Middle East crisis: EU launches maritime security operation as cargo ship damaged in Red Sea after missiles fired from Yemen – as it happened

It has just gone 5pm in Gaza City and Tel Aviv. Here are the headlines …

• The Council of the EU launched a defensive maritime security operation to safeguard freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and the Gulf. It said Operation ASPIDES would ensure an EU naval presence in the area where numerous Houthi attacks have targeted international commercial vessels since October 2023. The Belize-flagged cargo ship Rubymar sustained damage overnight after two missiles were fired at the vessel from Yemen, although the crew were able to evacuate.

• The foreign minister of the Palestinian Authority has told the International Court of Justice in The Hague that “There is a genocide happening in Gaza” and that occupation of Palestinian territory by Israel should come to “an unconditional end”. Riyad al-Maliki was speaking as a week of hearings in the UN’s top court has opened on the legal consequences of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories. In its submission on the case, made in July 2023, Israel argueed that any decision or arbitration by the court risks endangering the previously agreed peace process.

• Israel has declared Brazil’s president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva “persona non grata” over comments he made accusing Israel of carrying out a genocide and comparing their actions to the Holocaust. Israel’s foreign minister Israel Katz said “We will not forget nor forgive. It is a serious antisemitic attack.”

• The health ministry in Gaza has said the number of Palestinians killed in the territory by Israeli military action since 7 October has risen to 29,092. In the past 24 hours, 107 Palestinians were killed and 145 injured, the Hamas-led ministry said in its statement. 69,028 are reported injured in total. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify casualty figures being issued during the conflict.

• The Palestine Red Crescent Society has reported “multiple bombardments by Israeli forces” near the al-Amal hospital in Khan Younis which it claims have caused “significant damage to the hospital building”.

• In its latest operational update, Israel’s military has said it continues operations in Khan Younis, claiming to have located “AK-47s, drones, an RPG, explosive devices, and additional military equipment were located.”

• EU’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell said “everyone is afraid” Benjamin Netanyahu will give the go ahead to a military offensive in Rafah in southern Gaza in the coming days despite mounting international pressure to resist. Ireland’s foreign minister Micheál Martin has said it would be “unconscionable” if Israel were to go ahead with a bombardment of Rafah.

• Majed Al Ansari, a spokesperson for Qatar’s foreign ministry, has criticised the Israeli prime minister Netanyahu’s recent comments calling on Qatar to pressure Hamas to release hostages, saying they are “a new attempt to stall and prolong the war for reasons that have become obvious to everyone.”

• Netanyahu’s office has confirmed Israel will continue to restrict who can worship at the al-Asqa mosque in Jerusalem when Ramadan starts in March. Hamas has described the move as “religious warfare”.

Reuters reports that interior security minister Itamar Ben Gvir, a far-right coalition partner in Benjamin Netanyahu government, has continued to lend his vocal support to restrictions on Friday prayers at al-Aqsa mosque during the month of Ramadan. [See 11.57 GMT]

Israel has already been restricting access to the site every Friday since the 7 October Hamas attack.

The news agency reports Ben Gvir said those who hate Israel would use the event to show support for the Hamas leadership and incite violence.

“The entry of tens of thousands of haters in a victory celebration on the Temple Mount is a security threat to Israel,” Ben Gvir said.

Ben Gvir, on social media, directly linked the ability of Jews to visit the Temple Mount to the attacks on 7 October. In a message he said:

3 Oct – they asked me not to go up to the Temple Mount because they were afraid of Hamas and I respected their request.

7 Oct – the largest massacre of the Jewish people since the Holocaust.

19 Feb – The idea returns.

Victory is brought by determination and strength, not by folding and surrendering.

Earlier Netanyahu’s office confirmed the continuing restrictions, and said: “The prime minister made a balanced decision to allow freedom of worship within the security needs determined by professionals.”

Ramadan is expected to begin on 10 March.

Reuters reports that in a statement Hamas has condemend the move, saying it is “a continuation of Zionist criminality and religious warfare led by the extremist settlers group in the terrorist occupation government against our Palestinian people”. It called on Palestinians to mobilise against the restrictions.

Religious leaders in the Palestinian territory have also ordered people to protect the right to use the mosque, with the Wafa news agency reporting they had urged “everyone who can reach al-Aqsa mosque to travel to it and protect it, as al-Aqsa mosque is an Islamic endowment for Muslims of the entire world, hoping that ‘they will not hesitate to defend it with whatever capabilities they have.’”

The Palestine Red Crescent Society has reported “multiple bombardments by Israeli forces” near the al-Amal hospital in Khan Younis which it claims have caused “significant damage to the hospital building”.

