.

The Israeli army claims that it is justified in having killed two Al Jazeera journalists in an air strike on their car in southern Gaza on Sunday, because the two men were operating a drone, posing a threat to troops, according to a report from AFP.

The Israeli army referred to Hamza Wael Dahdouh, son of Al Jazeera's Gaza bureau chief, and Mustafa Thuria, a freelance videographer for AFP and other news organizations, as "terror operatives."

Thuria used drones for taking photos and videos which he sold to local and international news agencies, a common practice among photo-journalists worldwide.

Both Hamas, and family members of the slain journalists refute Israeli claims that the journalists were involved in any work other than professional journalism.

👉 Read more here.

Any US attack on Yemen's Houthis will not go without a response, the group's leader Abdel-Malek al-Houthi said in a televised speech, Reuters reports. The leader said that any such response would be bigger than the recent strike in which its drones and missiles targeted a US ship in the Red Sea.

"Any American attack will not remain without a response. The response will be greater than the attack that was carried out with twenty drones and a number of missiles," he said.

Yemen's Iran-backed Houthi militants have stepped up attacks on commercial vessels in the Red Sea in protest against Israel's war in Gaza. Various shipping lines, including some of the world's largest, have suspended operations, instead taking the longer journey around Africa.

"We are more determined to target ships linked to Israel, and we will not back down from that," al-Houthi said.

Hezbollah announces its fighters targeted at 3:05 p.m. a group of Israeli soldiers in Tal Shaar, facing the Lebanese town of Aita al-Shaab, Bint Jbeil district.

In another statement, the party said it targeted at 4:30 p.m. a group of Israeli soldiers in the vicinity of the Israeli Birkat Risha site, facing the southern Lebanese town of Boustane, Sour district.

Hezbollah announces that it targeted at 4 p.m. the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona with dozens of rockets.

According to the party statement, the attack was carried out "in response to the Israeli attacks on civilians, including the recent assault on the volunteer unit of the Civil Defense Center in the southern town of Hanin [Bint Jbeil district]," which resulted in the killing of paramedics Ali Mahmoud Al-Sheikh Ali and Sajid Ramzi Qasim.

An Israeli airstrike targeted with a missile the Jabal Blatt area, on the outskirts of the southern Lebanese town of Marwahine, Sour district, according to eyewitnesses.

Israeli artillery shelling also targeted an area between Dhaira and Alma al-Shaab, both in Sour district, and the outskirts of Houla, Nabatieh district.

The Israeli strikes that targeted the southern Lebanese town of Khiam earlier hit a three-story building in the Wadi Al-Asafir neighborhood, leaving some people with minor injuries from shattered glass, our correspondent in the south reports.

Hezbollah announces that at 3 p.m., its fighters targeted the Israeli Ramta site located in the Lebanese Shebaa Farms.

Israeli artillery targeted the southern Lebanese town of Labounneh, south of Naqoura, with four shells, local residents tell L'Orient Today's correspondent in the south, Muntasser Abdallah.

A number of rockets were launched from the south of Lebanon towards the northern Israeli town of Kiryat Shmona, which faces Hula, Nabatieh district, security sources told L'Orient Today. Haaretz reported that rocket alarms were activated in northern Israel, in the city of Kiryat Shmona.

Israeli artillery targeted Wadi al-Hujair (valley) in the district of Marjayoun, local residents told our correspondent.

Israeli artillery targeted the southern Lebanese town of Alma al-Shaab, Sour district, with three missiles, local residents tell our correspondent in the south.

Hezbollah announces the death of two paramedic members working for the civil defense team of the Islamic Health Association, affiliated with Hezbollah.

Their names are Ali Mahmoud Al-Sheikh Ali, who is from the southern town of Rashaf, Bint Jbeil district, and Sajid Ramzi Qasim, from the town of Aita al-Shaab, also Bint Jbeil district. The two paramedics "heroically sacrificed [their lives] on the path to Jerusalem," the phrase often used by Hezbollah when referring to people killed while fighting Israel. The party did not provide any further details.

