The United Nations’ highest court has ordered Israel to suspend its military operations in the southern Gaza town of Rafah. Israel insists it has the right to defend itself against Hamas militants; the country is unlikely to comply with this decision.
Posted at 6:32 a.m.
Updated at 9:52 a.m.
What there is to know
- ICJ orders Israel to “immediately” stop its military offensive in Rafah in the Gaza Strip;
- The Israeli army indicated Friday morning that it was continuing its operations in Jabalia and the eponymous displaced persons camp;
- CIA chief William Burns is expected in Paris on Friday or Saturday to try to restart talks with Israel on a truce in Gaza.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) order further increases international pressure on an increasingly isolated Israel to curb its war against Hamas in Gaza.
Friday’s ruling marks the third time this year that the 15-judge panel has issued preliminary orders aimed at limiting the death toll and easing humanitarian suffering in Gaza.
Even though the orders are legally binding, the court does not have police to enforce them.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is also under intense pressure at home to end the war, which was sparked when Hamas-led militants stormed into Israel, killing 1,200 people, mostly civilians, and making some 250 prisoners. Thousands of Israelis have participated in weekly protests calling on the government to reach a deal to bring the hostages home, fearing that time is running out.
Israel has already indicated that it will ignore the ICJ’s order to stop its operations.
“No power in the world will prevent Israel from protecting its citizens and attacking Hamas in Gaza,” argued Avi Hyman, the government spokesperson, during a press briefing on Thursday.
The ceasefire demand is part of a complaint filed late last year by South Africa accusing Israel of committing genocide during its campaign in Gaza. Israel vehemently denies these allegations. It will take years to resolve the case, but South Africa wants interim orders to protect Palestinians while the legal wrangling continues.
During public hearings last week at the ICJ, South Africa’s ambassador to the Netherlands, Vusimuzi Madonsela, urged the panel of 15 international judges to order Israel to “totally and unconditionally withdraw” from the Gaza Strip.
PHOTO NICK GAMMON, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Judges of the International Court of Justice, The Hague, Netherlands
The Court had already found that Israeli military operations pose a “real and imminent risk” for the Palestinian people in Gaza.
In January, ICJ judges ordered Israel to do everything in its power to prevent death, destruction and any acts of genocide in Gaza, but the panel stopped short of ordering an end to it. of the military offensive. In a second order issued in March, the court said Israel must take steps to improve the humanitarian situation.
Gaza bombed
During the night, Israeli warplanes flew over Gaza and shots were heard southeast of this large city in the north of the Palestinian territory, AFP noted, also reporting that Israeli warships had struck the coast . The Israeli army reported gunfire and mortars hitting soldiers in the center.
The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, on Friday called on Israel not to “intimidate” and “threaten” the judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC), whose Attorney General Karim Khan requested earlier this week for warrants of judgment against the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his Minister of Defense, Yoav Gallant, in particular.
Mr. Netanyahu will address the American Congress “soon,” the Republican leader of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, announced the day before, after President Joe Biden castigated Prosecutor Khan’s announcement.
Hospital “out of service”
The war in the Gaza Strip began on October 7 after the attack on Israeli soil by Hamas commandos infiltrated from the Gaza Strip, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to a count of AFP produced from official Israeli data.
That day, 252 people were also taken as hostages into the Palestinian territory. After a truce in November which notably allowed the release of around a hundred of them, 121 are still being held there, including 37 who have died, according to the army, which announced on Friday that it had recovered the bodies of three hostages.
In response to the October 7 attack, the Israeli army launched a devastating offensive in the Gaza Strip, where Hamas, considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the European Union and the United States in particular, took power in 2007.
At least 35,800 Palestinians, mostly civilians, were killed in the offensive, according to data from the Health Ministry of the Hamas-led Gaza government.
The Israeli army indicated Friday morning that it was continuing its operations in Jabalia (North) and in the eponymous displaced persons camp.
Kamal Adwan Hospital in Jabalia is “out of service and 14 medical staff are trapped inside,” said a medical Source at the establishment.
On Friday, Al-Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza City counted seven deaths and warned of a shortage of medicine and fuel, essential to power generators.
“Humanitarian disaster”
Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah (center), for its part, called on the international community “to provide 50,000 liters of fuel […] in the coming hours in order to avoid a humanitarian and health disaster,” declared a senior official of the establishment.
PHOTO BASHAR TALEB, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
A young patient is surrounded by family members in a hallway lit by sunlight streaming through a window, after a partial power outage at Al-Aqsa Hospital in Deir al-Balah, May 23 .
In addition to Kerem Shalom, the main crossing point from Israel to the Gaza Strip, located in the south of the Palestinian territory, Israeli authorities also have control over the Palestinian side of the other major southern crossing point, Rafah. , on the border with Egypt, paralyzing fuel deliveries, according to the UN.
The Israeli army launched ground operations in Rafah on May 7, with the stated objective of annihilating the last Hamas battalions and rescuing the hostages, ignoring international warnings about the fate of civilians. Some 800,000 people have fled, according to the UN.
Israelis gathered in front of the US consulate in Jerusalem on Friday, carrying banners calling to “liberate Gaza” and “stop weaponizing genocide”, before being expelled by security forces, according to a photographer the AFP.
The CIA as reinforcement
Two days after Spain, Ireland and Norway announced that they would recognize the State of Palestine, Israel responded by sanctioning Madrid. Foreign Minister Israel Katz announced on Friday that he had “decided to cut the link” between the Spanish consulate in Jerusalem and the Palestinians.
The day before, the director of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs had warned that the decision of these three countries would make “more difficult the promotion of an agreement for the release of the hostages”.
The war cabinet nevertheless ordered Israeli negotiators to “return to the negotiating table to obtain the return of the hostages,” according to a senior official.
In early May, indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas, through Qatar, Egypt and the United States, did not result in a truce agreement associated with the release of Palestinian hostages and prisoners. held by Israel.
The head of the CIA, William Burns, is expected in Paris on Friday or Saturday to try to relaunch talks with Israel on a truce in Gaza, AFP learned from a Western Source close to the matter.
