EU launches maritime security operation
The Council of the EU launched today a defensive maritime security operation to safeguard freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and the Gulf.
In a statement, the Council said:
Operation ASPIDES will ensure an EU naval presence in the area where numerous Houthi attacks have targeted international commercial vessels since October 2023.
In close cooperation with like-minded international partners, ASPIDES will contribute to safeguard maritime security and ensure freedom of navigation, especially for merchant and commercial vessels.
Within its defensive mandate, the operation will provide maritime situational awareness, accompany vessels, and protect them against possible multi-domain attacks at sea.
The operation will be active along the main sea lines of communication in the Baab al-Mandab Strait and the strait of Hormuz, as well as international waters in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Oman, and the Persian Gulf.
Key events
Spain says it will impose unilateral sanctions on violent Israeli settlers in the West Bank if its EU partners fail to reach an agreement on the issue.
Reuters reports foreign minister José Manuel Albares made the comments on Monday.
Ireland’s foreign minister Micheál Martin had earlier expressed regret that “unity and unanimity” still hadn’t occurred within the foreign affairs council, adding “Ireland favours sanctions on violent settlers in the West Bank”
Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that today alone Israeli authorities have issued a demolition order against a sport club and a primary school in the town of Al-Issawiya, north of Jerusalem, bulldozed a 500m strip of Palestinian land for road-building near occupied Bethlehem, and that would-be settlers have fenced off a large tract of Palestinian-owned land in the Batn al-Hawa neighbourhood in the town of Silwan, and damaged about ten Palestinian-owned vehicles in the town of Huwwara in an overnight attack.
EU launches maritime security operation
The Council of the EU launched today a defensive maritime security operation to safeguard freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and the Gulf.
In a statement, the Council said:
Operation ASPIDES will ensure an EU naval presence in the area where numerous Houthi attacks have targeted international commercial vessels since October 2023.
In close cooperation with like-minded international partners, ASPIDES will contribute to safeguard maritime security and ensure freedom of navigation, especially for merchant and commercial vessels.
Within its defensive mandate, the operation will provide maritime situational awareness, accompany vessels, and protect them against possible multi-domain attacks at sea.
The operation will be active along the main sea lines of communication in the Baab al-Mandab Strait and the strait of Hormuz, as well as international waters in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Oman, and the Persian Gulf.
ICJ hearing adjourns for the day
The ICJ hearing has ended for today.
The court will hold a session tomorrow at 10am CET to hear views from a range of countries, including South Africa, Algeria and the Netherlands.
Majed Al Ansari, a spokesperson for Qatar’s foreign ministry, has criticised the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.
In a post on social media, the Qatari spokesperson said “the Israeli prime minister’s recent statements calling on Qatar to pressure Hamas to release the hostages are nothing but a new attempt to stall and prolong the war for reasons that have become obvious to everyone.”
He added that “we categorically reject the empty accusations made by the Israeli Prime Minister regarding Qatari efforts in reconstruction and humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people in Gaza.”
The spokesperson also said “we affirm that Qatar will continue its mediation efforts and will not be deterred by rhetoric and statements that can only be understood in the context of escaping from the Israeli Prime Minister’s personal political challenges.”
The Israeli prime minister’s recent statements calling on Qatar to pressure Hamas to release the hostages are nothing but a new attempt to stall and prolong the war for reasons that have become obvious to everyone.
The Israeli Prime Minister knows very well that Qatar has been…
— د. ماجد محمد الأنصاري Dr. Majed Al Ansari (@majedalansari) February 19, 2024
At the ICJ hearing, Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian ambassador to the UN, said that “Israeli leaders no longer feel the need to hide their intensions.”
“They defy the law, and the law is barely fighting back,” he said.
His voice breaking, he added:
What does international law mean for Palestinian children in Gaza today? It has protected neither them nor their childhood, it has not protected their families or communities.
Mansour also said:
Palestinians under occupation in Israel, as refugees and in the diaspora, all they ask for are their rights, and to live in freedom and dignity in their ancestral land.
