THE leaders of South Africa, Malaysia and Colombia have penned a joint article calling for an end to impunity for Israel’s violations of international law.
‘The choice is stark: Either we act together to enforce international law or we risk its collapse,’ South African President Cyril Ramaphosa, Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and Colombian President Gustavo Petro wrote in the Foreign Policy magazine.
The leaders added that ‘the assault against the Palestinian people echoes dark chapters’ in their own countries’ histories, including colonial rule, counterinsurgency and apartheid.
‘We may hail from different continents, but we share the conviction that complacency is complicity in such crimes.
‘The defence of the inalienable right of the Palestinian people to self-determination is a collective responsibility.’
The article was co-authored by Varsha Gandikota-Nellutla, the chair of The Hague Group, which represents eight countries taking ‘decisive, coordinated action in pursuit of accountability for Israel’s crimes’, such as South Africa’s ongoing case accusing Israel of genocide in the International Court of Justice.
- The Centre for Political and Development Studies announced on Tuesday that the number of missing people in Gaza has exceeded 14,000 people, including 2,000-3,000 held in Israeli occupation prisons, without releasing any information on their fate.
The centre stated in a fact sheet that the bodies of the remaining missing people are believed to still be under the rubble or in areas blocked by Israeli occupation forces (IOF).
According to the centre, the missing categories include those who were missed after the resistance stormed the Gaza envelope on October 7, 2023, victims of intensive bombing buried under the rubble, and those detained in Israeli prisons with no given information about their whereabouts, in addition to those missing during forced displacement due to the resultant chaos.
It explained that the IOF imposes restrictions that hinder the accurate documentation of the numbers of the missing, and prevents rescue teams from reaching the victims, which further exacerbates the humanitarian crisis.
The centre called for placing international pressure on Israel to ensure that humanitarian teams reach the affected areas, demanding enhanced documentation through forensic and DNA testing equipment to identify victims.
The centre also stressed the need to establish an international coordination mechanism among human rights organisations to document violations and hold Israeli officials accountable, affirming the importance of providing psychological and social support to the families of the missing.
- At least 160 healthcare workers from Gaza, including over 20 doctors, are held in Israeli detention centres, where torture and rape are routine.
The circumstances faced by healthcare professionals from Gaza currently held in Israeli detention centres, with many individuals unaccounted for after being seized by Israeli forces from hospitals in the course of the war.
According to the Palestinian medical NGO Healthcare Workers Watch (HWW), as of today, 162 medical personnel remain in Israeli custody, including some of Gaza’s most senior physicians.
Previously, a total of 179 healthcare workers had been detained and later released.
‘Israel’s targeting of the healthcare workforce in this manner is having a devastating impact on the provision of healthcare to Palestinians, leading to extensive suffering, countless preventable deaths, and the effective eradication of entire medical specialties,’ stated Muath Alser, director of the HWW.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has confirmed that 297 healthcare workers from Gaza have been detained since the onset of the war, expressing deep concern for their safety, although it does not have up-to-date information on those released or still in detention.
- Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has condemned in the strongest terms Israeli attacks targeting multiple locations in the Syrian capital Damascus and the southern part of the Arab country.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Hamas denounced the assaults as ‘a blatant attack on Syrian sovereignty’ and ‘a continuation of the bullying policy of the occupying Zionist entity against Arab nations’.
‘We call on the Arab and Muslim states as well as the United Nations to assume their responsibility towards the growing Zionist crimes,’ the statement read.
The Gaza-based group urged the international community and UN bodies to denounce Israeli raids, and prosecute the regime’s leaders as war criminals for their frequent crimes and violations of the international law.
Meanwhile, powerful explosions were heard in Damascus and its outskirts on Tuesday night as Israeli warplanes carried out a series of airstrikes in southern Syria.
Local media and witnesses reported that Israeli jets were spotted flying over the southwestern province of Dara’a, while residents in Damascus said they heard low-flying aircraft as well as the sound of multiple airstrikes.
- The Israeli military has arrested dozens of Palestinians as part of an expansion of its military operations across the occupied West Bank.
At least 50 people were arrested in overnight raids on Tuesday night, according to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) and the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, both cited by a report by the Palestinian news agency WAFA on Wednesday.
According to WAFA’s report, the military rounded up people for interrogation in the governorates of Hebron, Tulkarm, Qalqilya, Nablus, Ramallah, Bethlehem, Jericho and Tubas.
As part of the campaign, Israeli troops stormed the Majed Abu Sharar School in the city of Dura near Hebron and arrested two students, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Media Office said on Wednesday.
The new arrests brought the number of Palestinians detained by the Israeli army in the West Bank since October 2023 to more than 14,500, including those who were released later, according to Palestinian groups.
The figure does not include those arrested from the Gaza Strip, whose numbers are estimated to be in the thousands.
The mass detentions came amid Israel’s intensified military offensive in the West Bank that began after the Gaza ceasefire was agreed upon a month ago.
The offensive has seen at least 62 Palestinians killed and about 40,000 people evacuated from the Jenin, Tulkarm and Nur Shams camps in the West Bank in a month.
Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner general of the United Nations’ agency for Palestinian refugees, on Wednesday said the occupied West Bank is now a ‘battlefield’ facing an ‘alarming spillover’ of the Gaza war.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military issued new evacuation orders for the residents of the Nur Shams camp, located east of the town of Tulkarm, before the planned demolition of 11 residential buildings.
Israeli forces gave the residents just three hours to evacuate their homes, according to WAFA.
Families were seen leaving their homes carrying the few belongings they were able to take.
On Sunday, the Israeli army sent tanks to the Jenin refugee camp, the first such deployment since its crackdown on the second Intifada in 2002, announcing an ‘extended stay’ for the coming year to fight Palestinian armed groups.
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates said the move was a continuation of Israel’s ‘genocide, displacement and annexation’.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Authority condemned the repeated obstruction of ambulances in the West Bank by Israeli forces, accusing them of violating international humanitarian law.