Palestinian officials on Monday accused Israel of bombing a center for displaced people near Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, killing at least 40 people according to the Palestinian Civil Defense. The Israeli army assured, for its part, that it had struck a Hamas compound in which “major terrorists” were operating.
Information to remember
⇒ Israeli strikes in Rafah: Qatar’s concern
⇒ Palestinian Civil Defense announces death toll of 40
⇒ The EU calls for the application of ICJ decisions
The EU calls for the application of ICJ decisions
The decisions on Gaza taken by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the highest court of the UN, must be applied, insisted Monday in Brussels the head of European diplomacy Josep Borrell, before a meeting of foreign ministers of the EU and several Arab countries. “Everyone agrees that the decisions of the International Court of Justice are binding and that they must be implemented,” said Josep Borrell, after the order given by this court to Israel to stop. immediately” its offensive in Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip. But, he acknowledged, “there really is a dilemma about how the international community can force the implementation” of these decisions.
EU ministers will discuss it on Monday morning before meeting their Egyptian, Jordanian, Qatari, Emirati counterparts and the secretary general of the Arab League, Josep Borrell added to the press.
Palestinian Civil Defense announces death toll at 40
The Palestinian Civil Defense of the Gaza Strip announces a death toll of 40 after Israeli strikes on a Rafah camp, in the far south of the Palestinian coastal territory.
“The massacre committed by the Israeli occupation army in the refugee tents in the northwest of the town of Rafah, in the south of the Gaza Strip, left 40 martyrs and 65 injured,” he told ‘AFP Mohammed al-Mughayyir, a Civil Defense official in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli strikes in Rafah: Qatar’s concern
Israeli strikes in the Palestinian town of Rafah could “hinder” truce talks in Gaza, Qatar, mediator country between Israel and Hamas, warned on Monday.
The Gulf country is concerned that the bombings will complicate “ongoing mediation efforts and hamper efforts to reach an agreement for an immediate and lasting ceasefire in the Gaza Strip,” it said. the Qatari Ministry of Foreign Affairs in a press release.
Egypt: a “deliberate bombing”
Egypt condemned on Monday a “deliberate bombing by Israeli forces on displaced people’s tents” in Rafah. In Cairo, the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs called in a statement on Israel to “implement the measures decreed by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) concerning an immediate cessation of military operations” in the Palestinian town of Rafah, located in the border of Egypt. The ministry denounced “a new flagrant violation of the provisions of international humanitarian law”.
Deploring a “tragic event”, the press release denounces a “targeting of defenseless civilians” and “a systematic policy aimed at widening the specter of death and destruction in the Gaza Strip to make it unlivable”.
Israel bans Spain from providing consular services to Palestinians
The Israeli Foreign Ministry on Monday ordered the Spanish consulate in Jerusalem to cease its services to Palestinians from June 1, in response to Madrid’s recognition of the State of Palestine, according to a press release from Israeli diplomacy. From this date, the Spanish consulate in Jerusalem will be “authorized to deliver consular services to residents of the consular district of Jerusalem only, and (will) not be authorized to […] exercise consular activity with respect to residents of the Palestinian Authority,” the statement said.
Foreign Minister Israel Katz said in a separate statement: “Today I implemented preliminary punitive measures against the Spanish consulate in Jerusalem, following recognition by the government Spanish of a Palestinian State”.
Gaza: Amnesty calls for investigation
Three Israeli air strikes in the center and south of the Gaza Strip killed 44 Palestinian civilians in April, including 32 children, according to Amnesty International, which is calling on the ICC to open an investigation for “war crimes”. According to the NGO, these strikes took place on April 16 on the al Maghazi refugee camp, in the center of the Gaza Strip, and on April 19 and 20 in Rafah, in the south.
“These devastating strikes decimated families and took the lives of 32 children,” said Amnesty official Erika Guevara-Rosas in the press release, affirming that the NGO’s investigation provides “essential evidence pointing to illegal attacks attributable to the Israeli army.