Refuge for refugees
Israel bombs Rafah despite ICJ ruling
26.05.2024, 09:30 a.m.
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Before the Israeli offensive, more than a million people had sought refuge in the city on the border with Egypt from the fighting that had been going on since October. Israel describes Rafah as the last bastion of the fighters of the radical Islamic Hamas group.
Israel has continued its attacks on the city of Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip despite an order from the UN’s highest court to stop the offensive. The Israeli army bombed Rafah and Khan Yunis as well as the city of Gaza early in the morning, eyewitnesses report. Negotiations on a ceasefire and the release of the hostages held by Hamas could resume shortly.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered an immediate halt to the Israeli offensive in Rafah on Friday. The UN court in The Hague thereby partially granted a request from South Africa. The court explained that the offensive could contribute to living conditions that could lead to “the total or partial destruction” of the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip. The highest UN court also ordered Israel to keep the Rafah border crossing on the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt open.
Israel rejected the court’s assessment and did not promise a change of course in Rafah. The Israeli army has not carried out any military operations in the Rafah region “that could impose living conditions on the Palestinian civilian population in the Gaza Strip that could lead to their total or partial destruction,” the Israeli Foreign Ministry and National Security Advisor Tzachi Hanegbi said after an emergency meeting with several ministers called by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Israeli soldiers kidnapped?
Before the Israeli offensive, more than a million people had sought refuge in the city on the border with Egypt from the fighting that had been going on since October. Israel describes Rafah as the last bastion of the fighters of the radical Islamic Hamas group.
The armed wing of the Palestinian organization said on Saturday that Hamas fighters had attacked an Israeli army unit in the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip and “killed, wounded or captured” all members.
The Israeli army rejected Hamas’s account. There was “no incident in which a soldier was kidnapped,” the army said, without providing further details about soldiers who may have been killed or injured.
Hamas: more than 35,900 dead
On October 7, fighters from the radical Islamic Hamas carried out an unprecedented attack on Israel, killing more than 1,170 people according to Israeli sources. In addition, 252 people were taken hostage in the Gaza Strip.
In response to the attack, Israel has since launched a massive military operation in the Gaza Strip. According to figures from the Hamas-controlled Ministry of Health, which cannot be independently verified, more than 35,900 people have been killed so far.
According to government sources, Israel intends to resume negotiations in the coming days on the release of the hostages held in the Gaza Strip since October 7.
Hamas holds 121 hostages
Israeli media reported that Mossad chief David Barnea had agreed with CIA director Bill Burns and Qatari Prime Minister Mohammed bin Abdulrahman al-Thani on a new framework for the stalled negotiations. However, senior Hamas official Usama Hamdan told Al Jazeera that Hamas had “not been informed of anything by the mediators.”
Talks on the release of the remaining hostages and a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip came to a standstill this month after Israel launched the ground offensive in Rafah.
Thousands of demonstrators gathered again in Tel Aviv on Saturday evening and called on the Israeli government to take measures to release the Hamas hostages. The demonstrators held a minute’s silence for the dead hostages. 121 hostages are still being held in the Gaza Strip. According to the Israeli army, 37 of them are dead.