Israel-Hamas War: What happened on day 96?

THE HAGUE, the Netherlands – For the first time since its establishment, the State of Israel is facing accusations at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, blaming it for genocide against Palestinians in its Gaza offensive. The hearings will take place on Thursday and Friday.

South Africa and Israel exchanged allegations on the eve of hearings at the top UN court, which will hear South Africa’s claims. The politically charged hearings will deal exclusively with South Africa’s request for emergency measures ordering Israel to suspend its military actions in Gaza while the court hears the merits of the case – a process that could take years.

More than a hundred journalists are expected at the ICJ for the hearings, even though the sessions will be aired live, forcing the court to open extra press rooms, a situation its administrators have rarely witnessed. Dozens of TV crews are also expected to cover the march organized by Jewish and Christian groups outside the building at the time of the hearing on Thursday in support of Israel. Pro-Palestinians are also expected to demonstrate against Israel.

Israel is a member of the ICJ and is also a signatory to the 1948 Genocide Convention. As such, it recognizes in principle the jurisdiction of the court.

The South African complaint against Israel is based on two sets of evidence: the extent of the devastation in Gaza, including the large number of dead and the vast destruction caused by Israeli bombardments; and quotes from Israeli officials that allegedly show an intended policy of massacre against Palestinian civilians.

Israeli experts expect an acquittal, but caution that nothing is certain

While Israeli experts on international law believe that by the end of the process, Israel will not be found guilty of genocide, they also admit that nothing is certain. Concurrently, Israeli diplomats warn that any decision by the court against Israel could significantly damage international support for the battle to eliminate Hamas. In particular, such a ruling would pressure the United States to take a tougher stance vis-à-vis Israel on continuing its military operations in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.

The 84-page-long charge submitted by South Africa to the ICJ is divided into two parts. The first part is the allegation that Israel is carrying out an intended genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. Deliberations of the court on that issue could take several months or perhaps even several years.

South Africa is also requesting from the court an interim, rapid measure, ordering Israel to immediately stop its military campaign in Gaza. The second request does not depend on the first and could be granted within a matter of days, challenging Israel’s refusal so far to requests by the Biden administration to limit its military operations and bombardments.

The ICJ has scheduled two hearings. The first session is expected to begin at 10 a.m. Thursday morning. South Africa will have the floor for about three hours to present its case against Israel.

Leading the South African legal team is Prof. John Dugard, who chaired a United Nations Commission of Human Rights inquiry committee in 2000 after the Second Intifada broke out. He also wrote extensively on the Palestinian issue, had compared Israel’s regime to the Apartheid, and had called for an arms embargo on Israel.

Facing him will be British law professor Malcolm Shaw, who will have the floor for three hours on Friday. Shaw is considered a world-leading expert on international law, has advised different governments and international organizations on issues related to human rights, and has appeared before the ICJ in the past. Like Dugard, he is expected to deliver a prepared speech.

The fixed 15-justice panel of the ICJ will be joined by two more judges, representing each of the sides. South Africa picked for the task former deputy chief justice Dikgang Moseneke. Israel chose former Supreme Court president and Holocaust survivor Aharon Barak. While the appointment of the two judges will not weigh number-wise on the balance of power within the panel, each of the sides hopes for the opinion of their elected judge to influence the other justices.

Hearings of that sort do not resemble regular court sessions. ICJ judges rarely interrupt speeches with questions, and no witnesses are invited to appear before the court. That could happen at a later stage after a decision is taken on the South African request for an interim order against the IDF, when the court starts deliberating the bigger question of whether Israel is guilty of genocide.

Pretoria submitted its petition to the ICJ on December 29, leaving Israel with little time to prepare for the procedure. Still, the Israeli Foreign and Justice ministries are present in the Hague in large forces. The legal team is accompanied by Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Lior Haiat; David Saranga, head of the ministry’s digital department; and other communications experts.

Also in the Hague is a delegation of families of hostages held in Gaza, including Moshe Leimberg, brother-in-law of Fernando Marma and Louis Har; Danny Miran, father of Omri Miran; Ayala Yahalomi, sister of Ohad Yahalomi; Yuval Dazig, son of Alex Danzig; and Michael Levy, brother of Or Levy.