For 75 years, the Palestinian people have faced attempts to push them out of geography, and indeed out of history.
And it goes on.
And it will go on forever, unless and until international law is upheld.
Unless and until the unlawful occupation of Palestine ends.
Summary of the day so far …
It is 1pm in The Hague, 2pm in Gaza City and Tel Aviv, and 3pm in Sana’a. Here are the latest headlines …
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The foreign minister of the Palestinian Authority has told the International Court of Justice in The Hague that “There is a genocide happening in Gaza” and that occupation of Palestinian territory by Israel should come to “an unconditional end”. Riyad al-Maliki was speaking as a week of hearings in the UN’s top court has opened on the legal consequences of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories, with more than 50 states due to address the judges. In her evidence, Dr Namira Negm said “Starting from the Nakba in 1948, Israel has adopted discriminatory legislation measures which has established a deeply entrenched system of racial discrimination against Palestinians.”
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The Belize-flagged cargo ship Rubymar sustained damaged after two missiles were fired at the vessel from Yemen, although the crew were able to evacuate, the vessel’s security company has said. “There is nobody on board now,” the spokesperson said. “The owners and mangers are considering options for towage”. Another incident was reported to UKMTO later in the day, with no reports of casualties.
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Israel has declared Brazil’s president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva a “persona non grata” over comments he made in which he accused Israel of carrying out a genocide in Gaza which he compared to the actions of Adolf Hitler and the Holocaust. Having summoned Brazil’s ambassador for a reprimand, Israel’s foreign minister Israel Katz issued a statement saying: “We will not forget nor forgive. It is a serious antisemitic attack. In my name and the name of the citizens of Israel – tell president Lula that he is persona non grata in Israel until he takes it back”. At the weekend, Brazil’s president had said “what is happening in the Gaza Strip and to the Palestinian people hasn’t been seen in any other moment in history. Actually, it did when Hitler decided to kill the Jews.
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The health ministry in Gaza has said the number of Palestinians killed in the territory by Israeli military action since 7 October has risen to 29,092. In the past 24 hours, 107 Palestinians were killed and 145 injured, the Hamas-led ministry said in its statement. 69,028 are reported injured in total. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify casualty figures being issued during the conflict.
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Fighting, fuel shortages and Israeli raids have put Gaza’s largest still functioning hospital completely out of service, local and UN health officials have said, as Israel continued its threats to invade the southern city of Rafah if remaining Israeli hostages are not freed in the next three weeks. In its latest operational update, Israel’s military has said it continues operations in Khan Younis, claiming to have located “AK-47s, drones, an RPG, explosive devices, and additional military equipment were located.”
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EU’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell said “everyone is afraid” Benjamin Netanyahu will give the go ahead to a military offensive in Rafah in southern Gaza in the coming days despite mounting international pressure to resist. Ireland’s foreign minister Micheál Martin has said it would be “unconscionable” if Israel were to go ahead with a bombardment of Rafah.
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Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that this morning Israeli forces “accompanied by military bulldozers” have razed ground in the village of Husan, west of occupied Bethlehem, to prepare for road-building. It reports that 500m of “citizens’ lands at the eastern entrance to the village” was destroyed.
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Netanyahu’s office have confirmed that Monday morning Israel’s prime minister met Democratic US senators Chris Coons and Richard Blumenthal.
I am handing you over to my colleague Lili Bayer for an hour. You can watch the proceedings at The Hague in this video feed …
Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has confirmed that Israel will impose security restrictions on Friday prayers at Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque during Ramadan.
Netanyahu’s office said: “The prime minister made a balanced decision to allow freedom of worship within the security needs determined by professionals.”
Israel has restricted access to the site since 7 October, often forcing Palestinians to hold Friday prayers on streets near the mosque at security checkpoints while some elderly worshippers are admitted to the site.
Israel has offered no details as yet as what the restrictions will be. The month of Ramadan begins on 10 March.
