RAFAH: Israel bombed Gaza, including Rafah, on Saturday, a day following the top United Nations court ordered it to stop military operations in the southern city as efforts get underway in Paris to seek a truce in the war sparked by Hamas’s Oct 7 attack.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) demanded the immediate release of all captives still held by Hamas, hours following the Israeli army announced forces had recovered the bodies of three more of the detainees from northern Gaza.
The court ordered Israel to keep open the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, which it closed earlier this month at the start of its strike on the city. Israel gave no hint it was preparing to change course in Rafah.
Hamas welcomed the ICJ order on Rafah but criticized its verdict to exclude the rest of war-torn Gaza from the order.
However, hours after the court ruling, Israel carried out attacks on Gaza early Saturday while clashes between the Israeli army and Hamas continued. Palestinian witnesses and AFP reported Israeli strikes in Rafah and the main city of Deir Al-Balah.
Oum Mohammad Al-Ashqa, a Palestinian woman from Gaza City expressed hope that the court’s decision will put pressure on Israel to end the war of extermination as there is nothing left here.
Another Palestinian Mohammed Saleh said that Israel is a state that considers itself above the law. He said, “I do not believe that the war will stop”.
Gaza Health Ministry said that Israel’s offensive has killed more than 35,800 people in Gaza, mostly women and children.
The ICJ order comes ahead of separate meetings on the Gaza war in Paris between the CIA chief and Israeli representatives on one side and French President Emmanuel Macron and the foreign ministers of four key regional states on the other.
Truce talks involving US, Qatari and Egyptian mediators ended shortly following Israel launched the Rafah operation, though Benjamin Netanyahu’s office this week said the war cabinet had asked the Israeli team “to continue talks for the return of the captives.”
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken also spoke with Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz regarding the new efforts to achieve a truce and reopening of the Rafah border crossing immediately.
