Israel escalated its attacks on civilians in Gaza on 24 May in response to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling ordering Israel to cease its military operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

(Article republished from TheCradle.co)

Friday’s ruling by the ICJ came as part of an ongoing case to determine if Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. The ruling is a provisional measure to halt Israeli military action in response to its ongoing attack on Rafah, which has killed hundreds of Palestinians and displaced hundreds of thousands who had already been displaced by Israeli bombing in Gaza’s north.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denied the allegations in the case brought by South Africa that Israel was carrying out genocide in Gaza as “false, outrageous and morally repugnant.”

He claimed operations in Rafah would not be conducted in a way that “may inflict on the Palestinian civilian population in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.”

However, Israeli warplanes launched violent and unprecedented raids on Rafah just moments after the ICJ issued its order to halt the military operation against the city, Al Mayadeen reported.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health reported on Friday that Israeli forces committed six massacres against families in Gaza, killing 57 and injuring 93, bringing the number of dead since the start of the war in October to 35,857.

The ministry stressed that several victims are still under the rubble and on the roads, where ambulances and civil defense crews cannot reach them.

Al Mayadeen reports that air strikes targeted the Al-Shaboura camp in the center of Rafah, while artillery targeted multiple areas, including near two hospitals, the Martyr Abu Youssef Al-Najjar Hospital and the Kuwait Specialized Hospital in the center of Rafah, as well as the Khirbet Al-Adas, Al-Madkha Street, Al-Geneina neighborhoods.

Israeli warplanes also struck the Al-Mawasi area in the city of Khan Yunis, which led to a number of dead and wounded. Israel had designated the Al-Mawasi area as a safe zone where those sheltering in Rafah should flee ahead of the assault, which began two weeks ago.

In central Gaza, civil defense crews recovered the bodies of eight Palestinians, including children and women, from a house belonging to the Al-Naji family, which was bombed by Israeli warplanes on Jaffa Street behind the Hamza Mosque, east of Gaza City.

An Israeli air strike targeted the Al-Zaytoun neighborhood southeast of Gaza City.

According to Amnesty International, any refusal to halt operations by Israel in Rafah following the ICJ order means it is committing genocide.

“With this order, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) – the UN’s principal court – has made it crystal clear: the Israeli authorities must completely halt military operations in Rafah, as any ongoing military action could constitute an underlying act of genocide,” a statement issued by the rights group said.

“Unequivocally, the ground incursion and the associated mass forced displacement it has caused pose further irreparable risk to the rights of the Palestinian people protected under the Genocide Convention and further threaten their physical destruction in whole or in part.”

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