GAZA STRIP (Palestinian Territories) — The world’s top court has ordered Israel to ensure urgent humanitarian assistance reaches people in the Gaza Strip, where fighting continued Friday including around hospitals despite a binding UN ceasefire call.
In its order, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague said: “Palestinians in Gaza are no longer facing only a risk of famine, but… famine is setting in.”
In January the court had ruled that Israel must facilitate “urgently needed” humanitarian aid to the Palestinian territory and prevent genocidal acts, but Israel rejected the case, brought by South Africa.
The latest binding ruling from the court, which has little means of enforcement, came as Israel’s military said Friday it was continuing operations in Al-Shifa Hospital, the territory’s largest, for a 12th day.
Throughout the coastal territory, dozens of people were killed overnight, the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said early Friday according to AFP.
Among the dead were 12 people killed in a home in the southern city of Rafah, which has been regularly bombed ahead of a mooted Israeli ground operation against Hamas fighters there.
In darkness, men worked under the light of mobile phones, digging with their hands to free people trapped under concrete blocks after an air strike, AFPTV images showed.
The ICJ ordered Israel to “take all necessary and effective measures to ensure, without delay” the supply “of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance” such as food, water and medical supplies.
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