They will hold a press conference in The Hague on Thursday afternoon in an effort to remind the world what the war against Hamas is really about.

The US State Department has approved the potential sale of light tactical vehicle chassis and related equipment and 28-meter patrol craft kits to Egypt, the Pentagon said on Wednesday.

The estimated cost of the chassis and related equipment is $200 million and the patrol craft kits is $129 million, the Pentagon said.

The US State Department has approved the potential sale of light tactical vehicle chassis and related equipment and 28-meter patrol craft kits to Egypt, the Pentagon said on Wednesday.

The estimated cost of the chassis and related equipment is $200 million and the patrol craft kits is $129 million, the Pentagon said.

IDF Chief Spokesman Brig. Gen. Daniel Hagari on Wednesday night presented evidence to prove that two Gazan journalists killed by the IDF on Sunday were terrorists.

Regarding Hamza Al-Dahdouh, the son of Al Jazeera's chief correspondent in Gaza, Wael Al-Dahdouh, Hagari said that Israeli forces had found Islamic Jihad internal documents in their various command centers in Gaza proving he was part of their terror ranks.

The IDF presented a copy of the document, in Arabic, which it said listed Hamza as a dual-hat terrorist-journalist for Islamic Jihad.

A document featuring a list of operatives from the electronic engineering unit of the Islamic Jihad terrorist organization, including al-Dahdouh and his military number (credit: IDF SPOKESPERSON'S UNIT)

The United Nations Security Council is expected to vote, possibly as early as late Wednesday, on a resolution calling on the Iranian proxy group the Houthis to halt its attacks on cargo ships in the Red Sea.

“These attacks are unlawful reckless and escalatory,” US National Security Council spokesman John Kirby told reporters in Washington on Wednesday, adding that the resolution “unequivocally demands that the Houthis cease these attacks.” 

The US is one of 15-members of the UNSC and authored the resolution along with Japan, which also has a seat on the council.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and US President Joe Biden will "talk again" despite the longest gap in direct communication since the outbreak of the war, National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby said Wednesday. 

The two leaders have not spoken directly since December 23. 

Kirby said the strength of Biden and Netanyahu's relationship can't be judged by the number of times they speak on the phone and he wouldn't read into the dates on the calendar.

Kirby: these are two men who have known each other a long time

"That doesn't say anything about the relationship between the Prime Minister and the President or between the United States and Israel. These are two men that know each other, known each other a long time," Kirby said. 

"Of course they don't agree on every single issue, and we're working through issues right now with respect to the fighting in Gaza, but that doesn't mean that they don't still have an open mind to one another. And when either of them feel like they need to pick up the phone and call them, that will happen," Kirby said. 

"I have no doubt in my mind they're going to talk again."

The US is not aware of any indications of military cooperation between Hamas and North Korea, National Security Council Spokesman John Kirby said Wednesday. 

The US is closely watching the relationship between Russia and the Democratic People's Republic of North Korea, which Kirby said has publicly expressed interest in sharing goals and objectives in the region. 

Kirby said he would not speculate how North Korea is benefiting militarily from its business with Russia. 
 
 
 
 

Egypt and Jordan warned against any Israeli reoccupation in the Gaza Strip and appealed for uprooted residents to be allowed to return to their homes as the Arab countries' leaders met Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday.

While Israel presses forward with a military campaign it says will last for months, Abbas, Jordan's King Abdullah, and Egypt's Abdel Fattah al-Sisi also restated their rejection of any plans to displace Palestinians from their homes - a risk Egypt says has grown as Israel's war against Hamas has driven most Gaza residents southward towards the Egyptian border.

Jordan has been concerned by increased instability and attacks on Palestinians by Jewish settlers in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, with which it shares a border.

The international community needed to show a "decisive stance" to push for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, a statement issued by Sisi's office said.

The three leaders confirmed "a complete rejection of any attempt to reoccupy parts of Gaza, and the need to enable its people to return to their homes," the statement added.

Ahead of their summit in Aqaba, Jordan, Abbas met US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, who is on a tour of the region that is expected to finish in Egypt and has been pressing Israel's leaders to offer a pathway to a Palestinian state.

