Israel has bombed the Gaza Strip, including Rafah, just a day after the UN’s top court ordered the IDF to stop its military operations in the southern city.
Comes as efforts are underway in Paris to achieve a ceasefire in the war sparked by the Hamas attack on October 7.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) demanded the immediate release of all hostages still held by Palestinian militants hours after the Israeli army announced that troops had recovered the bodies of three more of the northern Gaza captives. .
The Hague-based court, whose orders are legally binding but lack direct enforcement mechanisms, also ordered Israel to keep open the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza, which it closed earlier this month at the start of its assault on the city.
Israel gave no indication it was preparing to change course in Rafah, insisting the court had made a mistake.
Smoke rises after an Israeli airstrike in Rafah, located in the southern Gaza Strip, on May 24, 2024.
Palestinians fleeing Jabalia in the northern region, photographed arriving in Gaza City on May 24, 2024.
“Israel has not and will not carry out military operations in the Rafah area that create living conditions that could cause the destruction of the Palestinian civilian population, in whole or in part,” national security adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said in a joint statement with the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. ministry spokesperson.
The Palestinian militant group Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, welcomed the ICJ ruling on Rafah but criticized its decision to exclude the rest of war-torn Gaza from order.
Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said this week that the war cabinet had asked the Israeli delegation “to continue negotiations for the return of the hostages.”
CIA chief Bill Burns was expected to meet Israeli representatives in Paris in a bid to relaunch negotiations, a Western source close to the matter said.
On the other hand, French President Emmanuel Macron received the Prime Minister of Qatar and the Foreign Ministers of Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Jordan on Friday “to press for a ceasefire,” according to Cairo.
The French presidency said they held talks on the Gaza war and ways to establish a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
The five countries discussed “the effective implementation of the two-state solution,” he added.
Top US diplomat Antony Blinken also spoke with Israeli War Cabinet Minister Benny Gantz about new efforts to achieve a ceasefire and reopen the Rafah border crossing as soon as possible, Washington said.
Israel bombed the Gaza Strip, including Rafah, just a day after the UN top court ordered the IDF to stop its military operations in the southern city on May 24, 2024.
In a case brought by South Africa accusing Israel of genocide, ICJ President Nawaf Salam delivered the ruling by the 15-judge panel in The Hague.
A lone protester waves the Palestinian flag in front of the Peace Palace, rear, which houses the International Court of Justice, or World Court, in The Hague.
Smoke rises during an Israeli airstrike, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, on May 24, 2024.
Palestinian witnesses reported Israeli attacks on Rafah and the central city of Deir al-Balah.
“We hope that the court’s decision will put pressure on Israel to end this war of extermination, because there is nothing left here,” said Oum Mohammad Al-Ashqa, a Palestinian woman from Gaza City displaced to Deir al-Balah by the war.
‘But Israel is a state that considers itself above the law. Therefore, I do not believe that the shooting or the war will be stopped except by force,” said Mohammed Saleh, also in the central city of the Gaza Strip.
Israeli troops seized the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, further delaying sporadic aid deliveries to Gaza’s 2.4 million residents.
But on Friday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi agreed in a call with his U.S. counterpart Joe Biden to allow U.N. aid through the other entry point into southern Gaza, the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel, the agency said. White House.
The US military also set up a temporary jetty on the coast of Gaza to receive aid by sea, which a UN spokesman said had delivered 97 trucks of aid after “a rocky start” a week ago.
The humanitarian and security situation in the territory remains alarming, with the risk of famine, hospitals out of service and around 800,000 people, according to the United Nations, having fled Rafah in the last two weeks.
UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said the situation had reached “a moment of clarity”.
“Humanitarian workers and UN staff must be able to do their jobs safely,” he posted on the social media site X on Friday night.
‘At a time when the people of Gaza face famine… it is more critical than ever to pay attention to the so-called events over the past seven months: releasing the hostages. Agree on a ceasefire. End this nightmare.’