Israeli army bombings and ground fighting continued on Friday in the Gaza Strip, while the International Court of Justice (ICJ) must rule on a request to stop the military offensive in the ravaged Palestinian territory by more than seven months of war.
During the night, Israeli warplanes flew over Gaza City and shots were heard southeast of this large city in the north of the Palestinian territory, noted AFP, which also reported that Israeli warships hit the coast. The Israeli army reported gunfire and mortars hitting soldiers in the center.
On Friday, the ICJ, the highest court of the UN, must rule on a request from South Africa, which accuses Israel of “genocide” in the Gaza Strip, to “immediately” order a ceasefire. fire.
The head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell, on Friday called on Israel not to “intimidate” and “threaten” the judges of the International Criminal Court (ICC), whose Attorney General Karim Khan requested earlier this week for warrants of judgment against the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his Defense Minister, Yoav Gallant, in particular.
Mr. Netanyahu will address the American Congress “soon,” the Republican leader of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, announced the day before, after President Joe Biden castigated Prosecutor Khan’s announcement.
Hospital “out of service”
The war in the Gaza Strip began on October 7 after the attack on Israeli soil by Hamas commandos infiltrated from the Gaza Strip, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to a count of AFP produced from official Israeli data.
That day, 252 people were also taken as hostages into the Palestinian territory. After a truce in November which notably allowed the release of around a hundred of them, 121 are still being held there, including 37 who have died, according to the army, which announced on Friday that it had recovered the bodies of three hostages.
In response to the October 7 attack, the Israeli army launched a devastating offensive in the Gaza Strip, where Hamas, considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the United States, Canada and the European Union in particular , took power in 2007.
At least 35,800 Palestinians, mostly civilians, were killed in the offensive, according to data from the Health Ministry of the Hamas-led Gaza government.
The Israeli army indicated Friday morning that it was continuing its operations in Jabalia (north) and in the eponymous displaced persons camp.
Kamal Adwan Hospital in Jabalia is “out of service and 14 medical staff are trapped inside,” said a medical source at the establishment.
Imminent “health disaster”
On Friday, Al-Ahli Arab hospital in Gaza City counted seven deaths and warned of a shortage of medicine and fuel, essential to power generators.
Al-Aqsa hospital in Deir al-Balah (center), for its part, called on the international community “to provide 50,000 liters of fuel […] in the coming hours in order to avoid a humanitarian and health disaster,” declared a senior official of the establishment.
In addition to Kerem Shalom, the main crossing point from Israel to the Gaza Strip, located in the south of the territory, Israeli authorities also have control over the Palestinian side of the other major southern crossing point, Rafah, on the border with Egypt, paralyzing fuel deliveries, according to the UN.
The Israeli army launched ground operations in Rafah on May 7, with the stated objective of annihilating the last Hamas battalions and rescuing the hostages, ignoring international warnings about the fate of civilians. Some 800,000 people have fled, according to the UN.
Israelis gathered in front of the US consulate in Jerusalem on Friday, carrying banners calling to “liberate Gaza” and “stop weaponizing genocide”, before being expelled by security forces, according to a photographer the AFP.
Severing of the link between Spain and the Palestinians
Two days after Spain, Ireland and Norway announced that they would recognize the State of Palestine, Israel responded by sanctioning Madrid. Foreign Minister Israel Katz announced on Friday that he had “decided to cut the link” between the Spanish consulate in Jerusalem and the Palestinians.
The day before, the director of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs had warned that the decision of these three countries would make “more difficult the promotion of an agreement for the release of the hostages”.
The war cabinet nevertheless ordered Israeli negotiators to “return to the negotiating table to obtain the return of the hostages,” according to a senior official.
In early May, indirect negotiations between Israel and Hamas, through Qatar, Egypt and the United States, did not result in a truce agreement associated with the release of Palestinian hostages and prisoners. held by Israel.
The head of the CIA, William Burns, is expected in Paris on Friday or Saturday to try to relaunch talks with Israel on a truce in Gaza, AFP learned from a Western source close to the matter.