what to remember from Friday May 24

Seized by South Africa, the highest court of the UN ordered Israel to suspend its military operations in the city of Rafah.

The bodies of several hostages kidnapped during the October 7 attacks were found as part of an Israeli military operation in Jabalia, in the north of the Palestinian enclave. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) demands that Israel stop the fighting in Rafah. The temporary pier built by the United States on the coast of Gaza allowed the disembarkation of nearly 100 trucks of humanitarian aid. This is what we must remember from this day of Friday May 24.

The bodies of three hostages, including a Franco-Mexican, found and repatriated by the Israeli army

The Israeli army announces that it has found and repatriated the remains of three hostages from Gaza. “The bodies of (Chanan) Yablonka, Michel Nisenbaum and Orion Hernandez [Radoux, Franco-Mexicain] were recovered during the night during a joint operation” of the Israeli army and intelligence services in Jabalia, in the north of the Palestinian territory, the army said in a statement. Still according to the Israeli armed forces, the hostages “have been amurdered during the massacre of October 7″ and their bodies taken to Gaza by Hamas fighters.

Forty-third French victim of October 7, Orion Hernandez Radoux, 32, was attending the Nova music festival in southern Israel when Hamas fighters attacked. Emmanuel Macron expressed his “tremendous sadness” after the announcement of his death. “France remains more than ever committed to the release of all the hostages”he wrote on the social network X. Two French hostages are still presumed captive in Gaza.

International Court of Justice orders Israel to “immediately” halt operations in Rafah

Israel must “immediately stop its military offensive, and any other action carried out in the Rafah governorate, which would be likely to inflict on the group of Palestinians in Gaza living conditions capable of leading to its physical or partial destruction”said the International Court of Justice, which sits in The Hague (Netherlands), in an order in response to a request from South Africa.

Israel defended itself by asserting that it “has not and will not carry out military operations in the Rafah area that create living conditions likely to lead to the destruction of the Palestinian civilian population, in whole or in part”according to a joint statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the National Security Council.

The UN’s highest court also ordered Israel to keep the Rafah crossing open to allow access “without restriction” to humanitarian aid. The court also called for the immediate release of people taken hostage by Hamas during its October 7 attack on Israel. The orders of the ICJ, which decides disputes between states, are legally binding, but the Court has no way of enforcing them.

Nearly 100 aid trucks arrive in Gaza via US temporary jetty

The United States completed construction of this pier last week, announced in March by President Joe Biden. This is to compensate for the restrictions imposed by Israel on the land delivery of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.

Since the first unloading on May 17, the United Nations World Food Program (WFP), responsible for the operation from the unloading of cargoes arriving from Cyprus, “took possession of 97 trucks”said Stéphane Dujarric, spokesperson for UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, on Friday.

Egypt to let UN aid in via Israel, White House announces

Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sissi engaged in a telephone exchange with Joe Biden in “let humanitarian aid pass” into Gaza via the Kerem Shalom crossing point, the White House said in a statement.

Washington specifies that the American president is on his side “fully committed” to work towards the reopening of another crucial crossing point, that of Rafah, the only one between Egypt and the Palestinian territory.