Palestinian news agency Wafa has reported a response to the move from religious leaders in Palestine, writing that they believe “the decision aims to empty the al-Aqsa mosque of Muslim worshippers, in implementation of the plan to Judaize it, and build their alleged temple” and describing it as “an extension of the comprehensive war waged by the occupation forces against everything that is Palestinian.”
Here is a little bit from Jeremy Sharon’s Times of Israel report on proceedings in The Hague earlier today, which outlines more of Paul Reichler’s presentation, in which he specifically cited comments by named Israeli officials. Sharon wrote:
Reichler describes the residence of some 700,000 Israelis in West Bank settlements and East Jerusalem neighborhoods as “a vast colonial enterprise” in which he alleges that Israel has “implanted settlers” as part of a goal of permanent annexation.
He also shows the court a picture of a map of the region used by Netanyahu in a speech to the UN general assembly in September 2023 where Israel is depicted as including all the territory west of the Jordan River with no demarcation at all of the West Bank as evidence that Israel seeks to “eliminate all traces of Palestine.”
He cites Netanyahu’s declared goal from 2019 of annexing the Jordan Valley in the West Bank, as well as finance minister Bezalel Smotrich saying that it was “a national ambition” to control the West Bank from the River Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea,” which, he said, “was an established fact and not open to negotiation.”
Here are some of the latest images sent to us over the news wires from Gaza, Israel and the Netherlands.
Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that this morning Israeli forces “accompanied by military bulldozers” have razed ground in the village of Husan, west of occupied Bethlehem, to prepare for road-building. It reports that 500m of “citizens’ lands at the eastern entrance to the village” was destroyed.
The Times of Israel reports that after the statement in public at the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial declaring Brazil’s president to be “persona non grata” in Israel over his recent comments about Israel, Israel’s foreign minister Israel Katz personally toured the memorial with Brazil’s ambassador Federico Mayer and directly showed him the names of Katz’s grandparents who were killed during the Holocaust.
Confirmation Rubymar damaged, crew evacuated after Red Sea attack, as UKMTO reports new incident
The Belize-flagged cargo ship Rubymar sustained damaged after two missiles were fired at the vessel from Yemen, although the crew were able to evacuate, the vessel’s security company told Reuters on Monday.
A spokesperson for maritime security company LSS-SAPU said the vessel was struck astern, although there was nothing flammable aboard.
“There is nobody on board now,” the spokesperson said. “The owners and mangers are considering options for towage.”
The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations (UKMTO) has just issued a notice about another reported attack. It reported:
UKMTO has received a report of an incident 100NM east of Aden, Yemen. Authorities are investigating. Vessels are advised to transit with caution and report any suspicious activity to UKMTO.
Dr Namira Negm has been speaking at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, presenting evidence which she claims shows that Israel has set up an apartheid system in the occupied Palestine territories.
She has cited previous court rulings about the definition of apartheid, and cited quotes from Israeli officials describing the children of Palestinians as “snakes”.
She said “Starting from the Nakba in 1948, Israel has adopted discriminatory legislation measures which has established a deeply entrenched system of racial discrimination against Palestinians. Discrimination against Palestinian people is as integral to Israel’s prolonged occupation as is annexation and colonisation of territroy.”
She says that under the leagal system imposed by Israel, settlers are rarely punished for crimes against Palestinian people or property, while Palestinians “endure horrific levels of human and material losses, including home demolitions enforced as collective punishment”.
International Court of Justice resumes hearing into the ‘policies and practices of Israel in the occupied Palestinian territory’
The International Court of Justice hearing into the “policies and practices of Israel in the occupied Palestinian territory” is resuming.
You can watch it here:
In the first session, Palestinian Authority foreign minister Riyad al-Maliki demanded an immediate end to Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories.
Al-Maliki accused Israel of subjecting Palestinians to decades of discrimination and apartheid arguing that they had been left with the choice of “displacement, subjugation, or death”.
