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Brent crude futures were up $3.16, or 4.1%, at $80.57 a barrel at 1124 GMT, while U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude futures climbed $3.05, or 4.2%, to $75.07
South Africa has contended that Israel violated the Genocide Convention as "it failed to prevent genocide and failed to prosecute direct and overt incitement to genocide" in its ongoing Gaza offensive
Yemen strikes: US President Joe Biden and UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak termed the air and sea strikes against Houthi military targets in war-raged Yemen as "acts of self defence"
Accused of committing genocide against Palestinians, Israel planned to defend its war in Gaza in front of the United Nations' highest court Friday, a day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu blasted the allegations as hypocrisy that screams to the heavens. Israel, which was founded in the aftermath of the Holocaust, has vehemently denied the accusations brought by South Africa in one of the biggest cases ever to come before an international court. South African lawyers asked the court Thursday to order an immediate halt to Israeli military operations in the besieged coastal territory that is home to 2.3 million Palestinians. Israel often boycotts international tribunals and U.N. investigations, saying they are unfair and biased. But, in a sign of how seriously they regard the case, Israeli leaders have taken the rare step of sending a legal team and engaging with the International Court of Justice to defend their reputation. South African lawyers argued that the war is part of ..
The group has been attacking commercial ships it says are linked to Israel or bound for Israeli ports
Gaza war: South Africa has initially asked the ICJ to order an immediate suspension of Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken wrapped up his latest urgent Mideast tour on Thursday in talks with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sissi as American officials claimed modest success in getting wide regional support for planning for reconstruction and governance in Gaza after Israel's war with Hamas ends. Blinken secured buy-in from previously reluctant Arab and Muslim nations to begin such planning in discussions with the leaders of Turkey, Jordan, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia and Bahrain over the weeklong mission, his fourth to the Middle East since the war began in October. Each country along with Greece, which Blinken also visited pledged to participate in the general planning, although precise contributions have yet to be determined. On our previous trips here, I think there was a reluctance to talk about some of the day-after issues in terms of long-term stability and security on a regional basis, Blinken told reporters at Cairo's airport after his .
The Russia-Ukraine war and the ongoing conflict in West Asia involving Israel have shrunk the regular inflow of tourists to Goa from these countries, state Tourism Minister Rohan Khaunte has said. He was speaking to reporters here on Wednesday on the sidelines of the launch of Goa's new initiatives for boosting tourism in the coastal state. Russia, Ukraine and Israel are the three counties from where Goa gets a sizeable number of tourists, he said. "The crisis in which these counties are involved has shrunk the regular inflow of tourists to Goa," the minister said. Elaborating on how Goa is trying to overcome the vacuum created by this, he said, "If you go by the absolute number of tourists that visited Goa in the last one year, it is higher compared to the previous year. It indicates that domestic tourists are filling the vacuum." However, it cannot be ignored that international tourists on an average stay in Goa for eight days, while the average stay of domestic tourists is four
A legal battle over whether Israel's war against Hamas in Gaza amounts to genocide opens Thursday at the United Nations' top court with preliminary hearings into South Africa's call for judges to order an immediate suspension of Israel's military actions. Israel stringently denies the genocide allegation. The case, that is likely to take years to resolve, strikes at the heart of Israel's national identity as a Jewish state created in the aftermath of the Nazi genocide in the Holocaust. It also involves South Africa's identity: Its ruling African National Congress party has long compared Israel's policies in Gaza and the West Bank to its own history under the apartheid regime of white minority rule, which restricted most Blacks to homelands before ending in 1994. Israel normally considers U.N. and international tribunals unfair and biased. But it is sending a strong legal team to the International Court of Justice to defend its military operation launched in the aftermath of the Oct.
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The visit came a day after talks on Tuesday with Israeli PM Netanyahu and his war cabinet over Israel's war with Hamas, regional tensions and the future of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
Israel is sending top legal minds, including a Holocaust survivor, to The Hague this week to counter allegations that it is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. The robust engagement with the International Court of Justice is unusual for Israel, which normally considers the United Nations and international tribunals as unfair and biased. The decision to participate rather than boycott reflects Israeli concerns that the judges could order Israel to halt its war against Hamas and tarnish its image internationally. Israel cannot run away from an accusation that is so serious, said Alon Liel, a former director general of Israel's Foreign Ministry and a former Israeli ambassador to South Africa. Israel, which as one of the parties in the case is entitled to send a judge, has tapped a former Israeli Supreme Court chief justice to join the court's 15 regular members who will rule on the accusation. It has also enlisted a British barrister and lauded international law expert as
She underlined that India is aware that the immediate trigger was the terror attacks in Israel on October 7, which were shocking and deserve our unequivocal condemnation
The United States defended its veto of a call for the immediate suspension of hostilities in Gaza at a U.N. meeting Tuesday and again faced demands by the Palestinians and many other countries for a cease-fire now in the Israel-Hamas war as well as by a group of rabbis in the gallery. U.S. deputy ambassador Robert Wood called the Russian-proposed amendment to a Dec. 22 Security Council resolution which it vetoed disconnected from the situation on the ground. The council then adopted a watered-down resolution, with the U.S. abstaining, calling for urgent steps to immediately allow expanded humanitarian aid into Gaza, and to create conditions for a sustainable cessation of hostilities. Wood called it striking that those urging an end to the conflict have made very few demands of Hamas, following its surprise Oct. 7 invasion of southern Israel that killed around 1,200 people, to stop hiding behind civilians, lay down its arms, and surrender. And he reiterated ongoing U.S. efforts to ..
Gilon also revealed plans for the establishment of the Centre of Excellence for Vegetables and Spices project, a pivotal initiative under the Indo-Israel collaboration
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has called on Israel to work with moderate Palestinian leaders on plans for a post-war Gaza. Israel has so far ruled out calls to allow the internationally recognised Palestinian Authority to govern Gaza and instead talked about maintaining open-ended military control over the territory. The US has said a revitalised authority should return to Gaza. Israel must stop taking steps that undercut the Palestinians' ability to govern themselves effectively, Blinken said Tuesday. The authority was ousted from Gaza when Hamas seized power in 2007. Israel must be a partner of the Palestinian leaders who are willing to lead their people and living side by side in peace with Israel, he added. He said Arab leaders across the region are ready to assist, but only through a regional approach that includes a pathway to a Palestinian state.
"We are seeing the health system collapse at a very rapid pace," he added, saying that an estimated 600 patients had fled one facility
International concern has been growing over the huge Palestinian death toll from the Israeli assault on the enclave as well as a humanitarian crisis enveloping hundreds of thousands of people in Gaza
'Fauda' actor Idan Amedi got seriously injured while fighting as an Israel Defense Forces reservist in Gaza's Khan Younis. He was airlifted to a hospital on Monday