US secretary of state Antony Blinken has reiterated US opposition to a major Israeli offensive on Rafah, the southern Gaza city where 1.4 million Palestinians had until recently sought refuge, in a phone call with war cabinet minister Benny Gantz.

The brief statement from Blinken’s office came after the UN’s top court ordered Israel to halt its assault on Rafah in a ruling that is expected to further ratchet up pressure on the increasingly isolated country.

But the statement made no mention of the international court of justice’s ruling, while a White House spokesperson merely said that “we’ve been clear and consistent on our position on Rafah.”

The US had previously said any assault on Rafah without “credible” humanitarian provisions for civilians would be a red line. However, after Israel launched an offensive on the city earlier this month it watered down its position.

More on that soonest. In other developments:

The UN’s top court voted by a majority of 13 votes to two that Israel must “immediately halt its military offensive and any other action in the Rafah governorate which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that would bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part”. The ruling came days after the chief prosecutor of the international criminal court, a separate court also based in The Hague, said he was seeking arrest warrants for senior Hamas and Israeli officials for war crimes, including the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his defence minister, Yoav Gallant.
Netanyahu’s office on Friday rejected the ruling in the ICJ case, which was brought by South Africa, calling the country’s allegations of genocide by Israel, “false and outrageous”. In a statement, Netanyahu’s office said the Israeli campaign in Rafah has not and will not “lead to the destruction of the Palestinian civilian population”.
Residents and Palestinian media reported a series of strikes hitting roads and houses in the Shaboura neighbourhood in central Rafah shortly after the ICJ ruling was read out in The Hague. Heavy fighting was also reported in the Jabalia refugee camp in the north. Medics said at least five Palestinians had been killed when houses were hit in Jabalia and more were believed to be trapped under rubble, but that the area could not be reached due to the intensity of the bombardment. In Rafah, residents reported explosions and smoke rising in the distance as tanks advanced further into the eastern district of Jenina.
South Africa described the ICJ ruling was “groundbreaking”. The South Africa international relations department said: “This order is binding and Israel has to adhere to it.” South Africa added that it would be approaching the UN security council with Friday’s ICJ order.
The Palestinian Authority welcomed the ICJ ruling, saying it represented an international consensus to end the war on the Gaza Strip. Hamas also welcomed the decision but said it was not enough and urged an end to Israel’s offensive on all of Gaza. Hamas called on the UN security council to implement the ICJ decision.
The EU’s foreign policy chief, Josep Borrell, said that the EU had to choose between respecting the EU’s support for international institutions or its support for Israel. “What is going to be the answer to the ruling of the international court of justice that has been issued today, what is going to be our position? We will have to choose between our support to international institutions of the rule of law or our support to Israel,” he said.
Egypt and the US have agreed to temporarily send humanitarian aid to the UN in Gaza via Israel’s Kerem Shalom crossing, the Egyptian presidency said. Only 906 truckloads of humanitarian aid have entered the Gaza Strip since 7 May, after Israel began its military operation in Rafah, according to figures from the UN’s office for the coordination of humanitarian affairs (Ocha).
More than 200 staff members of EU institutions and agencies have signed a letter expressing “growing concern” over the union’s response to the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, arguing that it runs contrary to its core values and aim of promoting peace. The letter, signed by 211 people in their personal capacity as citizens and addressed to the EU’s top three officials, begins by condemning the 7 October attacks “in the strongest terms”.

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Франция Военные Действия

ИГИЛ Раф Газой израильский нападение оппозиция живой война израиль крупный