Israel-Gaza war live: Antony Blinken to travel to Israel in wake of strike on senior Hamas figure in Lebanon | Israel-Gaza war

South Africa’s request for an interim measure by the international court of justice to prevent Israel from committing acts of potential genocide – primarily by calling for a halt to combat operations – has suddenly taken on an urgency and relevance that seemed implausible a fortnight ago.

Crack legal teams are being assembled, countries are issuing statements in support of South Africa, and Israel has said it will defend itself in court, reversing a decades-old policy of boycotting the UN’s top court and its 15 elected judges.

The first hearing in The Hague is set for 11 and 12 January. If precedent is any guide, it is possible the ICJ will issue a provisional ruling within weeks, and certainly while the Israeli attacks on Gaza are likely to be still under way.

The wheels of global justice – at least interim justice – do not always grind slowly.

Read the rest of our Diplomatic editor Patrick Wintour’s piece in the wake of the international court of justice’s announcement that it’s due to hold public hearings on the matter.

The US secretary of state Antony Blinken will depart on Thursday for the Middle East, including a stop in Israel, an unnamed senior US official has told the Reuters and Agence France-Presse news agencies on Wednesday.

The official, briefing reporters on condition of anonymity, said U.S. diplomatic envoy Amos Hochstein will also travel to Israel in an effort to calm tensions between the country and Hezbollah.

Blinken leaves Thursday night “for stops in a number of capitals, including Israel,” the official said, but didn’t provide any further details.

It would be the US secretary of state’s fourth crisis trip to the Middle East, the US official told Agence France-Presse.

The trip comes after a suspected Israeli strike killed a top Hamas leader in the suburbs of Beirut, raising fears of a wider conflict. “It is in no one’s interest – not in the interest of any country in the region, not in the interest of any country in the world – to see this conflict escalated any further than it already is,” state department spokesperson Matthew Miller said earlier on Wednesday.

It’s also after almost 100 people were killed and more than 200 wounded in Iran by twin explosions near the grave of a slain Revolutionary Guards general. Tehran is blaming the United States and Israel for the attack but Washington has rejected suggestions of either nation’s involvement.

Hello and welcome to our latest blog on the Israel-Gaza war. It’s currently 7:56am in Gaza and Tel Aviv and my name is Reged Ahmad. I’ll be with you for the next while.

The US secretary of state Antony Blinken will leave Thursday evening on his fourth crisis trip to the Middle East, a US official says. The trip will include Israel, but no other details have been provided.

More on that shortly but first, here’s a summary of the latest events so far:

• Israel carried out the strike that killed Hamas’s deputy chief Saleh al-Arouri in Beirut, Lebanon, a US defense department official told Agence France-Presse anonymously on Wednesday. “The strike was an Israeli strike,” said the official, without providing further details. On Tuesday, al-Arouri was killed in Dahiyeh, a Hezbollah stronghold in Beirut. Both Hamas and Hezbollah have blamed Israel for al-Arouri’s killing.

• The international court of justice will hold public hearings on the request for the indication of provisional measures submitted by South Africa in its case against Israel over “genocidal” acts in Gaza next week. In a press release on Wednesday, the ICJ said that it will hold public hearings at the Peace Palace in The Hague next Thursday and Friday. It added: “The hearings will be devoted to the request for the indication for provisional measures contained in South Africa’s application.”

• The US said that it is “not seeing any acts that constitute genocide” in Gaza, referring to South Africa’s case against Israel in the international court of justice in which it accused Israel of “genocidal” acts across Gaza. In a news briefing on Wednesday, US state department spokesperson Matthew Miller said, “Those are allegations that should not be made lightly … we are not seeing any acts that constitute genocide … That is a determination by the state department.” Miller’s comments come as Israeli strikes have killed over 22,300 Palestinians across Gaza – which human rights organisations have described as an “open air prison” – since 7 October.

• A local Hezbollah official and two other members were killed on Wednesday in an Israeli strike on southern Lebanon, Reuters reports two security sources saying. Wednesday’s strike bring the death toll in Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon to nine Hezbollah members since the Iran-backed group began exchanging fire with Israeli forces at the start of October.

• The United States sees no “clear desire” by either Lebanon’s Hezbollah movement or Israel to go to war with the other, a senior Biden administration official has told Reuters. The official was briefing reporters on condition of anonymity and referring to a speech earlier in the day by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah on the assassination on Tuesday of a senior Hamas official in Beirut.

• Twelve nations led by the United States on Wednesday have jointly warned Yemen’s Houthi rebels of consequences unless they immediately halt sea attacks that have been disrupting global commerce. President Joe Biden’s administration described the statement – joined by Britain, Germany and Japan – as a final warning, as Biden weighs possible military strikes against the Houthis if attacks persist, Agence France-Presse reports.

• Members of the UN security council on Wednesday also called on Yemen’s Houthis to halt their attacks on shipping in the Red Sea and the Gulf of Aden. Addressing the council’s first formal meeting of 2024, members also demanded that the Houthis release the Galaxy Leader, a Japanese-operated cargo ship linked to an Israeli company, and its crew, which the group seized on 19 November

• The United States remains “incredibly concerned” about the risk of the Israel-Gaza war spreading to other fronts, according to the US state department. The state department also said the US was not involved and had no reason to believe that Israel was involved in the explosions in central Iran earlier on Wednesday.

• The US coordinated with Israel, Egypt and others in rescuing the mother of a US serviceman and her American brother-in-law in Gaza, the Associated Press (AP) is reporting. The news agency says it’s the only known operation of its kind to extract American citizens and their close family members during the months of fighting and Israeli airstrikes in Gaza.

• A senior official in the US Education Department has stepped down, citing President Joe Biden’s handling of the conflict in Gaza, Reuters is reporting, in the latest sign of dissent in the administration over the war.

• Meanwhile, 17 Biden re-election campaign staffers have issued a warning in an anonymous letter that Biden could lose voters over the issue, according to the Reuters news agency. Biden’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.