Hezbollah announces that it targeted a group of Israeli soldiers in the vicinity of the hill of al-Tayhat and Mount Nather, which face the southern Lebanese village of Mais al-Jabal in the Marjayoun district, with "rocket weapons, causing confirmed casualties, including both fatalities and injuries." The party statement said the attack was this afternoon but did not specify the exact time.

Israeli warplanes targeted the southern Lebanese town of Khiam, Nabatieh district, launching two missiles, security sources told L'Orient Today.

The Iranian navy claims to have seized an oil tanker off the coast of Oman, according to AFP citing Iranian state media. 

The Gazan Ministry of Health announces a new death toll of 23,469 in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war between Hamas and Israel, reports AFP.

The ministry added that 59,604 have been injured.

South Africa is behaving like " the legal arm of the terrorist organization Hamas" by accusing Israel of genocide before the highest court of the UN, the Israeli Foreign Ministry slammed Thursday.

“South Africa seeks to enable Hamas to recommit the war crimes, crimes against humanity, sexual crimes that they repeatedly perpetrated on Oct. 7,” according to the ministry's statement.

Hezbollah announces that they targeted at 2:15 p.m. an Israeli position facing the southern Lebanon border village of Aitaroun (Bint Jbeil) and said they "directly hit the target."

The American envoy for energy security Amos Hochstein is currently meeting with the Speaker of Parliament, Nabih Berri, in Ain el-Tineh, reports the state-run National News Agency.

Earlier, he was received by caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati at the Grand Serail.

A rapprochement between Israel and the Arab countries, the majority of which do not recognize it, would be "the best way to isolate Iran and its proxies," said US Secretary of State Antony Blinken from Cairo, reported AFP.

“Israel's security and [regional] integration are linked to opening a path towards a Palestinian state,” he added during the final stage of his diplomatic marathon in the Middle East dedicated to the conflict in Gaza.

Hezbollah announced in a statement that Israel hit one of their medical centers in the southern Lebanese village of Hanine which led to the killing of two people and the injuries of others who were present in the center.

"What happened is a blatant attack on a center that does services to Lebanese citizens and rescuing and hospitalizing the injured due to the continuous Israeli aggression on our people and country and a continuous policy to the zionist aggression which is based on killing and intimidation," the statement added.

British lawyer Vaughan Lowe continued to defend South Africa's position against Israel before the International Court of Justice (ICJ):

“We are witnessing attacks that terrorize the population of Gaza, without distinguishing between the innocent and the guilty...Genocide is not an acceptable response. Any use of force, whether for self-defense or other purposes, must be exercised within the bounds of international law. Genocidal attacks against Gaza and its people, with the intention of destroying them, cannot be justified."

The Israeli army denied on Thursday that it was behind a strike on an ambulance the day before in the Gaza Strip, killing six people including four rescuers from the Palestinian Red Crescent, reported the AFP.

“No strike was carried out in the designated sector,” the army responded to AFP, indicating that it had “conducted an examination [of the facts] based on the details” that were given to it.

Hezbollah MP Ali Fayad says there is only "one door" to stop the ongoing clashes between his party and Israel which is that the Israelis would stop their war on Gaza.

During the funeral of one of his party's fighters in Kfar Shouba, Fayad criticized US diplomatic efforts in the region as US envoy Amos Hochstein is meeting Lebanese caretaker Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Parliamentary Speaker Nabih Berri today.

Fayad addressed the Americans saying "You are knocking on the wrong door, there is only one door to stop what is happening, which is to stop the zionist criminals with their war on Gaza."

(Photo: Hezbollah Media Office)

The hearing at the International Court of Justice pitting South Africa against Israel for "genocide" against the Palestinians has resumed. The South African plea includes the following points:

- "Nearly 180 women give birth every day in this chaos."

- "We are seeing the highest rate of food insecurity ever recorded. Famine is just around the corner.

- Gaza has simply become "uninhabitable."

- Dead people are being left behind, some eaten by animals. The decimation of the people of Gaza must stop".

