A picture taken from Rafah shows children pointing towards a rainbow over the southern Gaza Strip on January 11, 2024. Photo by AFP
Doha, Qatar: South Africa formally accused Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians and pleaded yesterday with the United Nations’ top court to order an immediate halt to Israeli military operations in Gaza.
The second day of the hearing in South Africa’s case against Israel continues today.
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[1:25pm Doha Time] 117 journalists killed since start of Israeli aggression on Gaza
Two more journalists have been martyred in Israeli airstrikes on Gaza Strip, taking the death toll of journalists since Oct. 7 to 117, the Gaza Government Media Office announced.
"The number of journalists killed has risen to 117 since the start of the genocidal war on Gaza Strip, after the loss of our colleagues, journalists Fuad Abu Khamash and Mohammed Al Thalathini," the media office stated.
[10:30am Doha Time] One percent of Gaza’s child population killed
After nearly 100 days of war in Gaza, more than 10,000 children – or 1 percent of the total child population on the Strip – have been killed, according to a new report by Save The Children.
Children surviving the war are “enduring unspeakable horrors, including life-changing injuries, burns, disease, inadequate medical care, and losing their parents and other loved ones”, says the report.
Out of the thousands of injured children, at least 1,000 have lost one or both their legs, the report says. More than 10 children have lost at least one or both legs each day since the war began, with many of the amputations performed without anaesthesia.
“The numbers are not just staggering in the scale and scope, but the actual impact,” Jason Lee from the NGO told Al Jazeera. “These are not just numbers. Every single one of them is a child.”
[10am Doha Time] UN says Israeli denials of access ‘paralysing’ Gaza aid
The latest report by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) says the organisation’s aid efforts are affected by Israel’s denials of access.
In the first 11 days of the year, only five out of 24 planned aid deliveries of food, medicines, water and other lifesaving supplies to the north of Wadi Gaza proceeded.
Palestinian Red Crescent personnel check a destroyed ambulance in Deir el-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, on January 11, 2024. Photo by AFP
“Humanitarian partners were forced to cancel or delay missions in two instances due to excessive delays at Israeli checkpoints or because the agreed routes were unpassable,” it said, adding that only two of the five missions that were allowed in were able to fully deliver their aid.
“The ability of humanitarian partners to respond to the extensive needs in the northern part of Gaza is being curtailed by recurring denials of access for aid deliverers and lack of coordinated safe access by the Israeli authorities. These denials and severe access constraints paralyse the ability of humanitarian partners to respond meaningfully, consistently and at-scale.”
