RAFAH: Israel bombed the Gaza Strip, including Rafah, on Saturday, a day after the top UN court ordered it to halt military operations in the southern city as efforts get underway in Paris to seek a ceasefire in the war sparked by Hamas’s October 7 attack.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) also demanded the immediate release of all hostages still held by Palestinian militants, hours after the Israeli military announced troops had recovered the bodies of three more of the captives from northern Gaza.
The Hague-based court, whose orders are legally binding but lack direct enforcement mechanisms, also ordered Israel to keep open the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza, which it closed earlier this month at the start of its assault on the city.
Israel gave no indication it was preparing to change course in Rafah, insisting that the court had got it wrong.
“Israel has not and will not carry out military operations in the Rafah area that create living conditions that could cause the destruction of the Palestinian civilian population, in whole or in part,” National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said in a joint statement with Israel’s foreign ministry spokesman.
The Palestinian militant group Hamas, which has ruled Gaza since 2007, welcomed the ICJ ruling on Rafah but criticized its decision to exclude the rest of war-torn Gaza from the order.
Continued fighting
Hours after the ICJ ruling, Israel carried out strikes on the Gaza Strip early Saturday while clashes between the Israeli army and the armed wing of Hamas continued.
Palestinian witnesses and AFP teams reported Israeli strikes in Rafah and the central city of Deir Al-Balah.
“We hope that the court’s decision will put pressure on Israel to end this war of extermination, because there is nothing left here,” said Oum Mohammad Al-Ashqa, a Palestinian woman from Gaza City displaced to Deir Al-Balah by the war.
“But Israel is a state that considers itself above the law. Therefore, I do not believe that the shooting or the war will stop other than by force,” said Mohammed Saleh, also met by AFP in the central Gaza Strip city.
In its keenly awaited ruling, the ICJ said 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 could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.”
It ordered Israel to open the Rafah crossing for humanitarian aid and also called for the “immediate and unconditional release” of the hostages held by Hamas in Gaza.
The Gaza war broke out after Hamas’s October 7 attack resulted in the deaths of more than 1,170 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures.
Militants also took 252 hostages, 121 of whom remain in Gaza, including 37 the army says are dead.
Israel’s retaliatory offensive has killed at least 35,800 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory’s health ministry.
The Israeli military said the three hostages whose bodies were recovered in north Gaza on Friday — Israeli hostage Chanan Yablonka, Brazilian-Israeli Michel Nisenbaum and French-Mexican Orion Hernandez Radoux — were “murdered” during the October 7 attack and their bodies taken to Gaza.
Truce talks
The court order comes ahead of separate meetings on the Gaza conflict in Paris between the CIA chief and Israeli representatives on one side and French President Emmanuel Macron and the foreign ministers of four key Arab states on the other.
Ceasefire talks involving US, Egyptian and Qatari mediators ended shortly after Israel launched the Rafah operation, though Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office this week said the war cabinet had asked the Israeli delegation “to continue negotiations for the return of the hostages.”
CIA chief Bill Burns was expected to meet Israeli representatives in Paris in a bid to relaunch negotiations, a Western source close to the issue said.
Separately, French President Emmanuel Macron received the prime minister of Qatar and the Saudi, Egyptian and Jordanian foreign ministers on Friday “to press for a ceasefire,” according to Cairo.
The French presidency said they held talks on the Gaza war and ways to set up a Palestinian state alongside Israel.
The five countries discussed “the effective implementation of the two-state solution,” it added.
Top US diplomat Antony Blinken also spoke with Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz about new efforts to achieve a ceasefire and reopening of the Rafah border crossing as soon as possible, Washington said.
Aid stuck
Israeli ground troops started moving into Rafah in early May, defying global opposition.
Troops took over the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, further slowing sporadic deliveries of aid for Gaza’s 2.4 million people.
But on Friday, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi agreed in a call with his US counterpart Joe Biden to allow UN aid through the other entry point into southern Gaza, the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel, the White House said.
The US military has also installed a temporary jetty on the Gaza coast to receive aid by sea that a UN spokesman said had delivered 97 trucks of aid after “a rocky start” a week ago.
The security and humanitarian situation in the territory remains alarming, with a risk of famine, hospitals out of service, and around 800,000 people, according to the United Nations, having fled Rafah in the last two weeks.
UN humanitarian chief Martin Griffiths said the situation had reached “a moment of clarity.”
“Aid workers and UN staff must be able to carry out their jobs in safety,” he posted on social media site X late Friday.
“At a time when the people of Gaza are staring down famine... it is more critical than ever to heed the calls made over the last seven months: Release the hostages. Agree a ceasefire. End this nightmare.”
