GAZA (Palestine Foundation Information Center) The Palestinian national and Islamic forces welcomed the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) ruling, which demanded Israel to stop its military operations in Rafah and reopen the Rafah border crossing, calling for its enforcement by obliging Israel to abide by the ruling.
In a statement on Saturday, the forces called for “the cessation of the fascist aggression against the city of Rafah, all parts of the Gaza Strip, and the occupied Palestinian territories, as well as for the withdrawal of the Nazi occupation army.”
The Palestinian forces called on all parties to work seriously to enforce the ICJ’s ruling without any procrastination or obstruction that would absolve Israel of its responsibilities under various pretexts.
The Palestinian factions called on all parties to exert serious efforts to reach a complete withdrawal of the Israeli occupation army from the Rafah crossing and to re-operate it as a Palestinian-Egyptian crossing by the agreed-upon mechanisms.
The factions warned against any formula that would lead to Israel’s circumvention of the ICJ’s ruling by finding alternatives that would legitimize the siege and occupation.
They underlined that the need of the Palestinian people to open all crossings, including the Rafah crossing, is urgent in light of the escalating humanitarian crisis, especially with the increasing number of wounded with thousands of critical cases, including those in urgent need of travel to receive treatment and appropriate health care.
On Friday evening, the ICJ issued a binding decision calling on Israel to immediately stop its military attack on Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, to keep the Rafah crossing open to facilitate the entry of aid into the Strip and submit a report to the court within a month on the steps it has taken in this regard.
Since May 6, Israel has launched a ground attack on Rafah and seized the Rafah border crossing with Egypt, blocking the movement of the wounded and the entry of humanitarian aid.
The attack has also caused the displacement of nearly one million people from Rafah, according to the United Nations.
The ongoing Israeli aggression on the Strip since October 7 last year has left more than 116,000 Palestinians as martyrs and wounded, most of them children and women, and about 10,000 missing amid massive destruction and the closure of crossings, threatening a looming famine.