“The only solution consistent with international law is for this illegal occupation to come to an immediate, unconditional and total end,” Reuters reports he said.
“The genocide under way in Gaza is a result of decades of impunity and inaction. Ending Israel’s impunity is a moral, political and legal imperative,” al-Maliki added.
Israeli has in the past disputed that the territories are formally occupied on the basis that they were captured from Jordan and Egypt in 1967, and not from a sovereign Palestine.
The court has previously found against Israel on the issue of the West Bank, declaring in 2004 that the barrier being built around the West Bank was illegal and should be pulled down, a ruling which Israel has ignored.
Benjamin Netanyahu’s office have confirmed that this morning Israel’s prime minister met US senators Chris Coons (Democratic party, Delaware) and Richard Blumenthal (Dem, Connecticut).
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met today at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem, with US Senators Chris Coons and Richard Blumenthal.
The Director of the National Security Council, the PM’s Foreign Policy Adviser and the US Ambassador to Israel also attended the meeting pic.twitter.com/sJfG1LI0Y0
— Prime Minister of Israel (@IsraeliPM) February 19, 2024
Emanuel Fabian, who is military correspondent at the Times of Israel, has posted this picture of the site of the investigation into a reported fallen drone in northern Israel.
An apparent drone or other projectile hit an open area near the community of Arbel in the Lower Galilee, close to the Sea of Galilee.
Police say officers are at the scene handling the incident.
Local authorities say there are no injuries. pic.twitter.com/2tVcEHRmxd
— Emanuel (Mannie) Fabian (@manniefabian) February 19, 2024
Israel declares Brazil’s president Lula ‘persona non grata’ over Gaza remarks it deems ‘serious antisemitic attack’
Israel has declared Brazil’s president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva a “persona non grata” over comments he made in which he accused Israel of carrying out a genocide in Gaza which he compared to the actions of Adolf Hitler and the Holocaust.
Having summoned Brazil’s ambassador for a reprimand, Israel’s foreign minister Israel Katz issued a statement saying:
We will not forget nor forgive. It is a serious antisemitic attack. In my name and the name of the citizens of Israel – tell president Lula that he is persona non grata in Israel until he takes it back.
At the weekend, Brazil’s president had said “what is happening in the Gaza Strip and to the Palestinian people hasn’t been seen in any other moment in history. Actually, it did when Hitler decided to kill the Jews. What’s happening in the Gaza Strip isn’t a war, it’s a genocide. It’s not a war of soldiers against soldiers. It’s a war between a highly prepared army and women and children.”
Ahead of the diplomatic meeting this morning, senior political correspondent Lahav Harkov at the Jewish Insider had made these observations at how unusual the setting was, noting:
[Katz is] doing a few unusual things: The reprimand will happen at Yad Vashem. Katz is doing it himself and not a foreign minister deputy director-general. Also, he invited the media to a statement immediately after. The statement is unusual in of itself, but it also means that photographers will be around to catch the ambassador leaving the reprimand. That’s the kind of thing that doesn’t necessarily seem like a big deal, but for diplomats, takes the reprimand up a level.
Benjamin Netanyahu described the words as “shameful and alarming” and “a trivialization of the Holocaust”.
This morning the health ministry in Gaza reported that over 29,000 Palestinians have been killed and more than 69,000 injured as a result of Israel’s military action within the Gaza Strip.
The Interational Court of Justice in The Hague is taking a break after hearing evidence about the legality and nature of Israeli occupation of the West Bank and East Jurasalem. It will reconvene in ten minutes.
Number of Palestinians killed in Gaza by Israeli action since 7 October rises about 29,000 – ministry
The health ministry in Gaza has said the number of Palestinians killed in the territory by Israeli military action since 7 October has risen to 29,092.
In the past 24 hours, 107 Palestinians were killed and 145 injured, Reuters reports the ministry said in its statement. 69,028 are reported injured in total.
It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify casualty figures being issued during the conflict.