Oman welcomes ICJ order to Israel on Rafah offensive
Published: 07:05 PM,May 24,2024 | EDITED : 09:05 AM,May 25,2024
A Palestinian man and his children sit in a destroyed room following the targeting or a residential building by an Israeli airstrike in Rafah on Friday.
MUSCAT: The Foreign Ministry of Oman in a statement said that it followed the decision of the International Court of Justice in the case of genocide charges against Israel imposing additional emergency measures to immediately stop military operations in Rafah and allow the entry of humanitarian aid and investigative committees for the Gaza Strip.
The Ministry welcomed the decision of the International Court of Justice in this regard and it appealed to the international community, especially the Security Council, to bind Israel to its responsibilities of following international laws and to implement the decision of the International Court of Justice to immediately stop aggressive actions in the Palestinian territories.
International Court of Justice ordered Israel to halt military operations in Rafah, a landmark ruling likely to increase mounting international pressure on Israel more than seven months into the war.
The Word Court also demanded the immediate release of all hostages still held by Palestinian fighters, hours after the Israeli military announced troops had recovered the bodies of three more of the captives from north Gaza.
The Hague-based court, whose orders are legally binding but lack direct enforcement mechanisms, also ordered Israel to keep open the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza, which it closed earlier this month at the start of its assault on the city.
The orders come ahead of separate meetings on the Gaza conflict on Friday in Paris between the CIA chief and Israeli representatives on one side and French President Emmanuel Macron and the foreign ministers of four key Arab states on the other.
In its keenly awaited ruling, the ICJ 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'.
Israel must 'maintain open the Rafah crossing for unhindered provision at the scale of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance', the UN court added. 'The court finds it deeply troubling that many of these hostages remain in captivity and reiterates its call for their immediate and unconditional release,' it said.
Israel rejected Friday's ruling. 'The charges of genocide brought by South Africa against Israel at the International Court of Justice in the Hague are false, outrageous, and morally repugnant,' the head of the National Security Council and the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a joint statement.
Israel had argued before the court that an order to stop military activity would give free rein to Hamas extremists and prevent its army from rescuing hostages taken in the October 7 attack.
A Palestinian security source told AFP there were clashes between Israeli forces and militants in the town of Jabalia and its refugee camp, with another source at Kamal Adwan Hospital saying it was 'out of service, and has 14 medical staff trapped inside'.
Along with Al-Awda, Kamal Adwan is one of the last two functioning hospitals in northern Gaza, both of which are besieged, according to the World Health Organization. Other facilities across Gaza are suffering severe shortages of medical supplies and fuel to power generators, according to UN and Palestinian officials.
Israel in early May launched an assault on Rafah, the last Gazan city to be entered by its ground troops, defying global opposition and sending more than 800,000 people fleeing, according to UN figures.
Troops took over the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, further slowing the sporadic arrival of trucks carrying badly needed aid for Gaza's 2.4 million people.
CIA chief Bill Burns is expected to hold talks in Paris with Israeli representatives on Friday or Saturday in a bid to relaunch negotiations, a Western source close to the issue said.
The Ministry welcomed the decision of the International Court of Justice in this regard and it appealed to the international community, especially the Security Council, to bind Israel to its responsibilities of following international laws and to implement the decision of the International Court of Justice to immediately stop aggressive actions in the Palestinian territories.
International Court of Justice ordered Israel to halt military operations in Rafah, a landmark ruling likely to increase mounting international pressure on Israel more than seven months into the war.
The Word Court also demanded the immediate release of all hostages still held by Palestinian fighters, hours after the Israeli military announced troops had recovered the bodies of three more of the captives from north Gaza.
The Hague-based court, whose orders are legally binding but lack direct enforcement mechanisms, also ordered Israel to keep open the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza, which it closed earlier this month at the start of its assault on the city.
The orders come ahead of separate meetings on the Gaza conflict on Friday in Paris between the CIA chief and Israeli representatives on one side and French President Emmanuel Macron and the foreign ministers of four key Arab states on the other.
In its keenly awaited ruling, the ICJ 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'.
Israel must 'maintain open the Rafah crossing for unhindered provision at the scale of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance', the UN court added. 'The court finds it deeply troubling that many of these hostages remain in captivity and reiterates its call for their immediate and unconditional release,' it said.
Israel rejected Friday's ruling. 'The charges of genocide brought by South Africa against Israel at the International Court of Justice in the Hague are false, outrageous, and morally repugnant,' the head of the National Security Council and the spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a joint statement.
Israel had argued before the court that an order to stop military activity would give free rein to Hamas extremists and prevent its army from rescuing hostages taken in the October 7 attack.
A Palestinian security source told AFP there were clashes between Israeli forces and militants in the town of Jabalia and its refugee camp, with another source at Kamal Adwan Hospital saying it was 'out of service, and has 14 medical staff trapped inside'.
Along with Al-Awda, Kamal Adwan is one of the last two functioning hospitals in northern Gaza, both of which are besieged, according to the World Health Organization. Other facilities across Gaza are suffering severe shortages of medical supplies and fuel to power generators, according to UN and Palestinian officials.
Israel in early May launched an assault on Rafah, the last Gazan city to be entered by its ground troops, defying global opposition and sending more than 800,000 people fleeing, according to UN figures.
Troops took over the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, further slowing the sporadic arrival of trucks carrying badly needed aid for Gaza's 2.4 million people.
CIA chief Bill Burns is expected to hold talks in Paris with Israeli representatives on Friday or Saturday in a bid to relaunch negotiations, a Western source close to the issue said.