In its submission to the ICJ, Morocco has said it hopes any opinion by the court will promote a peaceful solution. Noting the role the country has played in promoting peaceful coexistance of faiths in Jerusalam, and the 2019 “Al-Quds/Jerusalem Appeal” signed jointly by Morocco’s King Mohammed VI and Pope Francis, the submission concludes:

The Kingdom of Morocco expresses the hope that any advisory opinion that the court may give will promote a constructive peace dynamic, with a view to an applicable, equitable and lasting solution, satisfying the legitimate right of the Palestinian people to an independent, viable and sovereign State on the basis of the borders of 4 June 1967, with Al-Quds/East Jerusalem as its capital, living side by side with the state of Israel, in peace and security and allowing the peoples of the region to live in peace, security, stability and dignity.

Italy’s written submission to the ICJ has been published, and it is asking the court to use discretion and not rule on the issue. The submission was made on 25 July 2023, and in it Italy states:

The government of the Italian Republic follows with great concern recent developments, marked by a lack of progress, unilateral actions, further deterioration in trust between the parties and phases of increased violence. This state of things, however, only highlights the essentially political nature of the matter, which can only be solved through negotiations.

The goverment of the Italian Republic recalls that Article 65, para 1 of its Statute gives the court the power to decline to render an opinion

…

The government of the Italian Republic considers that this is a pertinent point in the present case and respectfully encourages the court to consider using such discretion, bearing in mind the essentially political nature of the matter and the established legal framework for the resolution of the conflict.

In particular, Italy is cognizant of the risk that an advisory opinion by the court might reduce the flexibility of the parties in dealing with present circumstances and long-term prospects, and therefore would not contribute to move the process closer to a mutually agreed solution.

The document goes on to say that if the court decides to offer an opinion, Italy asks the court to consider carefully “the parties’ ability to negotiate peace and a two-state solution consistent with the framework established in UN security council resolutions and adopted in the agreements of the parties.”

The ICJ has published a series of documents associated with the case it was hearing today concerning Israel’s policy on the occupied Palestinian territories.

As well as Israel’s response to the case [See 13.25 GMT], it has published the submission from the Palestinian side.

The Palestinian Authority may not hold out much hope that the case will materially affect things on the ground – Israel has ignored earlier findings by the court – but it has afforded the opportunity to catalogue Israel’s expansion from 1948 to the territory it effectively exercises control over today and state its case in public. Israel has been occupying the West Bank since 1967.

The submission runs to 390 pages, including highly detailed maps of where Israel has established settlements, and quotes from Israeli authorities about their intentions on sovereignty, which includes explicitly ruling out, for example, the deoccupation of East Jerusalem. You can read it in full here.

Noa Shpigel reports for Haaretz that Israel’s finance minister has said his country should unilaterally withdraw from the Oslo accords if a Palestinian state was declared by any means not including negotiation with Israel.

Haaretz quotes Bezalel Smotrich saying:

I call on prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu to explicitly announce that unilateral measures will be met with unilateral measures, [and] faced with any unilateral step taken against the state of Israel, Israel will act unilaterally to cancel the Oslo accords, [and] to completely and immediately stop all funds transferred to the Palestinian Authority, and to completely dissolve the Palestinian Authority.

The ICJ in The Hague has published Israel’s written response to the case that is being heard today, on the ‘policies and practices of Israel in the occupied Palestinian territory’. In it, Israel argues that any decision or arbitration by the court risks endangering the previously agreed peace process.

The response was submitted on 24 July 2023. In it, Israel claims the case represents “a clear distortion of the history and present reality of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict” arguing the court is being asked to “presume Israeli violations of international law” and that the “prejudicial nature of the questions” disregard “thousands of dead and wounded Israelis who have fallen victim to murderous Palestinian acts of hatred and terrorism”.

It goes on to say that “Israel, as an interested party, has not given its consent to judicial settlement of its dispute with the Palestinian side”, arguing that “both sides, and the intemational community as a whole, continue to affirm the validity of the terms of reference and established legal framework embodied” in previous agreements, which Israel says “the two sides have agreed to resolve through direct negotiations precisely the subject-matter placed before the court”.

It says the case is asking for “an intervention by the Court in a manner manifestly inconsistent with its judicial function and prior pronouncements”, and goes on to say:

Most alarmingly, they risk fundamentally delegitimizing the established legal framework governing the conflict and any future prospect of negotiations between Israelis and the Palestinians, which remains – as the court itself has observed – the only viable path to peace.

