Thousands of Palestinian civilians in northern Gaza are cut off from water and food after a week-long Israeli incursion that has led to heavy casualties on both sides, Al Jazeera reports.
Israel plans to deploy more troops and “intensify” its ground invasion of southern Rafah in defiance of global warnings over the fate of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian civilians sheltering in the war-battered city.
South Africa urged the UN’s top court to order a halt to Israel’s assault on Rafah, saying attacks on the southernmost Gaza city “must be stopped“. South Africa’s ambassador to the Netherlands, Vusimuzi Madonsela, told the International Court of Justice: “Seven months ago, South Africa could not have imagined that Gaza would be largely wiped off the map.”
An estimated 600,000 people have fled Israeli attacks in Rafah in the past week and another 100,000 in Gaza’s north.
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At least 35,272 people have been killed and 79,205 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The death toll in Israel from Hamas’s attacks stands at 1,139 with dozens still held captive.