Israel strikes Rafah after top UN court orders it to halt offensive
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Israel strikes Rafah after top UN court orders it to halt offensive
- Israel gives no indication it is preparing to change course in Rafah, insists that the court had got it wrong
- Top UN court earlier ordered Israel to halt military operations in the southern city
Kurdish fighters in Syria face dual threats
- Suppressed for decades, the Kurds took advantage of the weakness of Bashar Assad’s government during the civil war
- But with the rise of the new authority following his ouster, they are left navigating a complex and uncertain future
BEIRUT: Kurdish fighters in northern Syria are increasingly under pressure from Turkish-backed armed groups while also fearing the new authorities in Damascus will upend their hard-won autonomy.
Suppressed for decades, the Kurds took advantage of the weakness of Bashar Assad’s government during the civil war, but with the rise of the new authority following his ouster, they are left navigating a complex and uncertain future.
As Islamist-led militants pressed their lightning 12-day offensive that toppled Assad on December 8, Turkish-backed fighters began a parallel operation against Kurdish-led forces in the north.
They quickly seized Tal Rifaat and Manbij, two key Kurdish-held areas in a 30-kilometer (17-mile) stretch along the Turkish border where Ankara wants to establish a so-called “security zone.”
Following a wave of fighting, a US-brokered truce took hold on December 11, although Kurdish forces say it has not been respected by Turkish forces in the area nor their proxies.
Kurdish fighters make up the bulk of the US-backed Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) which was formed in 2015 and is seen as the Kurds’ de facto army.
The SDF spearheaded the fight that defeated Daesh group militants in Syria in 2019 and is still seen by the US as a “crucial” to prevent a militant resurgence in the area.
They have warned about a possible Turkish assault on the Kurdish-held border town of Kobani, also known as Ain Al-Arab, which has become a symbol of the fight against IS.
On Tuesday, SDF leader Mazloum Abdi proposed setting up a “demilitarized zone” in Kobani under US supervision.
There are also US troops in Syria as part of an international coalition against the militants, whose numbers doubled earlier this year to around 2,000, the Pentagon said Thursday.
As well as relying on pro-Turkish fighters, Ankara has between 16,000 to 18,000 troops in northern Syria, Turkish officials say, indicating they are ready for deployment “east of the Euphrates” if Kurdish fighters don’t disarm.
But Turkiye’s top diplomat Hakan Fidan on Wednesday said there would be no need for Ankara to intervene if the new government was to “address this issue properly.”
Observers say Ankara wants to take advantage of the Syrian upheaval to push Kurdish forces away from the border zone, seeing them as “terrorists” over their ties with the PKK which has fought a decades-long insurgency on Turkish soil.
Since 2016, the Turkish military has launched several operations in northern Syria targeting the YPG (the People’s Protection Units), which makes up the bulk of the SDF.
Turkish troops have remained in a large stretch of land on the Syrian side of the border.
Syria’s Kurds have made several gestures of openness toward the new authorities in Damascus, fearing for the future of their autonomous region.
They have adopted three-starred independence flag used by the opposition that is now flying over Damascus, and said Wednesday they were canceling customs and other taxes on goods moving between their area and the rest of Syria.
HTS’ military chief Murhaf Abu Qasra, whose nom de guerre is Abu Hassan Al-Hamawi, said Tuesday Kurdish-held areas would be integrated under the new leadership because Syria “will not be divided.”
“The region currently controlled by the SDF will be integrated into the new administration of the country,” he said.
WFP says three staff killed in aerial bombardment in Sudan
ROME: The UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) said Friday that three of its staff had been killed in an “aerial bombardment” in Sudan the previous day.
“WFP is outraged by the killing of three of its staff members in an aerial bombardment in Sudan on December 19, 2024,” the agency said in a statement on X.
“A WFP field office was hit during the attack. We are gathering more information and will provide updates as we learn more.”
A spokesman was unable to give more details when contacted by AFP.
War has raged since April 2023 between the Sudanese army under de facto ruler Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) led by his former deputy, Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo.
The WFP on Thursday warned that Sudan risks becoming the world’s largest hunger crisis in recent history, with 1.7 million people across the country either facing famine or at risk of famine.
Turkiye will support Syria’s reconstruction, improve cooperation
- Turkish president says to intensify trade relations with Syria and Iraq ‘to bring new dynamism for both Syria and Turkiye in every respect’
ANKARA: Turkiye will do whatever necessary for the reconstruction of Syria following the ouster of Bashar Assad, including improving ties in trade, energy and defense, President Tayyip Erdogan said.
“We will intensify our trade relations with Syria and Iraq. This will bring new dynamism for both Syria and Turkiye in every respect,” Erdogan said, according to a transcript of remarks he made to journalists on his return flight from Egypt.
“We will collaborate in many areas, from defense to education and energy. Syria currently faces serious energy issues. But we will swiftly address all of these problems.”
Palestinian officials accuse Israeli settlers of mosque arson in West Bank
- Attack targeted the Bir Al-Walidain mosque in the village of Marda
- Settlers also vandalized the mosque’s walls with “racist graffiti” in Hebrew
NABLUS: Palestinian officials reported on Friday that Israeli settlers had set fire to a mosque in the occupied West Bank, an act Israeli police said was under investigation.
