Israel strikes Rafah despite ICJ ceasefire order

Israeli warplanes and artillery have pounded Rafah, as the government dismissed an order by the top UN court to halt its military offensive; four US aid ships run aground.

Israel has continued to bombard Rafah. Picture: AFP.

Israeli warplanes and artillery have pounded Rafah, as the government dismissed an order by the top UN court to halt its military offensive in the southern Gaza city.

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.

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

It came as four US Army vessels supporting the temporary pier built to deliver aid to Gaza ran aground in heavy seas, with Israel aiding a recovery effort, US Central Command (CENTCOM) said.

“The vessels broke free from their moorings and two vessels are now anchored on the beach near the pier. The third and fourth vessels are beached on the coast of Israel near Ashkelon,” the statement said.

“No US personnel will enter Gaza. No injuries have been reported and the pier remains fully functional,” it continued, adding that the Israeli navy is assisting with recovering the vessels.

Israelis walk near a US Army vessel at that ran aground as it supported a temporary pier built to deliver aid to Gaza by sea. Picture: AFP.

ICJ ruling

In a case brought by South Africa alleging the Israeli military operation amounts to “genocide”, the International Court of Justice on Saturday ordered Israel to halt its Rafah offensive, and demanded the release of hostages and 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”.

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

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.

CENTCOM said 1,005 metric tons of aid had been delivered from the sea to the beach transfer point as of Friday, with 903 metric tons distributed from the transfer point to the UN warehouse.

Meanwhile, diplomatic efforts have resumed to seek the first ceasefire in Gaza since a week-long truce and hostage release in November.

The Israeli official, requesting anonymity to discuss the negotiations, told AFP that “there is an intention to renew these talks this week, and there is an agreement”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government has come under increasing domestic pressure over the fate of the hostages, with demonstrators rallying again in Tel Aviv on Saturday.

The official did not elaborate on the agreement, but Israeli media said intelligence chief David Barnea had agreed a new framework for negotiations in a meeting with US and Qatari mediators in Paris.

Speaking at the US military academy West Point, President Joe Biden said his administration was engaged in “urgent diplomacy to secure an immediate ceasefire that brings hostages home”.

Mediator Egypt was continuing “its efforts to reactivate ceasefire negotiations”, said Al-Qahera News, which has links with Egyptian intelligence.

AFP