The Times of Israel is liveblogging Monday’s events as they happen.
IDF announces death of soldier killed fighting in Gaza yesterday, raising war’s troop death toll to 235
The Israel Defense Forces announces that a soldier was killed fighting in southern Gaza yesterday, raising the death toll in the ground offensive against Hamas to 235.
The soldier is named as Staff Sgt. Simon Shlomov, 20, of the Paratroopers Brigade’s 202nd Battalion, from Kiryat Bialik.
World Court set to kick off week of hearings on Israel’s control of the West Bank
The United Nations’ top court this morning opens a week of hearings on the legal consequences of Israel’s 56-year rule over the West Bank, with more than 50 states due to address the judges.
Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki will speak first in the legal proceedings at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague.
In 2022, the UN General Assembly asked the court for an advisory, or non-binding, opinion on the occupation.
For a full ToI explainer on this week’s hearings, click HERE
While Israel has ignored such opinions in the past, it could pile on political pressure over the ongoing war in Gaza.
Among countries scheduled to participate in the hearings are the United States – Israel’s strongest supporter, China, Russia, South Africa and Egypt. Israel will not, although it has sent written observations.
The hearings are part of a Palestinian push to get international legal institutions to examine Israel’s conduct.
Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem – areas the Palestinians want for a future state – in the Six Day War of 1967. It withdrew from Gaza in 2005, but, along with neighboring Egypt, still controls its borders.
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 Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
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.
Judges have now been asked to review 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 ICJ’s 15-judge panel 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 advisory opinion proceedings are separate from the 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.
BBC director expresses regret over ‘antisemitic behavior’ by several staffers
BBC’s director general has penned a message to staffers expressing regret over “antisemitic behavior by people who worked with us” as part of an apparent effort to rebuild fraught ties with Jewish staffers.
“As many of you may have seen, sadly in recent weeks we have been alerted to some antisemitic behavior by people who worked with us. I want to be clear that there can be no place at the BBC for racist abuse of any kind, whether towards our Jewish colleagues or indeed colleagues from any background or belief. Any form of antisemitism, Islamophobia or racist abuse is abhorrent, and we will always act whenever it occurs. We must play our role to build understanding and tolerance,” he writes in an email obtained by the Deadline entertainment news outlet.
“We will continue to talk to a range of groups across the organization as part of our shared commitment to create a safe and inclusive environment for everyone, regardless of background or belief,” Davie adds.
Earlier this month, a senior BBC employee came under scrutiny for having shared a plethora of antisemitic posts publicly on Facebook.
The BBC itself has come under fire for its coverage of the Israel-Hamas war and has had to issue several apologies since October 7.
In mid-November, the BBC apologized after one of its presenters said and then repeated that IDF soldiers who had entered Shifa Hospital in Gaza “were targeting people including medical teams and Arab speakers.”
The broadcaster was also slammed for its rush to report unverified and later disproved claims that an Israeli airstrike was responsible for a deadly explosion at Gaza’s Al-Ahli Hospital on October 17. The BBC subsequently apologized for that coverage as well, saying it had been too swift to assign blame.
Finally, in early January, the BBC apologized for a December report on its radio station in which it accused Israel Defense Forces troops of executing Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
UK-registered cargo ship reported under attack in Bab al-Mandab Strait
British maritime security firm Ambrey says that a Belize-flagged, UK-registered, and Lebanese-operated open hatch general cargo ship reported being under attack in Bab al-Mandab Strait.
The ship was heading north, during its journey from Khor Fakkan in the United Arab Emirates to Varna, Bulgaria, when the attack occurred, Ambrey says in an advisory note.
“The partially laden vessel briefly slowed from 10 to six knots and deviated course, and contacted the Djiboutian Navy, before returning to her previous course and speed,” the note reads.
Yemen’s Houthi group has launched repeated drone and missile attacks against international commercial shipping in the Red Sea and the Bab al-Mandab Strait since mid-November, saying it is acting in solidarity with Palestinians as Israel wages war on Hamas.