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The UN’s top court will on Monday open a week of hearings on Israel’s humanitarian obligations towards Palestinians, more than 50 days into its total blockade on aid entering war-ravaged Gaza.United Nations representatives will start the five days of sittings at the International Court of Justice in The Hague at 10:00 am (0800 GMT), followed by a Palestinian submission.Another 38 countries will then address the 15-judge panel, including the United States, China, France, Russia and Saudi Arabia.The League of Arab States, the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation and the African Union will also make submissions.The UN’s General Assembly approved a resolution in December asking the ICJ for an advisory opinion on the matter “on a priority basis and with the utmost urgency”.The resolution, spearheaded by Norway, was adopted by a large majority.The UN has asked judges to clarify Israel’s legal obligations towards the UN and its agencies, international organisations or third-party states to “ensure and facilitate the unhindered provision of urgently needed supplies essential to the survival of the Palestinian civilian population”.Israel strictly controls all inflows of international aid vital for the 2.4 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.It halted aid deliveries to Gaza on March 2, days before the collapse of a ceasefire that had significantly reduced hostilities after 15 months of war.The UN estimates 500,000 Palestinians have been displaced since the two-month ceasefire ended in mid-March.Israel resumed air bombardment on March 18, followed by renewed ground attacks.This has triggered what the UN has described as “likely the worst” humanitarian crisis the occupied Palestinian territory has faced since the war started after the Hamas October 7, 2023, attack.- ‘Broad frustration’ -That attack resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.Israel’s retaliatory military offensive has killed at least 52,243 people in Gaza since October 2023, also mostly civilians, according to the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory.At least 2,111 Palestinians have been killed since March 18.The UN considers the ministry’s figures reliable.The Israeli government says the assault aims to force Hamas to free the remaining captives.Hostages’ relatives have said it could “sacrifice” their loved ones.Although the ICJ’s advisory opinions are not legally binding, the court believes they “carry great legal weight and moral authority”.In July, the ICJ issued an advisory opinion confirming that Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories was “unlawful” and must end as soon as possible.”The parties to the conflict have shown little commitment to comply with international law,” said Haris Huremagic, a PhD candidate at the Geneva Graduate Institute.”The request for an advisory opinion reflects broad frustration with the lack of meaningful dialogue to address the dire situation in Gaza,” Huremagic wrote on the Voelkerrechtsblog on international law.Norway’s initiative was triggered by an Israeli law banning the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, from operating on Israeli soil.Israel accused some UNRWA staff of participating in the Hamas attack.Independent investigations say it has not provided evidence for its headline allegation.

At the break of dawn, 10-year-old Youssef al-Najjar races barefoot, clutching a battered pot, to a community kitchen in Gaza City, only to find hundreds of others already queueing.”People push and shove out of fear of missing their turn. There are little children who fall,” said Youssef, his voice barely rising above a whisper.Thousands of Gazans, including many children, rush to community kitchens every day in the hope of securing food for their families.The humanitarian crisis in Gaza has worsened significantly since Israel blocked all aid from entering the territory on March 2, days before resuming its military campaign following the collapse of a ceasefire.Supplies are dwindling and the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) on Friday said it had sent out its “last remaining food stocks” to kitchens.The weight of responsibility fell on Youssef’s shoulders after his father was killed in the war. He dreams not of toys or games, but of something achingly simple: to sit at a table with his mother and sister, eating peacefully.For that, each morning, he races to the community kitchen.”Sometimes, in the chaos, my pot slips from my hands, and the food spills onto the ground,” he told AFP.”I return home empty-handed… and that pain is worse than hunger.”AFP footage from a community kitchen in Gaza City shows scores of boys and girls crowded outside the facility, pushing their pots and pans forward in a desperate attempt to secure whatever food they can.One young man is even seen hitting a boy with a metal pot as he approaches a container of freshly-cooked rice.”I have been waiting for over five hours to get a plate of rice for the children to eat,” said Mohammed Abu Sanad, a displaced Gazan, at another such facility. “I have no income, and if we get food from the free kitchen, we eat. If not, we’ll die of hunger.”The WFP, one of the main providers of food assistance in Gaza, said these kitchens were expected to run out of food “in the coming days”.- ‘I wished I would die’ -For Aida Abu Rayala, 42, the need was greater than ever.”There is no flour, no bread, no way to feed my children. We stand for hours under the blazing sun and sometimes in the freezing cold,” said Rayala, from central Gaza’s Nuseirat area.”Some days, after hours of waiting, the food runs out before my turn comes.”Rayala’s home was destroyed in an air strike, and the family now lives in a tent of thin nylon sheets.One day, she waited for three hours, her feet blistering from standing. When she finally reached the counter, there was no food left.”I went home with empty hands. My children cried… and in that moment, I wished I would die rather than see them hungry again.”At the heart of Gaza’s food assistance is Faten al-Madhoun, 52, a volunteer chef who runs a charity kitchen in Beit Lahia, northern Gaza.She and her 13 volunteers cook by hand, over wood fires, without proper kitchens or modern equipment.”Some days we prepare 500 meals, but more than 600 people show up,” Madhoun said.”The need is enormous. And with every day that the borders stay closed, it only grows.”With flour vanishing from the markets, bakeries shuttered, and even basic vegetables now luxuries, the community kitchens have become the only remaining source of food for tens of thousands.- ‘Want to live with dignity’ -Alaa Abu Amira shares a similar plight in the southern Khan Yunis area.”If you arrive late, even by a few minutes, there’s no food,” said Abu Amira, 28, who used to live in the northern town of Beit Lahia.”People crowd, they push, they fall. I saw a child get injured, and once, a little girl was burned when a pot of hot food spilled on her.”When he manages to secure a meal, it is often cold, tasteless, repetitive — canned peas and beans, rice half-cooked on makeshift wood fires.”Our stomachs can barely handle it anymore,” Abu Amira said, “but what choice do we have? Hunger breaks everything.”Despite the daily ordeal, Rayala vowed to continue with her quest for food.”Tomorrow, I will try to go earlier, hoping to get a plate of rice. We just want to live with dignity,” she said.

