Israel has turned Gaza into a ‘mass grave’ and is destroying the ‘fundamentals of life in Palestine’ – top UN court hears
Ammar Hijazi, who is Palestine’s ambassador to the Netherlands, has addressed the court in oral arguments. Here are some of his main points. Hijazi, who says he stands before the ICJ on behalf of the persecuted people (Palestinians) fighting to survive in Gaza, said:
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Israel is unravelling “fundamental principles of international law” including its obligations under the UN charter.
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Israel is turning Palestine – particularly Gaza – into a “mass grave” for Palestinians and rescue workers.
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The World Food Programme reports a near 100% increase of Palestinians’ in need of food aid in the occupied West Bank. “Impeding the presence and activities of the UN and the international organisations must be viewed in the context of erasure and forced displacement,” Hijazi said.
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Israeli occupation has demolished refugee camps in Jenin and Tulkarm, forcibly displacing more than 40,000 Palestinians. “Israel has announced the displaced will not be allowed to return,” Hijazi siad.
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Israel is destroying the “fundamentals of life in Palestine” while it blocks UN and other humanitarian organisations from providing “life saving aid” to the population.
Key events
Closing summary
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The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is hearing submissions about Israel’s obligation to facilitate humanitarian aid to Palestinian people in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. The hearings – due to end on Friday – began today with submissions from UN and Palestinian representatives. The court will likely take months to rule. But experts say the decision, though not legally binding, could profoundly impact international jurisprudence, international aid to Israel and public opinion.
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In his arguments to the ICJ at The Hague, Ammar Hijazi, Palestinian ambassador to the Netherlands, said Israel is unravelling “fundamental principles of international law” including its obligations under the UN charter. He said that Israel is turning Gaza into a “mass grave” for Palestinian people.
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Yemen’s Houthi rebels on Monday alleged a US airstrike hit a prison holding African migrants, killing at least 68 people.
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The death toll from a huge blast in Iran’s southern port of Shahid Rajaeeh that occurred on Saturday morning was increased from 40 to 46 today, according to state media reports. Iran’s interior minister, Eskandar Momenim, later said that the explosion was caused by “negligence” and a failure to comply with safety measures.
Thanks for joining us. We are closing this blog now. You can find all our latest coverage of the Middle East here.
Unrwa schools in East Jerusalem threatened with closure, agency’s head says
In his post on X, Phillipe Lazzarini also said that some Unrwa facilities, including schools in occupied East Jerusalem, are under threat of closure by Israeli authorities.
He wrote:
Some 800 children are likely to miss out on finishing the school year if their schools are forced closed.
As an occupying power, the state of Israel must provide services or facilitate their delivery- including through Unrwa- to the population it is occupying.
This is a clear direction from the international community, through the UN general assembly.
Israel’s ongoing assault on Gaza has meant Palestinian children have been denied access to formal education since October 2023.
It is estimated that over 95% of the 564 school buildings in Gaza have suffered damage, with relentless Israeli attacks on schools killing many civilians seeking shelter from bombardments.
As of 31 December 2024, 12,035 students and 492 education personnel had been killed, according to the ministry of education. All universities and colleges in Gaza have reportedly been destroyed. In displacement camps, tent schools were established, but there is no guarantee of safety anywhere in the strip and children’s education remains severely disrupted and effectively on pause.
Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of Unrwa, the UN relief and works agency for Palestine refugees, has welcomed the international court of justice’s (ICJ) hearing about Israel’s obligation to facilitate humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
As a reminder, the hearing – set to run for five days – is focused on a request last year from the UN general assembly, which asked the court to weigh in on Israel’s legal responsibilities after the country blocked Unrwa from operating on its territory.
Israel’s ban followed months of attacks on the agency from Benjamin Netanyahu and his far-right allies, who claimed it was deeply infiltrated by Hamas, the Palestinian militant group. Unrwa – the main provider of aid to Palestinians in Gaza – rejects that claim.
“Unrwa and other agencies are present in the occupied Palestinian territory to address overwhelming needs,” Lazzarini wrote in a post on X.
“The agency’s services must continue unobstructed until there is a just and lasting solution to the plight of Palestine refugees.”
Lazzarini added:
The laws passed by the parliament of Israel against Unrwa impact the agency’s ability to fulfil its mandate.
The no contact policy under the Knesset laws bans Israeli officials from coordinating or communicating with Unrwa officials, obstructing the delivery of essential relief services and aid.
Since these restrictions came into effect at the end of January, Unrwa international staff have not received visas to enter Israel.
This is banning them from entering the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip where over 2 million people rely on the agency services and assistance.
