On Day 2 of hearings, Israel rejects South Africa’s allegation of genocide

As the second day of hearings began Friday at the United Nations’ top court, Israel is rejecting allegations levied by South Africa that its campaign against Hamas amounts to genocide against the Palestinian people, saying that, if anything, it is Hamas that is guilty of genocide.

Although the case is likely to take years to resolve, South Africa is asking the International Court of Justice to order an immediate suspension of Israel’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip. It’s unclear if Israel would comply with any court order.

Meanwhile, United States and British militaries launched strikes on sites used by the Iran-backed Houthi rebel group in Yemen in retaliation for their attacks on ships in the Red Sea. The Houthis say their attacks are aimed at stopping Israel’s war on Hamas, but their targets increasingly have little or no connection to Israel and imperil a crucial trade route linking Asia and the Middle East with Europe.

The Oct. 7 Hamas attack from Gaza into southern Israel that triggered the war killed around 1,200 people and saw some 250 others taken hostage by militants. Israel’s air, ground and sea assault in Gaza has killed more than 23,000 people, some 70% of them women and children, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-ruled territory. The count does not differentiate between civilians and combatants.

Here’s the latest:

BERLIN — German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock said Friday that Germany backs the United States-led strikes on Houthi targets in the Red Sea.

“The reaction has our political support,” Baerbock said from Kuala Lumpur after a meeting with Malaysia’s Foreign Minister, Mohamad Hasan, according to the news agency dpa.

She criticized the Houthis for “contributing to the destabilization of an already tense regional situation” with their attacks on cargo ships in the Red Sea, calling on the group to “stop these attacks immediately.”

Baerbock said German and European Union leaders are working to quickly determine “how we ourselves can strengthen stabilization in the Red Sea and can contribute to this stabilization.”

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Israel is rejecting allegations levied by South Africa that its campaign against Hamas amounts to genocide against the Palestinian people, saying that, if anything, it is Hamas that is guilty of genocide.

Israeli representative Tal Becker asked for a dismissal of the case, calling it “a libel” in his opening statement Friday to the International Court of Justice.

He told the court that Hamas started the violence with its surprise Oct. 7 attack on Israel in which more than 1,200 people were killed, while showing the court images of those people slain.

Becker accused Hamas of hiding its fighters and military assets throughout Gaza in densely populated civilian areas, and making use of mosques, homes, UN facilities and hospitals. He also showed the court video of Hamas official Ghazi Hamad vowing to continue attacks and annihilate Israel, while discounting the reported death toll of more than 23,000 Palestinians as “unverified statistics provided by Hamas itself.”

“If there is a threat to the Palestinian civilians of Gaza, it stems primarily from the fact that they have lived under the control of a genocidal terrorist organization that has total disregard for their life and well-being,” Becker, who is the legal adviser to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, told the court.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands — Lawyer Malcolm Shaw defended Israel from the charge of genocide launched by South Africa at the International Court of Justice by saying Israel’s blistering offensive on Gaza was a legitimate use of armed force in self-defence.

Over 23,000 Palestinians have been killed in the Israeli air and ground offensive, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry, two thirds of whom are believed to be women and children.

Shaw, the second of six members of the Israeli legal team to speak, said that the high death toll does not amount to genocide.

“Armed conflict is brutal and costs lives, particularly when the militia in question targets civilians,” Shaw said.

He accused South Africa of cheapening the charge of genocide — which he called the “crime of crimes” — by applying it to the Israeli offensive. He said the “real genocide” occurred when Hamas militants attacked southern Israel on Oct. 7, killing some 1,200 people.

Shaw rebutted South Africa’s charge that Israeli officials had displayed genocidal intent by calling the statements referenced by South Africa’s legal team “random quotes not in conformity with government policy.” He dismissed them as emotional wartime statements without legal significance.

Shaw said that the Israeli war cabinet and military were operating in accordance with international law and trying to avoid a humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza by referring to statements from top Israeli officials. But he did not provide evidence that such statements were backed up by Israeli policy on the ground.

PARIS — France condemned Houthi attacks on vessels in the Red Sea and demanded an immediate halt Friday. France has warships in the region that protect commercial vessels and are working with American and British partners.

“Through these armed actions, the Houthis bear an extremely heavy responsibility for regional escalation,” the French Foreign Ministry said in a statement. It noted that this week’s United Nations resolution gives countries “the right to react to these attacks.”

“France will continue to assume its responsibilities and contribute to maritime security in this zone in conjunction with its partners,” it said.

RAFAH, Gaza Strip — Nine members of a Palestinian family have been killed in an Israeli strike in southern Gaza.

Relatives gathered Friday at the Abu Yousef Al-Najar Hospital in Rafah to grieve for their loved ones who were killed the day before, their bodies laid out on the ground covered in white sheets.

Hundreds of people have been killed in recent days in strikes across the territory, including in areas of the far south where Israel has told people to seek refuge. Israeli military operations in Gaza have lately focused on the southern city of Khan Younis and urban refugee camps in the territory’s centre.

The Israeli military said Friday that, over the past day, it had killed dozens of militants in Khan Younis and the Maghazi camp.

Since the Oct. 7 attack launched by Hamas into southern Israel in which some 1,200 people were killed, at least 23,469 Palestinians have been killed according to the Ministry of Health in Hamas-run Gaza.

Israel has reported 184 soldiers killed since the beginning of its ground operations.

London — Speaking Friday about the strikes on Yemen, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova strongly condemned “these irresponsible actions by the United States and its allies” in the Middle East.

Speaking during her weekly briefing, Zakharova said that “a large-scale military escalation in the Red Sea region could reverse the positive trends that have recently emerged in the Yemeni settlement process, as well as destabilizing the situation throughout the Middle East region.” She also said the “U.S. position in the UN Security Council on the Red Sea is only a pretext for further escalation of tensions in the region.”

COPENHAGEN, Denmark — Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide described the situation in the Mideast as “a low-intensity conflict” that was “now spreading to neighbouring countries.”

“The basic conflict is the one we see in Gaza and in the Middle East itself. We must do everything we can to solve it,” Barth Eide said. “At the same time, it is not acceptable that there are regular attacks on shipping through the Red Sea.”

His Swedish colleague Tobias Billstrom said in a statement to the Swedish news agency TT that the responsibility for the situation “lies with the Houthis. Their attacks in the Red Sea must stop.”

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates — United States-led airstrikes on Yemen killed at least five people and wounded six others, military spokesperson from the Houthi rebels Brig. Gen. Yahya Saree said Friday in a videotaped address.

“The American and British enemy bears full responsibility for its criminal aggression against our Yemeni people, and it will not go unanswered and unpunished,” Saree said.

He described 73 strikes hitting five regions of Yemen under Houthi control. He did not elaborate on what the U.S.-led strikes targeted.

BERLIN — The electric vehicle company Tesla announced it will halt most of its production for two weeks in its factory near Berlin, from Jan. 29 to Feb. 11, due to the developing conflict in the Red Sea.

“The armed conflicts in the Red Sea and the associated shifts in transport routes between Europe and Asia via the Cape of Good Hope are also affecting production in Grunheide,” Tesla said in a statement Thursday night. “The significantly longer transport times create a gap in the supply chains.”

Normal operations are expected to begin again on Feb. 12, Tesla said in the statement.