Terrorist Israel strikes Rafah after ICJ orders it to halt offensive, martyrs’ toll at 35,903
RAFAH, Palestine (AFP) - Israeli air strikes and artillery pounded Rafah on Saturday, as the government dismissed a UN top court's order to immediately halt its military offensive in the southern Gazan city.
The Health Ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said that at least 35,903 people have been martyred in the territory during more than seven months of war. The toll includes 46 deaths over the past 24 hours, a ministry statement said, adding that 80,420 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7.
At the same time, renewed international efforts were underway aimed at securing a ceasefire in the war sparked by Palestinian militant group Hamas's unprecedented October 7 attack on Israel. The Hague-based ICJ, whose orders are legally binding but lack direct enforcement mechanisms, also instructed Israel to keep open the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza, which Israeli troops took over earlier this month, effectively shutting it. Israel gave no indication it was preparing to change course in Rafah, insisting the court had got it wrong.
The ruling 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". But National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi, in a joint statement with the foreign ministry, said "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 criticised its decision to exclude the rest of the Palestinian territory from the order.
'Nothing left here'
Israel carried out strikes throughout the Gaza Strip early on Saturday as fighting raged between the army and Palestinian militants. Witnesses and AFP teams reported Israeli strikes or shelling in Rafah, the central city of Deir al-Balah, Gaza City and Jabalia refugee camp in the north, and elsewhere.
"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 Umm Mohammad Al-Ashqa, a Palestinian woman from Gaza City displaced to Deir al-Balah by the war. Mohammed Saleh, also interviewed by AFP in the central Gazan city, said Israel "considers itself above the law" and would not stop "the shooting or the war".
Yahya, a 34-year-old in Gaza who did not give his full name for security concerns, said: "Perhaps these decisions... that Israel has not complied with, will make the Western world move more strongly (in favour) of our cause." The ICJ ruling came days after Ireland, Spain and Norway said they would formally recognise a Palestinian state -- a move the leaders of two other European states, Germany and Portugal, said Friday they were not ready to join.
Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares said on Saturday that "the precautionary measures set out by the ICJ... are compulsory. Israel must comply with them." The ruling also followed requests by the International Criminal Court prosecutor, Karim Khan, to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, his defence minister, and three top Hamas leaders on suspicion of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
In its ruling, the ICJ ordered Israel to allow UN-mandated investigators "unimpeded access" to Gaza to look into the genocide allegations. It also instructed Israel to open the Rafah crossing for the "unhindered provision at scale" of humanitarian aid and also called for the "immediate and unconditional release" of the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.
