Israel strikes Rafah even after UN court orders halt to its attacks

Rafah, Palestinian Territories – AFP

Israeli warplanes and artillery pounded Rafah on Saturday, as the government dismissed an order by the top UN court to halt its invasion of the southern Gaza city.

At the same time, renewed international efforts were underway aimed at securing a cease-fire.

An Israeli official said the government had an “intention” to restart stalled negotiations over the coming days.

In a case brought by South Africa alleging the Israeli military operation amounts to “genocide”, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to halt its Rafah offensive, and demanded the “unhindered provision” of humanitarian aid into Gaza.

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, after Israel’s seizure of the Palestinian side earlier this month effectively shut 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”.

Hamas welcomed the ruling but criticised the court’s decision to exclude the rest of the Palestinian territory from its order.

– ‘Nothing left’ –

Israel carried out strikes throughout the Gaza Strip on Saturday as fighting raged between the army and Palestinian fighters.

Witnesses and AFP teams reported strikes or shelling in Rafah, the central city of Deir al-Balah, and Gaza City and Jabalia refugee camp in the north.

In Gaza City, an AFP photographer saw a grieving woman embracing one of several bodies, some of children, which were shrouded in blood-stained white cloth and laid on the ground outside a clinic ahead of funerals.

They were killed in a strike on a school turned shelter in nearby Jabalia, relative Saleh al-Aswad told AFP.

Umm Mohammad Al-Ashqa, displaced from Gaza City to Deir al-Balah by the war, told AFP she hoped “the court’s decision will put pressure on Israel” to end the attacks “because there is nothing left here”.

The ICJ ruling came as arrest warrants for Israeli leaders were pending at the International Criminal Court, and after three European governments said they would formally recognise the State of Palestine.

Israel has killed at least 35,903 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the local health ministry.

– Internet down –

Israeli forces entered Rafah in early May, taking over the Palestinian side of its border crossing and prompting an exodus of more than 800,000 people, according to UN figures.

The White House said Egypt had agreed to temporarily send UN aid through another crossing, Kerem Shalom near Rafah, on Gaza’s border with Israel.

The UN has warned of famine in the besieged territory, where most hospitals are no longer functioning.

The Kuwaiti Hospital in Rafah pleaded for fuel deliveries to ensure the “continued operation” of the only medical facility in the area still receiving patients.

Telecommunications operator Paltel said internet access in northern Gaza was disrupted on Saturday “due to the ongoing aggression”.

The US military said four of its vessels, supporting a temporary pier built to deliver aid to Gaza by sea, had run aground in heavy seas.

“No US personnel will enter Gaza. No injuries have been reported and the pier remains fully functional,” a statement from US Central Command.