Intelligent driving features are the new battleground in China’s merciless car market, with competition spurring brands to world-leading advances — but a recent fatal crash has seen the government intervene to put the brakes on runaway enthusiasm.Advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS) help with tasks ranging from cruise control to parking and collision avoidance, with the ultimate …

Smart driving new front in China car wars despite fatal crash Read More »

The United States has hit more than 800 targets in Yemen since mid-March, killing hundreds of Huthi rebel fighters, including members of the group’s leadership, the US military said Sunday.Washington’s forces have hammered the Huthis with near-daily air strikes since March 15 in an operation dubbed “Rough Rider,” seeking to end the threat they pose to vessels in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden and reestablish US regional “deterrence.””Since the start of Operation Rough Rider, USCENTCOM has struck over 800 targets. These strikes have killed hundreds of Huthi fighters and numerous Huthi leaders,” the military command responsible for the Middle East said in a statement that provided its most detailed accounting of the operation so far.”The strikes have destroyed multiple command-and-control facilities, air defense systems, advanced weapons manufacturing facilities, and advanced weapons storage locations,” CENTCOM said.Despite the strikes, the Huthis — who control large swaths of Yemen and have been at war with a Saudi-led coalition backing the internationally recognized government since 2015 — have continued to claim attacks against both US vessels and Israel.CENTCOM said that “while the Huthis have continued to attack our vessels, our operations have degraded the pace and effectiveness of their attacks. Ballistic missile launches have dropped by 69 percent. Additionally, attacks from one-way attack drones have decreased by 55 percent.””Iran undoubtedly continues to provide support to the Huthis. The Huthis can only continue to attack our forces with the backing of the Iranian regime,” the military command said.”We will continue to ratchet up the pressure until the objective is met, which remains the restoration of freedom of navigation and American deterrence in the region,” it added.- Strikes on Sanaa -As the United States announced details on the latest round of its campaign against the Huthis, the rebel-controlled Al-Masirah TV reported that US strikes on the Yemeni capital Sanaa had killed at least eight people and wounded others.Al-Masirah TV also broadcast footage of the rubble of destroyed homes and cars, as well as blood stains on the ground, while rescuers collected what appeared to be human remains in white cloth.Earlier Sunday, Huthi media said overnight strikes on Sanaa had killed two people and wounded several more.The latest strikes brings the death toll since March 15 to 228, according to an AFP tally based on Huthi announcements.The Huthi rebels began targeting shipping in late 2023, claiming solidarity with Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, which has been devastated by a military campaign launched by Israel after a shock Hamas attack in October of that year.Huthi attacks have prevented ships from passing through the Suez Canal — a vital route that normally carries about 12 percent of the world’s shipping traffic — forcing many companies into a costly detour around the tip of southern Africa.The United States first began conducting strikes against the Huthis under the Biden administration, and President Donald Trump has vowed that military action against the rebels will continue until they are no longer a threat to shipping.The Trump administration has been forced onto the political defensive during the Yemen campaign by scandals stemming from senior officials’ use of commercial messaging app Signal to discuss strikes that took place on March 15.Last month, The Atlantic magazine revealed that its editor-in-chief was mistakenly included in a Signal chat in which officials, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and National Security Advisor Mike Waltz, discussed the strikes.US media outlets then reported earlier this month that Hegseth had shared information on the same strikes in a second Signal group chat with various people who would not normally be involved in such discussions, including his wife.