"The Arabs are telling the Americans the priority now is to get a ceasefire and push Israel to allow Palestinians to go back to northern Gaza, and ease the overcrowding near (the southern town of) Rafah, which is alarming both the Egyptians and the Jordanians," a Jordanian official said.

The Western-backed Palestinian Authority exercises limited self-rule in the West Bank and held talks with Israel on a Palestinian state before they collapsed in 2014. Hamas has ruled in Gaza since 2007 and is sworn to Israel's destruction.

Radio operators from the IDF's elite 8200 intelligence unit have been the focus of criticism and public attention for the past three months since the October 7 massacre.

They are perceived as serving in the largest intelligence gathering agency in Israel, if not in the Middle East, who heard long before October 7 about Hamas's capabilities and intentions to launch a murderous attack on Israeli citizens, but in practice, failed to emphasize in the senior ranking officials the degree of urgency and Hamas's readiness for war.

Warnings of attack were mostly ignored 

A particularly prominent case, published for the first time in Walla!, is that of the 8200 officers who, for many months before the war, insisted on putting the focal point on the preparations of Hamas's military wing for an attack deep into the State of Israel far beyond the Gaza border settlements.

She shed light on their wish to use violence and even cruelty with the backing of senior religious officials who wrote fatwas purposefully for the mission, the involvement of senior officials in Hamas's military wing for preparations, and the extreme attention to details right under the eyes of IDF lookouts and intelligence officials.

The officer in question did manage to set into motion some new thinking patterns and active strategies in the intelligence community but was mostly ignored.

Listening to the brutal attacks 

From the early hours of October 7 and the departure of the Nukhba terrorists for the brutal attack and the destruction of the communities and the outposts, the mission of the wireless operators of the 8200 unit, who listened to all the stages of the attack and what followed, became very difficult and complex to carry out, which according to them "shook the soul and caused the wireless operators to break down. Some of them took time to digest what they heard."

The reservists claim that what the operators heard in the first few days corresponded well with the estimates and plans revealed by the 8200 officers, which increased the frustration in the unit. The reservists who reinforced the various units from the first day said in closed circles that one of their prime tasks was not only to listen to what was happening in the Gaza Strip but to support the regular soldiers in the first days when they heard the stories of the horror, which was "a huge mental challenge".

The reservists also added that the challenges in researching and analyzing the horror stories in real-time, which includes reports, testimonies, orders, stories, and critical pieces of information, continued long after October 7, up until now, as the IDF searches for "golden pieces of information" in the hunt for senior members of the military and political wing of Hamas, and every detail about the hostages.

Military's further activities to locate perpetrators of the massacre 

As part of in-depth intelligence research, the IDF is conducting backward research and analyzing recordings in order to locate those involved in the massacre and kidnapping.

Recently, ministers Benny Gantz and Gadi Eisenkot visited the unit and listened to the activities of the operators and of the mental health agencies that provide assistance and support, including individual therapy. "It is important for the public to know that even these days, the task of the operators is no less complex. It is difficult. It is very challenging for the younger generation and also for reservists, who find it difficult to leave the task and return to their routine. There are those who leave at the end of the shift, break down, cry, and return."

IDF chief of staff Herzi Halevi stated today in a visit to the center of the Gaza Strip:  After we fought in Gaza - we will know how to do it in Lebanon if we have to.

With regards to the Israeli fire in al-Bureij which caused the death of six IDF soldiers, he said, "It is a very complex case which we are obliged to study.

"We are fighting in a very complicated space [...] we are doing things we have never done before. As soon as something bad happened, and something very bad happened to us here, we lost quite a few people and had people injured. The only thing left for us as commanders - is to learn from what happened. 

He added, "I see the capabilities here; I know very well that you know how to deal with any problem in Gaza; there is not a square kilometer in Gaza that you do not know how to enter and dismantle; there is no such thing, after what you have done. Referencing a possible operation in Lebanon, he said, "After what you did, there is not a village in Lebanon that you cannot enter and destroy. We will put you in the right places, you will do the right thing there, a long war on the other side, and we will come out with good results."