Israeli air strikes and artillery pounded Rafah on Saturday, despite the UN’s top court ordering an immediate halt to its military offensive in the southern Gazan city.
This from newsmax.com.
At the same time, renewed efforts were underway in Paris aimed at securing a ceasefire in the war—may the world not forget— sparked by Palestinian militant group Hamas’s unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel.
In a case brought by South Africa alleging the Israeli military operation amounts to “genocide,” the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Israel to halt its Rafah offensive and demanded the immediate release of hostages still held by Palestinian militants.
Israel gave no indication it was preparing to change course in Rafah, insisting the court had got it wrong.
National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said in a joint statement with Israel’s foreign ministry spokesman:
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.
Hamas, the Iran-backed Islamist group that has ruled Gaza since 2007, welcomed the ICJ ruling on Rafah but criticized its decision to exclude the rest of the Palestinian territory from the order.
Despite the ICJ ruling, Israel carried out strikes throughout the Gaza Strip on Saturday morning as fighting raged between the army and Hamas’s armed wing.
Palestinian witnesses and AFP teams reported Israeli strikes or shelling in Rafah, the central city of Deir al-Balah, Gaza City, Jabalia refugee camp and elsewhere.
Umm Mohammad Al-Ashqa, a Palestinian woman from Gaza City displaced to Deir al-Balah by the war, said:
We hope that the court’s decision will put pressure on Israel to end this war of extermination because there is nothing left here.
Yahya, a 34-year-old in Gaza who did not give his second name for security reasons, said:
Perhaps these decisions… that Israel has not complied with, will make the Western world move more strongly (in favor) of our cause at popular and political levels, supporting the recognition of the state of Palestine and strengthening our rights.
The ICJ ruling came days after Ireland, Spain and Norway said they would formally recognize a Palestinian state and the International Criminal Court prosecutor requested arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and top Hamas leaders on suspicion of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
In its ruling, the ICJ said:
Israel must immediately halt its military offensive, and any other action in the Rafah Governorate, which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.
The UN court ordered Israel to allow UN-mandated investigators “unimpeded access” to Gaza to look into the genocide allegations.
The Gaza war broke out after Hamas’s October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Militants also took 252 hostages, 121 of whom remain in Gaza, including 37 the army says are dead.
On the diplomatic front, efforts have resumed to seek the first ceasefire in Gaza since a week-long truce and hostage release in November.
A Western source close to the issue said:
CIA chief Bill Burns was expected to meet Israeli representatives in Paris in a bid to relaunch negotiations,
Washington said:
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.
The security and humanitarian situation in the territory remains alarming.
UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said on social media site X on Friday:
[T]he situation had reached a moment of clarity.
Despite the demands of the ICJ and the humanitarian claims of the United Nations Relief Works Agency (UNRWA), Israel is intent on forcing Hamas to surrender without terms or be annihilated and to release the remaining hostages.
God speed to the IDF and to the Israeli leadership.
