The United Nations says more than one million Palestinians have fled the southernmost town of Rafah in the Gaza Strip as Israeli attacks there continue despite a binding order from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to halt the offensive in Rafah immediately. Meanwhile, the Israeli government is torpedoing its own proposal to achieve a full and complete ceasefire in Gaza as part of a deal that would secure the release of all hostages, offer a roadmap to end the war, and rush desperately needed humanitarian aid throughout Gaza.
“Thousands of families now shelter in damaged and destroyed facilities in Khan Younis, where UNRWA keeps providing essential services, despite increasing challenges. Conditions are unspeakable,” the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said in a statement on social media on Monday.
The UN agency also reported today that the situation in northern Gaza remains desperate. Buildings and infrastructure are in ruins as families seek shelter wherever they can, including heavily damaged UNRWA facilities.
On Sunday, the agency said its 36 shelters in Rafah were now empty, while an estimated 1.7 million people were displaced in Khan Younis and the Gaza Strip's central areas. UNRWA has suspended food distributions in Rafah due to supply shortages and insecurity.
After Israel reportedly submitted a new ceasefire proposal on Thursday, the United States, Egypt, and Qatar - mediators in ongoing talks to secure a ceasefire in Gaza and the release of hostages - jointly called on both the Palestinian armed group Hamas and Israel on Saturday to finalize the agreement.
The mediators said the deal on the table provides a road map for a permanent cease-fire and an end to the war. The peace deal would reportedly include an initial six-week truce with a partial Israeli military withdrawal and the release of some hostages, with a permanent end to hostilities negotiated by mediators.
Before the Rafah offensive began, up to 1.5 million people - including some 300,000 residents - were sheltering there. As of Sunday, more than a million people have fled the southern governorate. Civilians are once again fleeing in fear for their lives, arriving in areas without adequate shelter, sanitation, food, or clean water.
After weeks of intensified military bombardment of Rafah, where more than 1.2 million Palestinians had fled as a result of Israeli evacuation orders and military assaults covering at least three-quarters of the entire territory of the Gaza Strip, Israel launched its military operation in the governorate on May 7.
The military operation has paralyzed the humanitarian response. The entry of aid into Gaza remains severely restricted due to the Israeli attacks. Between the start of the military operation in Rafah on May 7 and May 30, only 1433 truckloads of humanitarian aid entered the Gaza Strip through all operational entry points.
This is an average of about 60 trucks per day, compared to about 500 truckloads of goods entering Gaza every working day before the current crisis - a monthly average of nearly 10,000 truckloads of commercial and humanitarian goods.
On May 24, the International Court of Justice ruled that Israel must immediately cease its military offensive in the Rafah Governorate and keep the Rafah crossing open for the unimpeded delivery of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian aid at scale.
While noting “the worsening conditions of life faced by civilians”, the ICJ also ordered Israel to halt any further action in Rafah, “which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part”.
So far, Israel has failed to comply. Its government has also failed to comply with the Court's January 26 and March 28 orders to prevent acts amounting to genocide, to allow desperately needed humanitarian aid into the war-torn enclave, and to provide urgently needed basic services to Palestinians there.
The Court has also ordered Israel to increase the capacity and number of land crossings and to keep them open for as long as necessary. Israel has only partially implemented this order.
Despite the cessation ordered by the ICJ, heavy bombardment of Rafah has taken place, forcing one million people to flee, most of whom had already been displaced many times before. Israeli bombardments have also targeted tents housing displaced people in a designated "safe area" in northwest Rafah.
The World Health Organization (WHO) reported Sunday that the dismantling of the health system in the territory continues, reducing the availability of health services. Military incursions into Rafah and the northern Gaza Strip have left about half a million people without functioning, accessible hospitals.
As of Friday, 14 out of 36 hospitals across the Gaza Strip were partially operational, including one in the northern Gaza governorate, seven in Gaza City, three in the central area, and three in Khan Younis. All three hospitals in Rafah are currently non-functional.
The entire population of the Gaza Strip - more than 2.2 million people - is facing acute hunger. As a result of the widespread impact of Israel's war and its continued blockade of aid, famine is imminent in northern Gaza. Dozens have already died of starvation.
The rest of Gaza is also at risk of famine if hostilities do not cease and humanitarian aid does not reach those most in need. 1.1 million people - half the population - in Gaza face catastrophic levels of food insecurity. People continue to die of starvation due to the lack of food in the tiny enclave.
The United Nations, governments and aid agencies had been urging the Israeli authorities to spare Rafah for weeks, warning that a large-scale Israeli military operation in Rafah would cause carnage and cripple life-saving humanitarian work throughout the Gaza Strip.
Since October 7, Israeli attacks in Gaza have killed at least 36,400 Palestinians and wounded more than 82,000, many with life-changing injuries that will leave them permanently disabled, including more than 1,000 children who have lost one or more upper or lower limbs.
Among those killed are at least 270 aid workers, 196 UN staff, 493 health workers and 147 journalists. More than 10,000 people, including thousands of children, are missing and presumed dead.Some 1.7 million people - more than 75 percent of Gaza's total population - have been displaced by Israeli military attacks or Israeli evacuation orders. Among those uprooted by the war are 1 million children, including some 17,000 unaccompanied or separated boys and girls.
As Israel becomes increasingly isolated globally, its closest allies - including the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany - continue to provide political and military support for a war against civilians that has already claimed more than 36,000 lives and been marked by serious war crimes and other grave violations of international humanitarian law committed by Israeli forces.
These include collective punishment of civilians, use of starvation as a method of warfare, denial of humanitarian aid, indiscriminate killing of civilians, deliberate killing of civilians, disproportionate attacks, forcible transfer, torture, enforced disappearance and other atrocity crimes as defined under international humanitarian law.
On May 20, the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Karim Khan, announced that he is seeking arrest warrants for the leaders of Israel and the Palestinian armed group Hamas for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with the war in Gaza. Arrest warrants have been requested for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and three Hamas leaders.
Based on evidence collected and reviewed by the Office of the Prosecutor, Khan said he has reasonable grounds to believe that Netanyahu and Gallant bear criminal responsibility for multiple war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Gaza, as prohibited by the Rome Statute of the ICC.
These alleged crimes include starvation of civilians as a method of warfare, wilfully causing great suffering, serious injury to body or health, cruel treatment, wilful killing, murder, directing attacks against a civilian population, persecution and other inhumane acts.
The International Criminal Court is distinct from the International Court of Justice, the highest judicial organ of the United Nations, which hears cases between states. The ICC is the only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and the crime of aggression.
In another development on Monday, UN-appointed independent experts urged all countries to recognize the State of Palestine, as 146 UN member states have already done, and to use all political and diplomatic means at their disposal to bring about an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
“This recognition is an important acknowledgement of the rights of the Palestinian people and their struggles and suffering towards freedom and independence,” the experts said.
The State of Palestine, formally declared by the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) on November 15, 1988, claims sovereignty over the remaining parts of historic Palestine occupied by Israel in 1967: the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip.
As of May 28, 2024, the vast majority of United Nations member states have recognized the State of Palestine, including most recently Ireland, Norway, and Spain. Slovenia has also announced that it will recognize the State.
The experts said recognition “is a pre-condition for lasting peace in Palestine and the entire Middle East – beginning with the immediate declaration of a ceasefire in Gaza and no further military incursions into Rafah.”
Further information
Full text: UN experts urge all States to recognise State of Palestine, UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, press release, published June 3, 2024
https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/06/un-experts-urge-all-states-recognise-state-palestine