Israel-Hamas War: What happened on day 133?

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Friday said that it does not see the need for additional emergency measures to protect Palestinians' rights following Israel's Rafah offensive.

The court said the "perilous situation" in the Gaza Strip and Rafah particularly "demands immediate and effective implementation of the provisional measures" per its order on Jan. 26, and "does not demand the indication of additional provisional measures."

The decision comes after South Africa asked the World Court to consider whether Israel's plan to extend its offensive in Gaza into the city of Rafah requires additional emergency measures to protect Palestinians' rights earlier this month.

Egypt's State Information Service said on Friday that Egypt categorically denies allegations of participating in any process involving the displacement of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip into Egypt's Sinai Peninsula.

At the White House on Friday, US President Joe Biden sounded hopeful, yet not entirely confident that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu won't order a massive land invasion in Rafah. 

Biden told reporters he's had extensive, almost hour-long conversations with Netanyahu in recent days, where he's made the case against invading Rafah. 

"There has to be a temporary ceasefire to get the prisoners out, and that is underway," Biden said.

"I'm still hopeful that that can be done. And in the meantime, I don't anticipate - I'm hoping that the Israelis will not make any massive land invasion in the meantime. So it's my expectation that's not going to happen."

Palestinians gather at the site of an Israeli strike on a mosque in Rafah, February 12, 2024 (credit: REUTERS/IBRAHEEM ABU MUSTAFA)

US president: Gaza hostage deal is being negotiated now

Biden said it's his "hope and expectation" that a hostage deal will be reached and the American hostages will be brought home. 

"The deal is being negotiated now and we're going to see where that takes us," Biden said. 

Israel could continue its war on Hamas during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan, war cabinet Minister Benny Gantz said on Friday afternoon.

In the announcement aimed at the families of the hostages and the citizens of Israel, Gantz tells them "We will not stop until they [the hostages] are returned."

לא יהיו ערי מקלט בעזה - לא מעל הקרקע ולא מתחת לקרקע. pic.twitter.com/ibOyzTORmp

— בני גנץ - Benny Gantz (@gantzbe) February 16, 2024

"There will not be a ceasefire for even one day until our hostages are returned."

People perform morning prayers to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, marking the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip May 2, 2022 (credit: REUTERS/IBRAHEEM ABU MUSTAFA)

Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide

"Hamas terrorists and leaders must know: Gaza will not have cities of refuge, above or underground," the minister said in an address. "The fire could continue into the month of Ramadan."

"If the hostages are not returned, we will expand the war into Rafah. We are preparing for this, working in collaboration with our partners including Egypt.

Gantz further addressed the issue of displacing over a million fleeing Palestinians in Rafah, saying that Israel will "evacuate the population to safe areas - and start operating."

US President Joe Biden said Friday he has had extensive talks with Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in recent days, in which he pushed for a temporary ceasefire.

Biden told reporters he made the case that there must be a temporary ceasefire to get hostages out.

Riots have erupted in the border area between Rafah to Egypt, with footage circulating showing gunfire and explosions near the crossing, Israeli and Palestinian media reported.

Channel 12 reported the riots broke out after a Gazan teen was shot dead by Hamas policemen while attempting to gather humanitarian aid.

There is an on going incident at Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt. Gunfire and explosions are reported. The cause is currently unknown. One of the buildings at the crossing is on fire as per included media. pic.twitter.com/mB45yRcGdQ

— Aurora Intel (@AuroraIntel) February 16, 2024

Four sources told Reuters that Egypt had begun preparing an area at the Gaza border that could accommodate Palestinians in case an Israeli offensive on Rafah prompts an exodus across the frontier, emphasizing this was a contingency step.

The head of Egypt's State Information Service said the sources' accounts had "no basis in truth."

This is a developing story.

“How is this violence different from all other violence?” Asked US Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Antisemitism Deborah Lipstadt, speaking at the Munich Security Conference discussion on sexual violence as a weapon. 

Lipstadt was referring to the sexual violence that had occured at the hands of the terrorist organization Hamas on October 7, as well as the prolonged sexual violence they are suspected of carrying out towards Israeli hostages to this day.

“The only difference we could find is that they were perceived to be Jewish,” she continued. “For the feminist groups, the human rights groups... to keep silent, to wait eight weeks to speak out, that's hypocrisy... and it raises questions about their mission. Is their mission selective for some groups and not others?”

She said that she was “amazed” how far the denial of Hamas’s sexual violence reached, a denial which she described as being “almost with glee: the tearing down of the posters, the "it's not true, show me the evidence, show me the rapes.”