- "This is the first genocide whose victims document their own destruction live. Gaza represents a moral failure. This failure will have repercussions, not only for Gazans but for generations to come. The world should be ashamed.

The Israeli strike that hit the town of Hanine (Bin Jbeil) between noon and 1 p.m. on Thursday hit a Hezbollah "health center," a security source told L'Orient Today.

US envoy Amos Hochstein is currently meeting caretaker Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati at the Grand Serail.

(Photo Mohammad Yassine / L'Orient Today)

Another lawyer representing South Africa at Thursday's hearing before the ICJ, Max du Plessis, said "The rights of Palestinians are as important as those of other groups that have been protected in the past."

“There is a plausible reason to believe that the Palestinian people are victims of genocide or at risk of genocide,” he said.

The American envoy for energy security, Amos Hochstein, arrived at the Grand Serail on Thursday at 1 p.m., where he is to be received by the caretaker Prime Minister, Najib Mikati.

The meeting was initially scheduled for 11:30 a.m.

The Israeli army struck the outskirts of the southern Lebanon border village of Hanine (Bint Jbeil) minutes ago, a security source told L'Orient Today. The strike hit a house, residents say.

Israeli military operations in Gaza have pushed the population to the "verge of famine," Adila, a South African lawyer, told the International Court of Justice on Thursday.

“The situation is such that experts now predict that more people in Gaza could die from hunger and disease” than from direct military action, she said.

The Israeli army shells the southern Lebanon border village of Aitaroun (Bint Jbeil) residents of the village told L'Orient Today.

Hezbollah announces that it targeted at 9:50 a.m. a military brigade in the Israeli village of Metula and said they "directly hit the target."

"No place is safe in Gaza," said South Africa's lawyer again on Thursday, at the opening of the hearing of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), to consider the South African complaint against Israel for "genocide" against Palestinians.

"7,000 people are still missing...Hundreds of families have been wiped out, with no survivors," she said.

The Hamas attack on Oct. 7 cannot justify Israel's "violation" of the Genocide Convention, South Africa said, reports AFP.

"No armed attack on the territory of a state, however serious...can justify a violation of the Convention," South African Justice Minister Ronald Lamola told the International Court of Justice.

South Africa's Minister of Justice Ronald Lamola, lawyer Adela Hassim and the delegation stand as judges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to hear a request for emergency measures by South Africa, who asked the court to order Israel to stop its military actions in Gaza and to desist from what South Africa says are genocidal acts committed against Palestinians during the war with Hamas in Gaza, in The Hague, Netherlands, Jan. 11, 2024. (Credit: Thilo Schmuelgen/Reuters)

The Israeli army shelled the outskirts of the southern Lebanon border village of Markaba (Marjayoun), residents of the village told L'Orient Today.

The Israeli army shelled the outskirts of the southern Lebanon border village of Houla (Marjayoun), residents of the village told L'Orient Today.

South Africa has begun its genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice at The Hague, with these opening remarks:

"Decade’s long impunity for widespread and systematic human rights violations has emboldened Israel in its recurrence and intensification of humanitarian crimes in Palestine.

"At the outset, South Africa acknowledges that the genocidal acts and omissions by the state of Israel inevitably form part of a continuum of illegal acts perpetrated against the Palestinian people since 1948."

In the lead-up to this case, Israel, which will take to the floor tomorrow, has described South Africa's case as “baseless.” It stresses that its military actions in Gaza are the act of "self-defense" against Hamas.

South Africa is taking to the floor now, for the next three hours, to present its case to the International Court of Justice at The Hague. Tomorrow Israel will give its case. We will have LIVE updates on the key developments right here at L'Orient Today.

The Israeli army bombed an area located south of the village of Khiam (Marjeyoun), on the border with Lebanon, residents of the village told L'Orient Today.

The Israeli army bombed an area located between the villages of Tayr Harfa and Jibbain, in the district of Sour in southern Lebanon, residents of the region told L'Orient Today.