Deadly Iran port explosion caused by ‘negligence’ – interior minister
Iran’s interior minister, Eskandar Momenim, has said the massive explosion at Shahid Rajaee that officials say killed at least 46 people on Saturday was caused by “negligence” and failure to comply with safety measures.
“Some culprits have been identified and summoned … There were shortcomings, including incompliance with safety precautions and negligence in terms of passive defence,” Momeni told state TV.
Shahid Rajaee is Iran’s largest commercial port, through which much of the country’s sea-borne cargo moves through.
Soaring prices of basic foodstuffs, diminishing stocks of medical supplies and sharp cuts to aid distribution threaten newly catastrophic conditions across Gaza, Palestinians and international aid officials in the battered territory are warning.
Humanitarian organisations including the World Food Programme and Unwra, which supplies food and services to more than 2 million Palestinians across Gaza, have now distributed the last of their stocks of flour and other foodstuffs to the dozens of community kitchens in the territory that serve basic meals to those with no other option.
Aid groups’ warehouses were filled during the ceasefire between Israel and Hamas that came into effect in mid-January and ended in early March. They are now empty.
“There isn’t anything left to give them now, so once the last supplies have been used up, the kitchens will have to close,” said one senior UN official. “At the moment people are holding up OK but we know from other crises that when things deteriorate, they deteriorate very fast, and we are not far from that point.”
You can read the full story, by my colleagues Jason Burke and Malak A Tantesh, here:
British prime minister Keir Starmer will host the head of the Palestinian Authority in a show of the UK’s “steadfast support”.
Starmer and his foreign secretary David Lammy will meet Mohammad Mustafa, the prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, for the first official visit since 2021, PA reported.
The UK government will unveil a support package including £101m for humanitarian relief, economic development and governance and reform.
The foreign secretary and Mustafa will also sign a memorandum of understanding outlining their commitment to advancing Palestinian statehood as part of a two-state solution.
The document will stress the importance of reunifying Gaza and the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority, saying it is the only legitimate governing entity in the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
It will also underscore the Palestinian Authority’s commitment to prioritise delivering its reform agenda.
Iran says it foiled one of the most ‘widespread and complex’ cyber-attacks against its infrastructure
Iran has thwarted one of the most sophisticated cyber-attacks ever launched against its infrastructure, Behzad Akbari, the Iranian deputy telecommunication minister, has said, without elaborating further.
In a post on X, he said:
By God’s grace and the efforts of the security and technical teams of the communications infrastructure company and the ministry of communications, yesterday one of the most widespread and complex cyber-attacks against the country’s infrastructure was identified and preventive measures were taken.
Akbari did not say who was behind the attack, but Iranian authorities have frequently blamed past cyber-attacks on Israel.
Last February, Iran said Israel was behind twin sabotage attacks against gas pipelines that disrupted supply to at least three provinces.
Iran accused Israel and the United States in December 2023 of a cyber-attack which disrupted fuel distribution across 60 percent of petrol stations.
The US military has not yet commented on the deadly strike on Yemen. The military has said it will not give detailed information about targets of its airstrikes for reasons of operational security.
In a statement early on Monday before news of the latest strike broke, US Central command said:
To preserve operational security, we have intentionally limited disclosing details of our ongoing or future operations. We are very deliberate in our operational approach, but will not reveal specifics about what we’ve done or what we will do.
The Guardian’s diplomatic editor, Patrick Wintour, has some more details surrounding the US airstrike that hit a prison holding African migrants in Yemen in his latest report. Here is an extract from his piece:
Yemen has long been a key transit country for the people from Africa – mainly from Ethiopia and Somalia – trying to reach Saudi Arabia and Oman. One estimate claims there are more than 300,000 migrants across Yemen, a country devastated by a 10-year civil war. The Houthis allegedly make tens of thousands of dollars a week smuggling people over the border.
Monday’s alleged strike recalled a similar attack by a Saudi-led coalition battling the Houthis in 2022 on the same compound, which caused a collapse, killing 66 detainees and wounding 113 others, a United Nations report later said. The Houthis shot dead 16 detainees who fled after the strike and wounded another 50, the UN said. The Saudi-led coalition sought to justify the strike by saying the Houthis built and launched drones there, but the UN said it was known to be a detention facility.
The US military has shifted tactics since the arrival of the Trump administration, which declared the Houthis as a foreign terrorist organisation in January. Since mid-March the US has mounted a much more sustained bombardment that is aimed at not only knocking out Houthi missile sties but also its political leadership, including Abdelmalek al-Houthi, the Houthi leader since 2004.
