■ APPLICATION OF THE CONVENTION ON THE PREVENTION AND PUNISHMENT OF THE CRIME OF GENOCIDE IN THE GAZA STRIP (ORDER OF 26 JANUARY 2024) (.pdf) + APPLICATION INSTITUTING PROCEEDINGS (.pdf)
■ THE EXPRESSION OF HATRED FOR GENTILES (Richard Edmondson/Nahida Izzat) (10/04/14)

Israel's war on besieged Palestinians of Gaza — now in its 173rd day — has killed at least 32,490 people and wounded 74,889 as countries at UN rally behind expert who accused Israel of genocide.

1044 GMT –– At least 32,490 Palestinians have been killed and 74,889 injured in Israel's military offensive on Gaza since October 7, 2023, the Gaza's Health Ministry said in a statement. There have been 76 Palestinians killed and 102 injured in the past 24 hours, the ministry statement added.

1004 GMT –– Hezbollah launches rockets into Israel in retaliation –– Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah movement fired a barrage of rockets into northern Israel killing a civilian, after Israel carried out a deadly strike in south Lebanon. Hezbollah has exchanged near-daily cross-border fire with the Israeli army since Hamas fighters launched an unprecedented attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023. Israeli rescue teams searching a building that had been hit in the border town of Kiryat Shmona "found a 25 year old who was unconscious, with no pulse and not breathing," and pronounced him dead at the scene, the Magen David Adom emergency service said.

0950 GMT –– Russia sends over 29 tonnes of humanitarian aid to Gaza –– Russia said it sent over 29 tonnes of humanitarian aid for besieged Gaza, where more than 32,000 Palestinians have been killed and over 74,000 injured since October 7 last year. A statement by Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry said on Telegram that a special flight it dispatched earlier in the day has delivered the 20th batch of humanitarian aid to representatives of the Egyptian Red Crescent in the city of El Arish, who will then redirect the aid to Gaza residents. The ministry said earlier that the humanitarian aid consists of cereals, flour, sugar and other long-term storage products, as well as personal hygiene products, most of which were collected at the initiative of authorities from the Russian Republic of Karachay-Cherkessia.

American plans would violate international law, Moscow has said | Moscow does not recognize Washington’s attempt to illegally claim over a million square kilometers of maritime territory, including in the Arctic and the Bering Sea, the Russian Foreign Ministry has said. ● Russian representatives informed the Council of the International Seabed Authority of this on Monday. The council is currently meeting in Kingston, Jamaica and operates under the 1982 UN Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). ● The US is “unilaterally trying to reduce the area of ​​the seabed under the Authority, and hence the entire international community,” the Russian Foreign Ministry said in a statement. ● The US Department of State announced its “extended continental shelf” project in December 2023, claiming jurisdiction of approximately one million square kilometers beyond its territorial waters. The UNCLOS allows maritime claims of up to 200 nautical miles (370 km) from the shore in the world’s oceans.

■ "The very fact that within the first 24 hours [after the attack], even before the fire was put out, the Americans started screaming that it wasn't Ukraine, I think, is a piece of incriminating evidence. I can't classify it otherwise; it is evidence in and of itself," the diplomat said on air during a Sputnik radio broadcast.
■ "The second fact to note concerns the clamor by the US that this assuredly was the work of ISIS (former name of IS - TASS)," the spokeswoman pointed out. "Of course, the speed with which they were able to [come to such forthright conclusions] is astonishing. It took them only a few hours to get to a microphone, turn on the lights, summon the press and draw a conclusion about who is to blame for this horribly bloody terrorist attack," Zakharova said.
■ "I think they’ve boxed themselves into a corner, because as soon as they started screaming that it was ISIS, all those people who work in international relations, who are political scientists and experts, recalled and reminded everyone else what ISIS really is," the diplomat said. "You are behind all those ISIS-type structures, you - the United States, Great Britain - yourselves brought them into being," she concluded.

■ Moscow slams ‘mother of all fakes’ (RT.com)
■ Russian lawmakers discuss lifting moratorium on death penalty after concert hall attack (Anadolu)
■ The American explanation for the Moscow terror attack doesn’t add up (Dmitry Trenin)

Hezbollah says it strongly condemns the heinous crime and vows that this aggression shall not go unanswered. | Al Mayadeen's correspondent in southern Lebanon reported early Wednesday that seven paramedics had been killed so far in the Israeli airstrike that targeted the Islamic Medical Association center in the town of Hebbariyeh confirming ongoing search and rescue operations. ● The Islamic Resistance in Lebanon - Hezbollah said it strongly condemns the heinous crime, vowing that this aggression shall not go unanswered. ● Commenting on the latest Israeli aggression on Hebbariyeh Lebanese MP Hassan Mrad said it is "a new massacre added to the record of Israeli crimes."

■ Israeli strike on medical center kills seven first-aid volunteers in south Lebanon: What we know (L'Orient-Le Jour)