While the request made to the court seeks to portray it as such, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not a cartoon narrative of villain and victim in which there are no Israeli rights and no Palestinian obligations. Entertaining such a falsehood can only push the parties further apart rather than help create conditions to bring them closer together.

For all the difficulties and obstacles that exist, Israeli-Palestinian reconciliation will not be served by further undermining the core understanding that this is a tragic conflict in which two sides – not just one – have rights and responsibilities.

In these circumstances, to engage with the subject-matter of the request placed before the Court as though this is an appropriate use of the advisory function would not just be unwarranted; it would be harmful. Israel hopes and expects that the court, in safeguarding its judicial integrity as well as the established legal framework governing the IsraeliPalestinian conflict and its negotiated resolution, will respond accordingly.

The document is signed by ambassador Modi Ephraim, Israel’s ambassador to the Netherlands. You can read the document in full here.

Spain says it will impose unilateral sanctions on violent Israeli settlers in the West Bank if its EU partners fail to reach an agreement on the issue.

Reuters reports foreign minister José Manuel Albares made the comments on Monday.

Ireland’s foreign minister Micheál Martin had earlier expressed regret that “unity and unanimity” still hadn’t occurred within the foreign affairs council, adding “Ireland favours sanctions on violent settlers in the West Bank”

Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that today alone Israeli authorities have issued a demolition order against a sport club and a primary school in the town of Al-Issawiya, north of Jerusalem, bulldozed a 500m strip of Palestinian land for road-building near occupied Bethlehem, and that would-be settlers have fenced off a large tract of Palestinian-owned land in the Batn al-Hawa neighbourhood in the town of Silwan, and damaged about ten Palestinian-owned vehicles in the town of Huwwara in an overnight attack.

The Council of the EU launched today a defensive maritime security operation to safeguard freedom of navigation in the Red Sea and the Gulf.

In a statement, the Council said:

Operation ASPIDES will ensure an EU naval presence in the area where numerous Houthi attacks have targeted international commercial vessels since October 2023.

In close cooperation with like-minded international partners, ASPIDES will contribute to safeguard maritime security and ensure freedom of navigation, especially for merchant and commercial vessels.

Within its defensive mandate, the operation will provide maritime situational awareness, accompany vessels, and protect them against possible multi-domain attacks at sea.

The operation will be active along the main sea lines of communication in the Baab al-Mandab Strait and the strait of Hormuz, as well as international waters in the Red Sea, the Gulf of Aden, the Arabian Sea, the Gulf of Oman, and the Persian Gulf.

The ICJ hearing has ended for today.

The court will hold a session tomorrow at 10am CET to hear views from a range of countries, including South Africa, Algeria and the Netherlands.

Majed Al Ansari, a spokesperson for Qatar’s foreign ministry, has criticised the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu.

In a post on social media, the Qatari spokesperson said "the Israeli prime minister’s recent statements calling on Qatar to pressure Hamas to release the hostages are nothing but a new attempt to stall and prolong the war for reasons that have become obvious to everyone.”

He added that “we categorically reject the empty accusations made by the Israeli Prime Minister regarding Qatari efforts in reconstruction and humanitarian aid to the Palestinian people in Gaza.”

The spokesperson also said “we affirm that Qatar will continue its mediation efforts and will not be deterred by rhetoric and statements that can only be understood in the context of escaping from the Israeli Prime Minister’s personal political challenges.”

At the ICJ hearing, Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian ambassador to the UN, said that “Israeli leaders no longer feel the need to hide their intensions.”

“They defy the law, and the law is barely fighting back,” he said.

His voice breaking, he added:

What does international law mean for Palestinian children in Gaza today? It has protected neither them nor their childhood, it has not protected their families or communities.

Mansour also said:

Palestinians under occupation in Israel, as refugees and in the diaspora, all they ask for are their rights, and to live in freedom and dignity in their ancestral land.

For 75 years, the Palestinian people have faced attempts to push them out of geography, and indeed out of history.

And it goes on.

And it will go on forever, unless and until international law is upheld.

Unless and until the unlawful occupation of Palestine ends.

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It is 1pm in The Hague, 2pm in Gaza City and Tel Aviv, and 3pm in Sana’a. Here are the latest headlines …

• The foreign minister of the Palestinian Authority has told the International Court of Justice in The Hague that “There is a genocide happening in Gaza” and that occupation of Palestinian territory by Israel should come to “an unconditional end”. Riyad al-Maliki was speaking as a week of hearings in the UN’s top court has opened on the legal consequences of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories, with more than 50 states due to address the judges. In her evidence, Dr Namira Negm said “Starting from the Nakba in 1948, Israel has adopted discriminatory legislation measures which has established a deeply entrenched system of racial discrimination against Palestinians.”

