al jazeera

By Lyndal Rowlands and Zaheena Rasheed
      At least 300,000 Palestinians have fled Gaza’s Rafah, according to the United Nations, as Israel expands its offensive in the southern city and confronts Hamas fighters there.
      Israel sends troops back into north Gaza, with witnesses reporting sighting tanks in the Jabalia refugee camp, as well as in Sabra and Zeitoun neighbourhoods. The ground assault follows a night of intense air raids in the area.
      Egypt says it will formally join the lawsuit filed by South Africa against Israel at the International Court of Justice, which accuses Israel of violating its obligations under the Genocide Convention in the Gaza Strip.
      At least 35,034 people have been killed and 78,755 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The revised death toll in Israel from Hamas’s October 7 attacks stands at 1,139 with dozens of people still held captive.

      US envoy to Israel plays down decision to halt weapons shipment

      Jacob Lew has downplayed the US’s recent decision to hold back the delivery of high payload munitions, noting that the Biden administration decided to keep arming Israel after conducting an assessment into Israeli actions in Gaza.
      “We are providing an enormous amount of aid. We have been since before October 7. It’s increased since October 7. And even this week, as everyone is focusing on the decision to just delay – to hold – one set of ammunitions, everything else keeps flowing,” he told Israeli media.
      “What the secretary concluded was there would be no interruption in US aid for Israel,” he said, referring to the US review. “That’s of huge consequence. You look at that in the context of one shipment of heavy bombs being delayed. You have to look at it in the broader context.”
      The assessment in question found that Israeli forces likely used US-supplied weapons in a manner “inconsistent” with international law, but stopped short of identifying violations that would put an end to the ongoing military aid.

      Which countries support South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at ICJ?

      Egypt has announced it will formally intervene to support South Africa’s ICJ case against Israel under the Genocide Convention.
      Three other countries have already filed interventions in support of the case. They are:

•       Colombia
•       Libya
•       Nicaragua

      Turkey has also said it is planning to join them.

      Student protesters at Johns Hopkins dismantle encampment

      Pro-Palestine student protesters at Johns Hopkins University have taken down their encampment after officials there agreed to review the school’s ties to Israel.
      The Hopkins Justice Collective said the “agreement is in no way a total victory”, but “it represents a step towards Johns Hopkins’ commitment to divest from the settler colonial state of Israel”.
      The university confirmed the move, saying it would use its existing process to conduct the review. It also confirmed committing “to conclude student conduct proceedings arising out of the encampment, provided the protesters agree not to engage in further disruptions of university activities, including Commencement”.

      Palestinian woman killed in Israeli bombing in Gaza City

      A Palestinian woman has been killed and 10 people injured in an Israeli bombing of a home in the Shujayea neighbourhood of Gaza City, our colleagues at Al Jazeera Arabic are reporting.
      Gaza City is in the north of the Gaza Strip, where health and emergency services have been operating at reduced capacity after months of Israeli bombardment and blockades.

      Why is Egypt joining South Africa’s genocide case at the ICJ?

      Egypt has long warned Israel against a ground offensive on Rafah, which lies across the Egyptian border with Gaza and is sheltering more than 1 million Palestinians. An Israeli assault on Rafah would result in tens of thousands of Palestinians seeking refuge in Egypt.
      Cairo’s announcement that it is joining South Africa’s case follows some notable developments.
      Israel seizes Rafah crossing 
      Israeli forces seized the Palestinian side of the Rafah crossing on Tuesday, leaving hundreds of trucks filled with food and medicines stranded on the Egyptian side of the border. In its statement on joining the ICJ case, Egypt called on Israel to comply with the world court’s interim measures, which included the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza.
      Israel rejected a truce deal Egypt helped mediate
      Last week, Israel rejected a ceasefire deal with Hamas that Egypt and Qatar helped mediate and said it would go into Rafah to dismantle the Palestinian armed group.
      Egypt’s statement on the ICJ case called on the UN Security Council and “influential international parties” to “immediately move to a ceasefire”.
      The US, which also helped mediate truce talks but has not held Israel to the latest deal, has said the talks, rather than the Security Council, should be the source of a ceasefire.