The vice-president of the Executive Council of Hezbollah, Sheikh Ali Dahmouch, noted that “the resistance only used a tiny part of its capabilities during its operations, namely weapons, missiles, potential and expertise because the 'battle is limited.'"

“On the other hand,” he added in a statement relayed on Telegram by Hezbollah, “if the enemy imposes war on us, we will show him our capabilities and our power, which will make him regret his crimes and his aggression.”

“If the enemy believes he can impose a new equation on us through threats and escalation, he is wrong. The resistance will not accept that a new equation is imposed, allowing the enemy to continue its crimes, whatever the results,” he concluded.

According to a statement relayed by Hezbollah on Telegram on Thursday, "fighters from the al-Qassam Brigades (the armed wing of Hamas) and al-Quds Brigades (the armed wing of Islamic Jihad) targeted an Israeli command cell east of the town of Khan Younis with large-caliber mortar shells."

The UK Maritime Trade Authority (UKMTO) said on X that it had received a report of an incident involving a vessel around 100 km east of the coast of Oman.

According to the report, unauthorized persons boarded the vessel, with which contact has since been severed.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, whose country is Israel's main ally, is trying to avoid a spillover of the conflict in the region, where Hamas has several allies, with armed groups backed by Iran in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen.

He is due to meet this morning with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi in Cairo.

According to our correspondent in southern Lebanon, the situation is relatively calm this morning on the border while the region has been swept by a winter storm since Wednesday.

During the night, according to security sources contacted by our correspondent:

- A number of missiles were fired from the western part of southern Lebanon towards Israel after 9 p.m., while Israeli artillery bombarded the outskirts of the town of Aita al-Shaab (Bint Jbeil).

- Around 9:30 p.m., Israeli artillery this time bombarded the Qatmoun area, south of the town of Rmaish (Bint Jbeil), again according to security sources. Flares were also launched over Rmaish and Yaroun (Bint Jbeil)

- After 11 p.m., Israeli military planes flew over several border villages, while the outskirts of Aita al-Shaab were bombarded once again by Israeli artillery.

- Finally, around midnight, machine gun fire and flares were seen and heard in the vicinity of Yarine and Dhaira (Sour).

The UN Security Council demanded on the night of Wednesday to Thursday an "immediate" end to Houthi attacks against ships in the Red Sea, calling on all states to respect the arms embargo targeting the Yemeni rebels.

The resolution prepared by the United States and Japan, adopted by 11 votes in favor and four abstentions, "demands that the Houthis immediately end" attacks "that impede international trade and undermine navigation rights and freedoms, as well as as the peace and security of the region."

Since mid-November, the Houthis have carried out 26 attacks in the Red Sea, according to the US military, to the point where local container ship traffic has fallen by around 70 percent, founder Ami Daniel told AFP. and director of Windward, a maritime transport consulting and expertise company.

According to data from the International Monetary Fund's Portwatch portal, compiled by Bianco Research, cargo volumes passing through the Bab el-Mandeb Strait fell by 46 percent between Dec. 15 and Jan. 7.

Update on the situation in Gaza:

Israel heavily bombs the south of the enclave. According to AFP, early this morning, Israeli aircraft increased strikes in the area of ​​Khan Younis, the main town in southern Gaza and the epicenter of fighting in recent weeks, according to witnesses cited by AFP. Hamas reported 62 deaths overnight across Gaza.

Early Wednesday evening, the Palestinian Red Crescent announced the death of six people, including four of its rescuers, in a strike on an ambulance in the center of the Gaza Strip, which it attributed to the Israeli army.

“The fighting takes place underground, on land, in a very, very complex territory, facing an enemy who has prepared his defense over a very long period and in a very organized manner,” assures the chief of staff of the Israeli army Herzi Halevi who visited central Gaza on Wednesday.

International organizations are warning of the health disaster in Gaza, where 85 percent of the population has been displaced and where humanitarian aid is arriving in trickles. The distribution of aid faces “almost insurmountable” obstacles, said the head of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

Here is the Morning Brief to catch you up on what has been happening.

Good morning!

Thank you for joining us for our live coverage of the war between Hamas and Israel in Gaza.