According to Abdallah Kamil, the governor of Salfit, the attack targeted the Bir Al-Walidain mosque in the village of Marda.
“A group of settlers carried out an attack early this morning by setting fire to the mosque,” Kamil said in a statement.
In addition to the arson, the settlers vandalized the mosque’s walls with “racist graffiti” in Hebrew, he said.
Photographs shared on social media showed slogans spray-painted in black including “Death to Arabs.”
Villagers of Marda confirmed the details, with one resident telling AFP: “They set fire to the entrance of the mosque and wrote Hebrew slogans on its walls.”
Another resident said the fire was extinguished before it could engulf the entire structure.
An AFP photographer at the scene saw villagers gathering at the mosque to assess the extent of the damage.
Governor Kamil alleged that settlers had previously entered the village “under the protection of the Israeli army,” and that similar acts of vandalism and graffiti had been reported in nearby areas.
The Palestinian foreign ministry in Ramallah condemned the incident, calling it a “blatant act of racism” and a reflection of the ” widespread incitement campaigns against our people carried out by elements of the extremist right-wing ruling government” of Israel.
Israeli police and the domestic Shin Bet security agency described the incident as a matter of “great severity.”
They said they would “act decisively to ensure accountability for those responsible,” adding an investigation was underway, with authorities gathering testimony and evidence from the scene.
Violence in the Israeli-occupied West Bank has intensified since the war in Gaza began on October 7 last year following Hamas’s attack on Israel.
Since the start of the war, at least 803 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank by Israeli forces or settlers, according to the Palestinian health ministry.
In the same period, Palestinian attacks have claimed the lives of at least 24 Israelis in the West Bank, based on Israeli official data.
Israel has occupied the West Bank since the 1967 Arab-Israeli war.
US diplomats and hostage envoy in Syria on first visit since Assad ouster
- First group of American diplomats to formally visit Syria in more than a decade since the US shuttered its embassy in Damascus in 2012
WASHINGTON: The first US diplomats to visit Syria since President Bashar Assad’s ouster earlier this month are now in Damascus to hold talks with the country’s new leaders and seek information on the whereabouts of missing American journalist Austin Tice.
Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Barbara Leaf, former special envoy for Syria Daniel Rubinstein and the Biden administration’s chief envoy for hostage negotiations, Roger Carstens, made the trip for talks with Syria’s interim leaders, the State Department said early Friday.
The team is also the first group of American diplomats to formally visit Syria in more than a decade since the US shuttered its embassy in Damascus in 2012.
“They will be engaging directly with the Syrian people, including members of civil society, activists, members of different communities, and other Syrian voices about their vision for the future of their country and how the United States can help support them,” the State Department said.
At the top of their agenda will be information about Tice, who went missing in Syria in 2012. And they will push the principles of inclusion, protection of minorities and a rejection of terrorism and chemical weapons that the Biden administration says will be critical for any US support for a new government.
The US has redoubled efforts to find Tice and return him home, saying officials have communicated with the rebels who ousted Assad’s government about the American journalist. Carstens traveled previously to Lebanon to seek information.
Tice, who has had his work published by The Washington Post, McClatchy newspapers and others, disappeared at a checkpoint in a contested area west of Damascus as the Syrian civil war intensified.
A video released weeks after Tice went missing showed him blindfolded and held by armed men and saying, “Oh, Jesus.” He has not been heard from since. Assad’s government publicly denied that it was holding him.
The rebel group that spearheaded the assault on Damascus that forced Assad to flee — Hayat Tahrir Al-Sham, or HTS — is designated a foreign terrorist organization by the United States and others. While that designation comes with a raft of sanctions, it does not prohibit US officials from speaking to its members or leaders.
The State Department said Rubinstein, Leaf and Carstens would meet with HTS officials but did not say if the group’s leader Ahmad Al-Sharaa, who was once aligned with Al-Qaeda, would be among those they see.
US officials say Al-Sharaa’s public statements about protecting minority and women’s rights are welcomed, but they remain skeptical that he will follow through on them in the long run.
The US has not had a formal diplomatic presence in Syria since 2012, when it suspended operations at its embassy in Damascus during the country’s civil war, although there are US troops in small parts of Syria engaged in the fight against the Islamic State militant group.
The Pentagon revealed Thursday that the US had doubled the number of its forces in Syria to fight IS before Assad’s fall. The US also has significantly stepped up airstrikes against IS targets over concern that a power vacuum would allow the militant group to reconstitute itself.
The diplomats’ visit to Damascus will not result in the immediate reopening of the US embassy, which is under the protection of the Czech government, according to US officials, who said decisions on diplomatic recognition will be made when the new Syrian authorities make their intentions clear.
