Israel's Gaza invasion - Day 224

Soccer’s world body FIFA convened its annual Congress, where it heard a Palestinian call for the suspension of Israel’s football federation over the onslaught in Gaza ahead of a vote to decide the host of the 2027 Women’s World Cup, Reuters reports.

The meeting in Bangkok brought together delegates of 211 member associations and is headlined by the vote on the host of the Women’s World Cup, with Brazil up against the joint bid of Belgium, Netherlands and Germany (BNG).

The Congress heard a proposal by the Palestine Football Association (PFA) to suspend its Israel, accusing its football federation of multiple violations of FIFA statutes, including over the Gaza conflict and the inclusion in Israeli leagues of teams located in Palestinian territory.

PFA president Jibril Rajoub urged the Congress to take a vote to suspend the Israel Football Association (IFA) from all football activity and to respect the Palestinian territory.

“FIFA cannot afford to remain indifferent to these violations or the ongoing genocide in Palestine,” he said.

“I ask you to stand on the right side of history… If not now, when?” His Israeli counterpart Shino Moshe Zuares said no rules had been broken and the proposal had nothing to do with football.

“Once again, we are facing a cynical political and hostile attempt by the PFA to harm Israel,” he said.

Senior security officials have been told that maintaining an Israeli military government in Gaza would cost about 20 billion shekels (about $5.5bn) per year, according to the Ynet news site, Al Jazeera reports.

Citing a copy of a report provided to Israeli security officials, Ynet said that Israel will also need to pay an undetermined amount to rebuild infrastructure and housing in the besieged enclave, after months of relentless bombardment.

Five Israeli military units would also need to stay in Gaza, while about 400 people would be needed to staff the military government, according to the report.

Israel will hit back in the United Nations’ top court at allegations from South Africa that it has escalated a campaign of “genocide” with its military operation in Rafah, AFP reports.

Pretoria has urged the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to order a stop to the Israeli assault on Rafah, which Israel says is key to eliminating Hamas fighters.

Israel has previously stressed its “unwavering” commitment to international law and described South Africa’s case as “wholly unfounded” and “morally repugnant”.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu argued on Wednesday that “we have to do what we have to do” and insisted that mass evacuations there had averted a much-feared “humanitarian catastrophe”.

Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said on Thursday that the operation in Rafah “will continue as additional forces will enter” the area.

US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin, in a phone call with Israel Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant, reinforced the “unquestionable necessity” of protecting civilians and ensuring the uninterrupted flow humanitarian aid before any potential military operation in Rafah, the Pentagon said on Thursday, Reuters reports.

Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin has said he was “deeply saddened” by the deaths of two Thais who were killed in the October 7 attack on Israel and whose bodies were being held by Hamas, AFP reports.

The Israeli army said late Thursday that it had informed the families of the deaths of the two men, who were identified as “kidnapped Thai citizens” and earlier believed to be alive in the Gaza Strip.

There are now six Thai hostages being held in Gaza, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli figures.

“I am deeply saddened to learn that the two Thai hostages in Gaza, namely Mr. Sonthaya Oakkharasri and Mr. Sudthisak Rinthalak are now confirmed deceased,” Srettha said on social media platform X.

“I offer my deepest condolences to both their families,” he added.

“The Thai Government will continue to do our utmost to secure the release of the remaining hostages.” The Israeli army said Thursday that the two Thais had worked in agriculture in plantations near Beeri kibbutz, one of the communities hardest hit in the October 7 attack by Hamas on southern Israel.

Their bodies are being held by Hamas, Israeli army spokesman Daniel Hagari said.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that military operations in Gaza’s southern city of Rafah were crucial in the fight against Palestinian fighters, AFP reports.

“The battle in Rafah is critical […] it is a fight that decides many things in this campaign,” he said.

The Arab League has called for an “immediate” ceasefire in Gaza and an end to forced displacement in the Palestinian territory at the end of a summit in Bahrain, AFP reports.

“We demand an immediate and permanent ceasefire in Gaza, a halt to all attempts at forced displacement, an end to all forms of siege and allowing full and sustainable access to aid,” the 22-member bloc said in a statement.

The United States said that the humanitarian situation in Gaza continued to deteriorate and urged Israel to do more to allow sustained access to aid via the southern and northern parts of the enclave, Reuters reports.