A record 52 states will present arguments about the legal consequences of Israel's 'occupation' of the Palestinian territories at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the UN's highest legal body.

The ICJ's six days of hearings starting on Monday come after the UN General Assembly asked the court in 2022 for an advisory, or non-binding, opinion on the 'occupation.' While Israel has ignored such opinions in the past, it could add political pressure over its ongoing operation in Gaza, which the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza claimed has killed 28,775 people, mostly civilians.

It is part of a Palestinian push to get international law institutions such as the ICJ to examine Israel's conduct which has become more urgent since the Oct. 7 attacks by Hamas in Israel and Israel's military response in the Gaza Strip.

"Politically, this will help in achieving a two-state solution. We are using the platform of the largest judicial body to advance our cause," Omar Awadallah, a senior official in the Palestinian Foreign Ministry, told journalists at a briefing before the hearings.

Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and east Jerusalem- which the Palestinians want for a state - in a 1967 war. It withdrew from Gaza in 2005, but, along with neighboring Egypt, still controls its borders.

WHILE MANY view the ICJ as an independent judicial body, it is inherently political. Its judges are elected by the UN General Assembly and Security Council, bodies notorious for anti-Israel bias, the writer says. (credit: REUTERS)

The second hearing

It is the second time the UN General Assembly has asked the ICJ, also known as the World Court, for an advisory opinion related to the Palestinian territory. In July 2004, the court found that Israel's separation wall in the West Bank violated international law and should be dismantled, though it still stands to this day.

“The International Court of Justice is set for the first time to broadly consider the legal consequences of Israel’s nearly six-decades-long occupation and mistreatment of the Palestinian people,” said Clive Baldwin, senior legal adviser at Human Rights Watch.

“Governments that are presenting their arguments to the court should seize these landmark hearings to highlight the grave abuses Israeli authorities are committing against Palestinians, including the crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution.”

The advisory opinion proceedings are separate from the genocide case that South Africa filed at the World Court against Israel for its alleged violations in Gaza of the 1948 Genocide Convention. In late January the ICJ in that case ordered Israel to do everything in its power to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza.

The outcome of the advisory opinion would not be legally binding but would carry "great legal weight and moral authority," according to the ICJ.

The precise question put to the court is to give an opinion on the legal consequences of Israel's "occupation, settlement and annexation ... including measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem, and from its adoption of related discriminatory legislation and measures."

The general assembly also asked the 15-judge panel of the ICJ to advise on how those policies and practices "affect the legal status of the occupation" and what legal consequences arise for all countries and the United Nations from this status.

The court will hear over 50 states and three international organizations over six days of hearings including the United States, Russia, China and South Africa. While Israel has filed a written statement with the court, it has not asked to participate in the hearings. On Monday proceedings will start with submissions from the Palestinian authorities.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant announced on Friday the details of 12 UNRWA employees who are members of Hamas and participated in the October 7 massacre.

Gallant told reporters that Israel has intelligence that more than 30 of the organization's employees actively participated in the murder spree, assisting in the kidnapping of civilians and soldiers.

He presented data, according to which 12% of the 13,000 UNRWA employees are connected to terrorist organizations in Gaza, and 1,468 of the employees are even active in them.

Hamas operative working for UNRWA who participated in the October 7 massacre. (credit: DEFENSE MINISTRY)

Gallant presented a video to the reporters taken by security cameras at the Erez crossing on October 7, in which you can see how the medics of the Palestinian "Red Crescent" helped to evacuate a wounded Nukhba terrorist.

Everyone, please meet the Nazi terrorist supporters of the Red Crescent:

They won't help kidnapped Jewish victims, men, women, kids, and babies in captivity, but they mist certainly will provide aid for terrorists heading to mass slaughter Jews.

WATCH https://t.co/lRYKrjXdF9 pic.twitter.com/jh9NnDlATc

— Adam Albilya - אדם אלביליה (@AdamAlbilya) February 16, 2024

The UNRWA employees hold various innocuous positions in the organization from social worker to school counselor, to maths teacher.

Riots have erupted in the border area between Rafah to Egypt, with footage circulating showing gunfire and explosions near the crossing, Israeli and Palestinian media reported.

Channel 12 reported the riots broke out after a Gazan teen was shot dead by Hamas policemen while attempting to gather humanitarian aid.

There is an on going incident at Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt. Gunfire and explosions are reported. The cause is currently unknown. One of the buildings at the crossing is on fire as per included media. pic.twitter.com/mB45yRcGdQ

— Aurora Intel (@AuroraIntel) February 16, 2024

This is a developing story.