• The Belize-flagged cargo ship Rubymar sustained damaged after two missiles were fired at the vessel from Yemen, although the crew were able to evacuate, the vessel’s security company has said. “There is nobody on board now,” the spokesperson said. “The owners and mangers are considering options for towage”. Another incident was reported to UKMTO later in the day, with no reports of casualties.

• Israel has declared Brazil’s president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva a “persona non grata” over comments he made in which he accused Israel of carrying out a genocide in Gaza which he compared to the actions of Adolf Hitler and the Holocaust. Having summoned Brazil’s ambassador for a reprimand, Israel’s foreign minister Israel Katz issued a statement saying: “We will not forget nor forgive. It is a serious antisemitic attack. In my name and the name of the citizens of Israel – tell president Lula that he is persona non grata in Israel until he takes it back”. At the weekend, Brazil’s president had said “what is happening in the Gaza Strip and to the Palestinian people hasn’t been seen in any other moment in history. Actually, it did when Hitler decided to kill the Jews.

• The health ministry in Gaza has said the number of Palestinians killed in the territory by Israeli military action since 7 October has risen to 29,092. In the past 24 hours, 107 Palestinians were killed and 145 injured, the Hamas-led ministry said in its statement. 69,028 are reported injured in total. It has not been possible for journalists to independently verify casualty figures being issued during the conflict.

• Fighting, fuel shortages and Israeli raids have put Gaza’s largest still functioning hospital completely out of service, local and UN health officials have said, as Israel continued its threats to invade the southern city of Rafah if remaining Israeli hostages are not freed in the next three weeks. In its latest operational update, Israel’s military has said it continues operations in Khan Younis, claiming to have located “AK-47s, drones, an RPG, explosive devices, and additional military equipment were located.”

• EU’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell said “everyone is afraid” Benjamin Netanyahu will give the go ahead to a military offensive in Rafah in southern Gaza in the coming days despite mounting international pressure to resist. Ireland’s foreign minister Micheál Martin has said it would be “unconscionable” if Israel were to go ahead with a bombardment of Rafah.

• Palestinian news agency Wafa reports that this morning Israeli forces “accompanied by military bulldozers” have razed ground in the village of Husan, west of occupied Bethlehem, to prepare for road-building. It reports that 500m of “citizens’ lands at the eastern entrance to the village” was destroyed.

• Netanyahu’s office have confirmed that Monday morning Israel’s prime minister met Democratic US senators Chris Coons and Richard Blumenthal.

I am handing you over to my colleague Lili Bayer for an hour. You can watch the proceedings at The Hague in this video feed …

Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has confirmed that Israel will impose security restrictions on Friday prayers at Jerusalem’s al-Aqsa mosque during Ramadan.

Netanyahu’s office said: “The prime minister made a balanced decision to allow freedom of worship within the security needs determined by professionals.”

Israel has restricted access to the site since 7 October, often forcing Palestinians to hold Friday prayers on streets near the mosque at security checkpoints while some elderly worshippers are admitted to the site.

Israel has offered no details as yet as what the restrictions will be. The month of Ramadan begins on 10 March.

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Palestinian news agency Wafa has reported a response to the move from religious leaders in Palestine, writing that they believe “the decision aims to empty the al-Aqsa mosque of Muslim worshippers, in implementation of the plan to Judaize it, and build their alleged temple” and describing it as “an extension of the comprehensive war waged by the occupation forces against everything that is Palestinian.”

Here is a little bit from Jeremy Sharon’s Times of Israel report on proceedings in The Hague earlier today, which outlines more of Paul Reichler’s presentation, in which he specifically cited comments by named Israeli officials. Sharon wrote:

Reichler describes the residence of some 700,000 Israelis in West Bank settlements and East Jerusalem neighborhoods as “a vast colonial enterprise” in which he alleges that Israel has “implanted settlers” as part of a goal of permanent annexation.

He also shows the court a picture of a map of the region used by Netanyahu in a speech to the UN general assembly in September 2023 where Israel is depicted as including all the territory west of the Jordan River with no demarcation at all of the West Bank as evidence that Israel seeks to “eliminate all traces of Palestine.”

He cites Netanyahu’s declared goal from 2019 of annexing the Jordan Valley in the West Bank, as well as finance minister Bezalel Smotrich saying that it was “a national ambition” to control the West Bank from the River Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea,” which, he said, “was an established fact and not open to negotiation.”

Here are some of the latest images sent to us over the news wires from Gaza, Israel and the Netherlands.

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