Speaking at a daily news briefing, State Department deputy spokesperson Vedant Patel said Washington continued to remain concerned that both travel and the flow of fuel into Gaza via Rafah crossing has “come to a complete halt.”

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said that during his time at the office, the Gaza bombardment has been the “deadliest conflict” in terms of speed and scale, yet, “the toll on civilians continues to escalate”.

In a post on X, Guterres said any assault on Rafah is unacceptable and it would inflict another surge of misery when there is a need for a surge in life-saving aid.

Gaza authorities released a list of more than 100 academics and researchers they say have been killed by Israeli forces since bombardment started over seven months ago, AFP reports.

“We strongly condemn the occupation’s assassination of scientists, academics, university professors and researchers, who are a distinguished group in the Palestinian society in the Gaza Strip,” the Hamas government’s media office said in a statement.

“This sends a clear message that they aim to completely eliminate scientists and researchers in the educational sector,” it added.

Among those on the list of 104 names is Sufyan Tayeh, who was the president of the Islamic University and a leading researcher in physics and applied mathematics.

Top surgeon and professor of medicine Adnan al-Barsh was also listed.

According to the Palestinian Prisoners Club, Barsh, 50, died in Israeli custody on April 19 after being detained with other doctors at Al-Awda Hospital in northern Gaza last December.

Asked at the time about his reported death in custody, the Israeli army said it was “currently not aware of such (an) incident”.

The Hamas government called on the “free countries of the world and all organisations related to education and higher education worldwide to condemn this historical crime and to pressure the occupation to stop the genocidal war.”

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has said that there was no “better moment” for the Arab region to come together, adding that unity and solidarity would amplify the vital voice of the region and further boost Arab influence on the global stage, Al Jazeera reports.

In remarks to Arab leaders in Bahrain, Guterres reiterated his strong position in favour of a ceasefire in Gaza, saying that the death and destruction currently being meted out on the enclave must come to an end.

“Entire families wiped out. Children traumatised and injured for life. People denied access to the very basics for human survival. A looming famine […] It is time for an immediate humanitarian ceasefire and unimpeded access for humanitarian assistance throughout Gaza,” he said at the Arab League summit.

The United Nations has said it is finalising plans to distribute aid delivered via a temporary floating pier anchored by the US to a beach in Gaza but stressed that delivering aid by land is the “most viable, effective and efficient” method, Reuters reports.

“To stave off the horrors of famine, we must use the fastest and most obvious route to reach the people of Gaza and for that, we need access by land now,” deputy UN spokesperson Farhan Haq said.

The Arab League has called for a United Nations peacekeeping force in the Palestinian territories at a summit dominated by the ongoing Israeli bombardment in the Gaza, AFP reports.

The “Manama Declaration” issued by the 22-member bloc called for “international protection and peacekeeping forces of the United Nations in the occupied Palestinian territories” until a two-state solution is implemented.

The US military has said it expected around 500 tons of aid to enter Gaza in the coming days after an emergency pier was affixed to the shore in the territory, AFP reports.

“Just a few hours ago, the pier was successfully affixed to the beach in Gaza,” said Vice Admiral Brad Cooper, deputy commander of US Central Command.

“I think we’re going to get about 500 tons in the next couple of days.

“It’s a pretty substantial amount, and it’s spread out over multiple ships right now,” Cooper told reporters.

“Thousands of tons of aid are in the pipeline. We’re seeing significant volumes of aid flow into Cyprus for further distribution,” he told reporters.

Cooper said that around 1,000 US soldiers and sailors were involved in the operation but that they were only involved in the pier and not in delivery — which will be handled through the United Nations — or in combat between Israel and Hamas.

“There will be no US military boots on the ground in Gaza,” he said.

South Africa has accused Israel of stepping up what it called a “genocide” in Gaza at the top UN court, urging the court to order a halt to Israel’s assault on Rafah, AFP reports.

“South Africa had hoped, when we last appeared before this court, to halt this genocidal process to preserve Palestine and its people,” South African Ambassador to the Netherlands Vusimuzi Madonsela told the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

“Instead, Israel’s genocide has continued apace and has just reached a new and horrific stage,” he added.

An Israeli military attack has hit an ambulance from Jabalia’s al-Awda Hospital, injuring at least two paramedics, according to Al Jazeera.

