Palestinian territories:
The world’s highest court on Thursday ordered Israel to “ensure emergency humanitarian aid” reaches Gazans as warnings of looming famine multiply after nearly six months of relentless conflict.
Fierce fighting and continued bombing have once again rocked the region, despite the United Nations Security Council passing a resolution earlier this week calling for an “immediate ceasefire.”
“Israel shall … take all necessary and effective measures to ensure the unimpeded and unimpeded provision of … urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance without delay,” the ICJ said in its ruling.
The judge said this includes food, water, electricity, fuel, shelter, clothing, hygiene and sanitation requirements, as well as medical supplies and medical services provided to Palestinians across Gaza.
“Palestinians in Gaza no longer face only the risk of famine, but … famine is coming,” the Hague-based court said.
South Africa asked the court to uphold an order it issued in January allowing Israel to provide aid to Gaza, as the situation on the ground worsened.
The United Nations has warned that famine is “an increasingly closer reality in northern Gaza” and said Gaza’s health system is collapsing “due to continued hostilities and access restrictions”.
While the war has turned much of the territory into a devastated wasteland, Israel has also imposed a siege on its 2.4 million people, a situation that can only be alleviated by occasional aid.
With clean water also scarce, Gazans queued to fill plastic containers from a water tank west of the city of Rafah.
“We had to queue to buy everything,” said Maram Abu Amra, a displaced woman. “We walked for a total of an hour. Sometimes, we came back empty-handed and without water.”
Fighting around Gaza hospitals
The Israeli army reported heavy fighting near Amal Hospital in the main southern Gaza city of Khan Younis, killing dozens of militants and seizing hundreds of weapons.
The Israeli military said it had attacked dozens of targets in the Gaza Strip the previous day, while the health ministry in Hamas-controlled areas reported a further 62 deaths.
Israel says Hamas and Islamic Jihad militants are fighting inside Gaza hospitals, using patients, medical staff and displaced people as cover, but the Palestinian armed group denies the accusations.
Israel said its soldiers near Amal “carried out targeted attacks against terrorist infrastructure… and eliminated dozens of terrorists using precision fire with close combat and air support”.
The military added that they had also “arrested dozens of terrorists in the area and they were transferred for interrogation.”
Gaza’s health ministry said Israeli tanks and armored vehicles had also massed around the Nasser Hospital, another medical facility in Khan Younis, but had not yet launched a full-scale attack.
Fighting also broke out around Al-Shifa Hospital, Gaza City’s largest hospital, where the military said it had killed about 200 militants since early last week.
Abed Radwan, a 63-year-old local resident, said he was shocked when “Israeli forces raided all the buildings and homes in the Al-Rimal area, arrested several people and forced the rest to go south.” Had to escape.
“I go with them,” he said. “I saw a lot of rotting bodies in the streets and several houses flattened. They didn’t leave anything intact, they destroyed everything.”
According to AFP statistics based on official Israeli data, the war began with an attack by Hamas on October 7, which resulted in the death of approximately 1,160 people in Israel, most of them civilians.
The militants also took about 250 hostages. Israel says about 130 prisoners remain in Gaza, 34 of whom are presumed dead.
According to Gaza’s health ministry, Israeli retaliation has killed at least 32,552 people, mostly women and children.
US holds talks on Rafah
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appears to be trying to ease his rift with US President Joe Biden and plans to send a government delegation to Washington after earlier canceling the trip.
“The prime minister’s office has indicated they want to reschedule the meeting,” a senior U.S. administration official said on condition of anonymity, adding that they were setting a new date.
Tensions increased after Washington abstained from Monday’s U.N. vote, rather than use its Security Council veto to block the resolution as it had previously called for an “immediate ceasefire.”
Netanyahu accused the United States of emboldening Israel’s enemy Hamas, whose attack on Oct. 7 triggered the deadliest Gaza war in history.
The United States is increasingly concerned about Israel’s plans to launch a ground offensive into Gaza’s southernmost city of Rafah, which has a population of about 1.5 million, most of whom have been displaced from other parts of the territory.
U.S. officials have said they hope to present Israel with an alternative plan for Rafah that would focus on Hamas targets while limiting civilian casualties.
A U.S. official said Israeli Defense Minister Yov Galante had held “constructive discussions” in Washington over the past two days.
“Rafa was one of the many topics discussed during the talks,” the official added.
Washington also raised the question of how to rule Gaza after the war and suggested the future role of a reformed Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited authority in parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas approved Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa’s new government on Thursday.
Mustafa said his cabinet “will work to develop a vision to unify institutions, including assuming responsibility for Gaza”.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
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