Israeli attacks on Gaza have killed at least 24 people across the territory since dawn, Al Jazeera is reporting. In Jabalia, in northern Gaza, 10 family members were reportedly killed in an airstrike, while eight people in another family were killed in a separate airstrike.
Iran accuses Benjamin Netanyahu of trying to dictate US policy in nuclear talks
Tehran has accused Benjamin Netanyahu of trying to dictate US policy in negotiations after the Israeli prime minister repeated calls for Iran’s entire nuclear infrastructure to be dismantled.
The US and Iran have so far held three rounds of indirect talks, mediated by Oman, aimed at sealing a deal that would block Tehran from acquiring a nuclear weapon but also lift crippling economic sanctions imposed by Washington.
After talks in Rome earlier this month, Oman said that the US and Iran were pursuing an accord that would see Tehran “completely free” of nuclear weapons and sanctions but “maintaining its ability to develop peaceful nuclear energy”.
Netanyahu said the only “good deal” would be one that removed “all of the infrastructure” akin to the 2003 agreement that Libya made with the west that saw it give up its nuclear, chemical, biological and missile programmes.
In a post on X on Monday, Iranian foreign minister Abbas Araghchi wrote:
Israel’s fantasy that it can dictate what Iran may or may not do is so detached from reality that it hardly merits a response.
What is striking, however, is how brazenly Netanyahu is now dictating what President Trump can and cannot do in his diplomacy with Iran…
Let me be clear: Iran is strong and confident enough in its capabilities to thwart any attempt by malicious external actors to sabotage its foreign policy or dictate its course. We can only hope our US counterparts are equally steadfast.
Many Iranians no longer believe the JCPOA (the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action – the existing nuclear deal) is sufficient. They seek tangible dividends.
Nothing Netanyahu’s Allies in the Failed Biden Team say or do will change this reality. There is no military option, and certainly no military solution. Any strike will be immediately reciprocated.
Death toll from Iran port blast rises to 46 – reports
Some news away from the ICJ hearings. The death toll from a huge blast in Iran’s southern port of Shahid Rajaeeh that occurred on Saturday morning has been increased from 40 to 46, state media is reporting.
“The death toll in the Shahid Rajaee Port fire has reached 46,” the official IRNA news agency reported, quoting Mehrdad Hassanzadeh, the crisis management director at the Hormozgan governorate. He said that the vast majority of the 1,000 people who were injured have been discharged from hospitals (only 138 remain in hospital).
The port is Iran’s most strategically important and chief artery for its world trade. Early indications were that the explosion appears to have been an accident rather than a deliberate attack.
Israel’s foreign minister Gideon Saar called the hearings part of a “systematic persecution and delegitimization” of his country. Speaking in Jerusalem as the hearings began in The Hague, Saar said the court was “becoming completely politicised”, calling the proceeding “shameful”.
Israel has turned Gaza into a ‘mass grave’ and is destroying the ‘fundamentals of life in Palestine’ – top UN court hears
Ammar Hijazi, who is Palestine’s ambassador to the Netherlands, has addressed the court in oral arguments. Here are some of his main points. Hijazi, who says he stands before the ICJ on behalf of the persecuted people (Palestinians) fighting to survive in Gaza, said:
-
Israel is unravelling “fundamental principles of international law” including its obligations under the UN charter.
-
Israel is turning Palestine – particularly Gaza – into a “mass grave” for Palestinians and rescue workers.
-
The World Food Programme reports a near 100% increase of Palestinians’ in need of food aid in the occupied West Bank. “Impeding the presence and activities of the UN and the international organisations must be viewed in the context of erasure and forced displacement,” Hijazi said.
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Israeli occupation has demolished refugee camps in Jenin and Tulkarm, forcibly displacing more than 40,000 Palestinians. “Israel has announced the displaced will not be allowed to return,” Hijazi siad.
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Israel is destroying the “fundamentals of life in Palestine” while it blocks UN and other humanitarian organisations from providing “life saving aid” to the population.
Live stream of ICJ hearings in The Hague
ICJ hears case on Israel’s obligation to ensure aid reaches Palestinians in Gaza amid aid blockade
As we mentioned in the opening post, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is hearing about Israel’s obligation to facilitate humanitarian aid to Palestinian people in Gaza and the occupied West Bank. We will have a live stream of the proceedings up soon.
The UN has asked judges to clarify Israel’s legal obligations towards the UN and its agencies, international organisations or third-party states to “ensure and facilitate the unhindered provision of urgently needed supplies essential to the survival of the Palestinian civilian population”. The case was prompted by Israeli bills outlawing the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa) in October 2024. Unrwa was the major distributor of aid in Gaza and has provided education, health and other basic services to millions of Palestinian refugees across the region.