The report comes as heavy fighting continues in Jabalia, where tens of thousands of civilians have fled.

Egypt has rejected an Israeli proposal for the two countries to coordinate to re-open the Rafah crossing between Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and the Gaza Strip, and to manage its future operation, two Egyptian security sources said, Reuters reports.

Officials from Israeli security service Shin Bet presented the plan on a visit to Cairo, amid rising tension between the two countries following Israel’s military advance last week into Rafah, where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians displaced by conflict have been sheltering.

The Rafah crossing has been a main conduit for humanitarian aid entering Gaza, and an exit point for medical evacuees from the territory, where a humanitarian crisis has deepened and some people are at risk of famine.

Israel took operational control of the crossing and has said it will not compromise on preventing Hamas having any future role there.

The Israeli proposal included a mechanism for how to manage the crossing after an Israeli withdrawal, the security sources said. Egypt insists the crossing should be managed only by Palestinian authorities, they added.

The Palestinian government has not received the financial support it expected from international and regional partners, Reuters reports quoting President Mahmoud Abbas, who spoke at an Arab League summit.

“It has now become critical to activate the Arab safety net, to boost the resilience of our people and to enable the government to carry out its duties,” Abbas said.

Funding of the Palestinian Authority, the body which exercises limited governance of the occupied West Bank, has been severely restricted by a dispute over transferring tax revenue Israel collects on behalf of the Palestinians.

Funding from international donors has also been squeezed, falling from 30 per cent of the $6 billion annual budget to around 1pc, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said.

It is “nearly impossible” to distribute aid within Gaza, where more than 1.7 million people are displaced, said the UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), adding that the crossings are either “closed, unsafe to access, or not logistically viable”, Al Jazeera reports.

Israel’s Defence Minister Yoav Gallant has announced that more troops would “enter Rafah”, as military operations intensify in Gaza’s far-southern city, AFP reports.

The operation in Rafah “will continue as additional forces will enter” the area, Gallant said, adding that “several tunnels in the area have been destroyed by our troops […] this activity will intensify”.

“Hundreds of targets have already been struck, and our forces are manoeuvring in the area,” he said in a ministry statement.

Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter is reporting that the governing body of the country’s second-largest city, Gothenburg, wants to stop buying goods from Israel, Al Jazeera reports.

A coalition that includes the Swedish Social Democratic Party, Left Party and the Green Party, who have a majority in the municipality’s governing committee, has proposed that the city phase out all purchases of goods originating in states that illegally occupy other states.

“Israel is conducting an illegal occupation of the West Bank that has only worsened in the shadow of the widespread killing of civilians in Gaza,” Jonas Attenius, chairman of the municipal board in Gothenburg, said in a press release. “Our tax money should not go to financially support occupation forces.”

Lebanon’s Iran-backed Hezbollah group has said it launched “more than 60” rockets at Israeli military positions in retaliation for overnight air strikes on the country’s east, AFP reports.

Hezbollah fighters “launched a missile attack with more than 60 Katyusha rockets” on several Israeli military positions in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights, the group said in a statement.

The strikes were “in response to the Israeli enemy’s attacks last night on the Bekaa region” in eastern Lebanon’s Baalbek area, the group added.

French MP Thomas Portes has criticised the French government’s bias in favour of the Israeli occupation, Al Jazeera reports.

Speaking at a demonstration in Paris, Thomas Portes said politicians and the media did not recognise the word genocide and forbid it in all forums, but that the crimes committed in Gaza constituted genocide.

The MP denounced France’s participation in those crimes and the authorities’ treatment of students and pro-Palestine demonstrators.

“Don’t be afraid of those who want to prevent you and silence you and do not stop supporting the Palestinian people … we must stop this government’s support for genocide,” he said.

Israel said that five of its troops were killed by friendly fire in a Gaza battle, as a rift emerged inside the war cabinet on how the Palestinian territory should be ruled in future, AFP reports.

Israeli forces were fighting in Gaza’s far-southern Rafah and in new flashpoints in northern and central areas of the besieged territory.

The army said that the five soldiers were killed when two Israeli tanks mistakenly fired shells at the building they were in during clashes in the northern Jabalia refuge camp.

“Five soldiers of the 202nd Paratrooper Battalion were killed last night in a mass casualty incident as a result of fire by our forces,” the military said, adding that seven other troops were wounded.