The UN International Court of Justice, however, stressed that Israel must respect the previous measures imposed.
Two Israeli airstrikes on Rafah overnight from Friday to Saturday killed at least 13 people, including nine members of the same family, according to hospital officials and relatives.
The number of Palestinians killed during the Gaza war has exceeded 28,000 people, according to the Hamas-run Gaza health ministry. A quarter of Gaza’s residents are starving. About 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and some 250 kidnapped in the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, which sparked the war.
Tonight’s strikes came after US President Joe Biden once again warned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu against a military operation in Gaza’s southernmost city without a “credible and executable plan” aimed at protecting the approximately 1.4 million Palestinians there.
However, Israel’s defense minister said the country “planned carefully” the ground invasion of Rafah that he had promised, and Mr. Netanyahu pledged early Friday to reject the “international diktats” on a long-term resolution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians.
Palestinians flee Rafah
Israel has identified Rafah as the last Hamas stronghold in Gaza and promised to continue its offensive there. An estimated 1.4 million Palestinians, more than half of Gaza’s population, have crowded into the city, most of them displaced people who fled fighting elsewhere in the Gaza Strip.
Israel said it would evacuate civilians before attacking, although international aid officials said there was nowhere to go because of the vast devastation left by the offensive.
According to UN humanitarian officials, Palestinians have already left this area due to the intensification of Israeli strikes and are heading towards the central areas around Deir al-Balah.
U.N. spokesman Stéphane Dujarric told reporters Friday of the reported movements toward Deir al-Balah, which is about 16 kilometers north of Rafah. He also described the lack of food in Rafah and elsewhere, particularly in the northern Gaza Strip, the first target of the offensive, where large areas have been completely destroyed.
“In Rafah, humanitarian conditions have become increasingly severe, with continued reports of people stopping aid trucks to take food”did he declare.
Across the Gaza Strip, Dujarric said aid delivery was hampered by frequent border closures, long-standing restrictions on importing goods into the Palestinian enclave, damage to critical infrastructure and security situation.
Top UN court rejects request for measures against Rafah offensive
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Friday rejected an “urgent request” from South Africa to impose emergency measures to protect Rafah. She stressed, however, that Israel must respect previous measures imposed late last month at a preliminary stage in the “genocide” case.
The highest court of the United Nations said in a statement that the “perilous situation” in Rafah “demands the immediate and effective implementation of provisional measures” which she had ordered on January 26.
She said no new orders were needed because existing measures “are applicable throughout the Gaza Strip, including Rafah.”
She added that Israel “remains required to comply fully with its obligations under the Genocide Convention” and the January 26 ruling, which ordered Israel to do everything in its power to prevent death, destruction and any act of genocide in the Gaza Strip.
The Court also asked Hamas to release the hostages still in captivity. Hamas urged the international community to ensure that Israel carries out the court’s orders.
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