Over the ICJ hearings, lawyers from more than 40 states will claim Israel’s ban on all cooperation with Unrwa is a breach of the UN charter. The UN says Israel is obliged under international law to ensure enough supplies for the Palestinians living in Gaza. Israel says it is adhering to international law.
Since the beginning of March, Israel has shut off all sources of food, fuel, medicine and other supplies for the Gaza Strip’s population of more than 2 million Palestinians. It’s the longest blockade yet of its 17-month war on Gaza, with no sign of it ending.
Israel claims the blockade aims to pressure Hamas to release hostages it still holds. Rights groups have called the blockade a “starvation tactic” and a potential war crime.
Aid workers have stretched supplies, but warn of a catastrophic surge in severe hunger and malnutrition. The UN World Food Programme said last week it had depleted all its food stocks in Gaza, ending a main source of sustenance for hundreds of thousands of Palestinian people in the devastated territory.
Here are some of the latest images being sent to us over the newswires from Gaza’s southern city of Khan Younis, which was targeted by deadly Israeli airstrikes on Sunday evening:
Israeli airstrikes on Gaza kill at least 17 Palestinian people – officials
Israeli airstrikes on the northern Gaza Strip killed at least 17 Palestinians early on Monday, according to local health officials.
An airstrike hit a home in Beit Lahiya, killing 10 people, including a Palestinian prisoner, Abdel-Fattah Abu Mahadi, who had been released as part of the ceasefire. His wife, two of their children and a grandchild were also killed, according to the Indonesian hospital, which received the bodies.
Another airstrike hit a home in Gaza City, killing seven people, including two women, according to the Gaza health ministry’s emergency service. Two other people were injured.
Benjamin Netanyahu, under pressure on both the domestic and international front, has been accused of manipulating Israel’s war on Gaza to achieve his own political ends.
The Israeli leader is on trial for corruption charges and his opponents say he is deliberately finding reasons to prolong the assault so he can cling on to power as prime minister.
This includes shattering the January ceasefire deal with Hamas by launching a deadly wave of airstrikes on the territory last month, which families fear makes the return of Israeli hostages (alive) less likely.
At least 68 people killed after US bombs Yemen detention centre, Houthi rebels say
Yemen’s Houthi rebels on Monday alleged a US airstrike hit a prison holding African migrants, killing at least 68 people. The US military had no immediate comment, the Associated Press reported.
Graphic footage aired by the Houthis’ al-Masirah satellite news channel showed what appeared to be dead bodies and others injured at the site in Yemen’s Saada governate, a stronghold for the Houthis.
The Houthi-run Interior ministry said about 115 migrants had been detained at the site. African migrants from Ethiopia and other nations risk crossing war-torn Yemen for a chance to work in neighbouring Saudi Arabia. The Houthis said 68 people had been killed. There was no immediate independent confirmation of the death toll.
The airstrike is likely to renew questions from activists about the American campaign against the Houthis, known as “Operation Rough Rider,” which has been targeting the rebels as the Trump administration negotiates with their main benefactor, Iran, over Tehran’s rapidly advancing nuclear program.
The US military’s Central Command, in a statement early Monday before news of the alleged strike broke, sought to defend its policy of offering no specific details of its extensive airstrike campaign. The strikes have drawn controversy in America over Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s use of the unclassified Signal messaging app to post sensitive details about the attacks.
“To preserve operational security, we have intentionally limited disclosing details of our ongoing or future operations,” Central Command said. “We are very deliberate in our operational approach, but will not reveal specifics about what we’ve done or what we will do.”
We will be bringing you more details as they come in. In other developments:
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Israel will come under sustained legal pressure this week at the UN’s top court when lawyers from more than 40 states will claim the country’s ban on all cooperation with the UN’s Palestinian rights agency Unrwa is a breach of the UN charter. The five days of hearings at the international court of justice (ICJ) in The Hague have been given a fresh urgency by Israel’s decision on 2 March to block all aid into Gaza, but the hearing will focus on whether Israel – as a signatory to the UN charter – acted unlawfully in overriding the immunities afforded to a UN body.
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A “new inferno” has been unleashed on Gaza after the restart of war in the Palestinian territory, the director general of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said Monday. “Gaza is experiencing and enduring… death, injury, multiple displacements, amputations, separation, disappearance, starvation and denial of aid and dignity on a massive scale, and just when the all important ceasefire led people to believe they had survived the worst, a new inferno was unleashed,” Pierre Krahenbuhl told a Doha conference on security.
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Rescuers in Khan Younis retrieved the bodies of four Palestinian people who were killed in an Israeli attack on a house in the southern Gaza city yesterday evening, according to reports.
