The International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Thursday ordered Israel to provide “urgent humanitarian aid” to the besieged Gaza Strip, where fighting pits the Israeli army and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in the area of several hospitals.
In addition to the very heavy human toll and enormous destruction, the war, triggered by an unprecedented attack by Hamas in Israel on October 7, has caused a humanitarian catastrophe in the cramped Palestinian territory, where the majority of the 2.4 million inhabitants are threatened with famine according to the UN.
Israel must “promptly ensure” the “unrestricted and large-scale provision by all interested parties of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance” in Gaza, the ICJ said in The Hague.
Seized by South Africa, the ICJ called on Israel in January to prevent any possible act of “genocide” in the Palestinian territory, Israel deeming such accusations “scandalous”.
Early Thursday, the Hamas health ministry reported at least 66 deaths in the Gaza Strip overnight, including in Israeli airstrikes.
This toll brings to 32,552 the number of people killed in the Gaza Strip, mainly women and children, since the start of Israeli reprisals against Hamas, according to the ministry.
The Israeli army, which accuses Hamas fighters of hiding in hospitals, continues its operations in the al-Chifa hospital complex in the northern Gaza City, saying it has “eliminated around 200 terrorists” in the area since on March 18.
Israeli troops “evacuated civilians, patients and medical teams to alternative medical facilities,” assures the army.
PHOTO SYLVIE HUSSON, AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE
Map of the Gaza Strip with hospitals affected by continued Israeli military operations on March 27, 2024
” Eyes blinded ”
“The Israeli forces forced men to undress and keep only their underwear (…) I saw others blindfolded who had to follow a tank in the middle of explosions,” said Karam Ayman Hathat , a 57-year-old Palestinian who lives in a building about a hundred meters from the hospital.
In Khan Younes, in the south of the Gaza Strip, soldiers are carrying out operations in the area of Nasser and al-Amal hospitals, approximately one kilometer apart.
The Israeli army said Thursday that it had “eliminated dozens of terrorists in the al-Amal area,” adding that its troops “found explosive devices and mortar shells.”
Ghazi Agha, 60, was in a tent in the Nasser hospital complex when the army asked the people there to evacuate him.
“They called us over a loudspeaker: ‘get out or we’ll bomb the buildings.’ I went out with dozens of people (…) We heard explosions and exchanges of fire all the time,” he said.
The Hamas attack on October 7 in Israel resulted in the deaths of at least 1,160 people, mainly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official Israeli data. According to Israel, around 250 people have been kidnapped and 130 of them are still hostages in Gaza, 34 of whom have died.
In retaliation, Israel vowed to annihilate Hamas – which it considers a terrorist organization along with the United States and the European Union – and launched an offensive in the Gaza Strip where the Palestinian movement took power. in 2007.
After the cities of Gaza and Khan Younes, Israel wants to launch a ground offensive in Rafah, at the southern tip of the Palestinian territory, which it considers to be the last great bastion of Hamas and where 1.5 million Palestinians are crowded together, vast majority displaced by hostilities.
Next meeting on Rafah?
The United States, Israel’s main ally, fears the human toll of such an operation and prefers other options.
They had requested that an Israeli delegation be sent to Washington to discuss the project, but Israel canceled the visit after the United States abstained, which allowed the recent adoption of a UN resolution calling for an “immediate ceasefire” in Gaza.
On Wednesday, however, a senior US official said Israel had indicated it would like to find “a new date to hold the meeting” on Rafah.
At the same time, Qatar – which plays the role of mediator with Egypt and the United States – this week ensured the continuation of indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas aimed at securing a truce of several weeks in the fighting coupled with a exchange of hostages and Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
PHOTO BASSAM MASOUD, REUTERS
Rafah, March 27, 2024
Lack of water
While humanitarian aid by land, strictly controlled by Israel, arrives in trickles, several countries parachute supplies daily, especially in the north of the Gaza Strip where the situation is particularly desperate.
“Food aid is usually parachuted when people are isolated (…) Here, the help we need is barely a few kilometers away: we have to use the roads! “, said James Elder, spokesperson for UNICEF, from Rafah.
On Thursday, on a street in this city, Palestinians, including many children, were lining up to fill their containers with drinking water.
“There is no (fresh) water in the school,” which has been transformed into a shelter, “that’s why we come here to stock up on water,” explains Ali al-Samouni, a displaced person from about fifty years.
“We walk for an hour (to fetch water). Sometimes we come back empty-handed,” laments Maram Abou Amra, a displaced person from Khan Younès.
The war in Gaza has repercussions on the Israeli-Lebanese border where deadly exchanges of fire have pitted Israel against Lebanese Hezbollah, an ally of Hamas, since October 8.
A return to calm must be “the highest priority” for both Israel and Lebanon, a White House spokesperson said Thursday, the day after the death of a dozen civilians in exchanges of fire .
The United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) also called on Thursday for an “immediate” de-escalation at the border.
reference: www.lapresse.ca