JOHANNESBURG: South Africa's government said on Tuesday that it had asked the World Court to consider whether Israel's decision to extend its military operations in Rafah required the court to use its power to prevent further breach of Palestinians' rights.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) last month ordered Israel to take all measures within its power to prevent its troops from committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, in a case brought by South Africa.
Israel is planning to expand its ground assault into the city of Rafah, where over 1 million Palestinians have sought refuge from the offensive that has laid waste to much of the Gaza Strip.
Amid growing international concern over the plight of civilians, Israeli tanks shelled the eastern sector of Rafah city overnight, residents said, although the anticipated ground offensive did not appear to have started.
The Israeli military said its forces killed dozens of Palestinian fighters in clashes in the southern and central Gaza Strip over the last 24 hours, including 30 in Khan Younis, a city close to Rafah on the coastal enclave's border with Egypt.
Gaza health officials said an Israeli strike on a house in Nusseirat refugee camp in central Gaza killed 16 Palestinians overnight.
In Khan Younis, Israeli tanks advanced further from the west and the east as bombing continued, residents said.
Israeli forces ordered displaced people in some shelters to head to Rafah. But the boom of tank shelling east of Rafah caused waves of panic inside the makeshift tent camps housing the displaced.
In Cairo, senior officials from the US, Egypt, Israel and Qatar were scheduled to meet to work on a three-phase framework that would see the release of captives and achieve an extended pause, sources familiar with the matter said. No further details were immediately available.
With the Gaza war now in its fifth month, attention is focused on the situation in Rafah. Around half of Gaza's 2.3 million people are now living there in desperate conditions, including many who fled other areas under fire.
Israel says it intends to wipe out Palestinian groups operating in Rafah and evacuate civilians. Aid officials and foreign governments say there is nowhere for them to go, and Egypt has made clear it will not allow a refugee exodus over its border.
Much of the densely populated enclave is in ruins, with 28,473 Palestinians killed and 68,146 wounded since October 7, according to Gaza health officials who announced 133 new Palestinian deaths in the past 24 hours. — Reuters
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