MOSCOW, January 11. /TASS/. The UN International Court of Justice in The Hague is now considering the lawsuit from the South African Republic (SAR) against Israel on alleged genocide in the Gaza Strip, where more than 23,000 people have been killed during the conflict and most of the enclave's residents have been forced to leave their homes.
TASS has collected the major facts about the consequences of the conflict in the Gaza Strip.
South Africa's lawsuit
Just a week after Israel's operation in the Gaza Strip began, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa expressed solidarity with the Palestinians, calling Israel an "apartheid state." Ramaphosa said his country, where apartheid had a long history, cannot but support the victims of oppression.
South Africa's indictment is more than 80 pages long, and seeks to prove that Israel's actions go beyond self-defense and constitute genocide against the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip. The high death toll, forced displacement, cutting off food supplies, and restricting births through attacks on hospitals are cited as evidence.
The South African delegation will seek an urgent interim order from the court that will oblige Israel to immediately cease hostilities in Gaza.
Displacement in the Gaza Strip
According to the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA), the number of internally displaced persons in the Palestinian enclave has reached 1.9 million (more than 85% of the population of the Gaza Strip).
Some 1.4 million displaced persons are housed in UNRWA facilities.
Casualties in the Gaza Strip
The number of deaths in the Gaza Strip as a result of Israel's strikes exceeded 23,300, with more than 59,000 people injured, the Palestinian enclave's Health Ministry said. Gaza authorities have recorded 1,903 acts of massacres committed by Israel since the beginning of October.
Since the start of the fighting, 146 UNRWA staff members have been killed. The number of journalists killed in the Gaza Strip since October stands at 115, according to the Gaza media office.
Humanitarian crisis
The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has put 30 hospitals in the Gaza Strip out of operation in three months of fighting, the Palestinian enclave's government information office said. In this vein, some 10,000 cancer patients were deprived of receiving medicine in the Gaza Strip after the Turkish-Palestinian Friendship Hospital was forced to shut down due to Israeli bombardment.
In addition, according to the office, the IDF has completely destroyed 69,000 housing units in the Gaza Strip, while another 290,000 homes have been partially destroyed.
Meanwhile, functioning hospitals are experiencing a severe shortage of medicines. Staff of the World Health Organization (WHO) were forced to cancel four trips to northern Gaza scheduled for December 26 to deliver medical supplies to five hospitals due to heavy bombardment and lack of communication.
The expansion of fighting in the vicinity of Al-Aqsa Hospital in central Gaza also caused more than 600 patients and most of the medical staff to flee the facility, the WHO said. Their location is currently unknown. WHO Director General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said that only five doctors remained at the hospital, and they have no food, according to the facility’s authorities.
Humanitarian aid has long been delivered to the Palestinian enclave exclusively through the Rafah border crossing with Egypt. On December 29, 2023, another crossing, the Kerem Shalom, was opened. Israel has committed to allowing 200 truckloads of humanitarian aid through the checkpoint each day. As The Times of Israel noted, the staff at the crossing cannot cope with so much cargo and the amount of aid entering Gaza remains insufficient.
Shelling of Lebanon and Syria
Tensions continue to rise on Israel's northern border, where shelling from Lebanese territory is a regular occurrence. The IDF, in turn, responds with fire. Targets include Hezbollah facilities that have been supporting the Palestinian Hamas movement. More than 80,000 Israelis have been evacuated from border areas.
According to the Al Nashra portal, Israeli troops are continuously launching flares over the border. There are unmanned aerial vehicles in the sky.
Due to the escalation of tension on the border with Lebanon, Israel's Ministry of Health instructed hospitals to prepare to receive thousands of victims and work in an emergency regime.
The exchange of strikes with Syria continues as well. The IDF struck Syrian army facilities in response to the shelling of Jewish territory on the night of January 2.
Accusations about using banned white phosphorus
On October 11, the Palestinian Foreign Ministry accused Israel of using phosphorus and cluster munitions in the Gaza Strip. The Washington Post reported that Israel used US-supplied white phosphorus munitions during the shelling of southern Lebanon in October. As the newspaper notes, the munitions were part of US aid packages to Israel that have increased after another escalation in the Middle East. WP points out that the use of such shells near civilian areas is prohibited by international humanitarian law and may be considered a war crime.
The United States said it was verifying information about the use of its munitions. Meanwhile, the UN said it had no information to confirm the use of American white phosphorus munitions by Israel.