Palestinian human rights group, Al-Haq has stated that the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruling on Israel’s unlawful occupation of Palestine is a “stark reminder” to states and business corporations that they must now “take concrete action against Israel’s crimes” and push for an end to the Israeli military and settler presence in Palestine.
In a series of posts on social media, Al-Haq said the ICJ ruling is the “first step” towards undoing the “generational harm” of Israel’s illegal presence, apartheid, aggressive settlement expansion, and the ongoing mass displacement of Palestinians.
Separately, Tirana Hassan, the Executive Director of Human Rights Watch (HRW), said that the ICJ ruling had, for the first time, found Israel responsible for instituting “apartheid” against Palestinians.
Hassan opined that the ruling should prompt a reassessment of US defence of Israel’s “oppression of Palestinians.”
“The court has placed responsibility with all states and the United Nations to end these violations of international law,” she said.
“The ruling should be yet another wake-up call for the United States to end its egregious policy of defending Israel’s oppression of Palestinians and prompt a thorough reassessment in other countries as well.”
Tirana Hassan
Oman’s Foreign Ministry issued a statement on X, welcoming the ICJ ruling that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land is in violation of international law and must end.
The sultanate called on “the international community to implement international resolutions and conventions calling for an immediate end to the illegal occupation of the occupied territories and an end to settlement and the cycle of violence in the Palestinian territories.”
“The Sultanate of Oman also renews its position calling for granting the Palestinian people their inalienable right to establish their independent state on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital,” the statement concluded.
Israeli Attacks Continue Unabated
However, dozens of Palestinians were killed in a wave of Israeli attacks on the Nuseirat refugee camp and other locations in Gaza throughout Friday evening and into Saturday, July 20, 2024.
The Israeli military revealed in a situational update that its troops are continuing “intelligence-based operational activity” in Rafah, southern Gaza.
The army claimed on Telegram that troops had “eliminated a number of terrorists in several different encounters” over the past day.
Israeli troops also begun an operation in the Tal as-Sultan area, west of Rafah.
In central Gaza, the army said that it was “conducting targeted raids on terrorist infrastructure sites in the area.”
“Furthermore, the troops on the ground, with air support, eliminated several terrorists who were operating in a structure that posed a threat to the troops in the area,” the update said.
Israel also launched an attack on the Abu Jasser family home in northern Gaza’s Jabalia refugee camp, killing journalist Muhammad Abu Jasser, his wife and their two children.
Gaza’s Government Media Office confirmed the journalist’s killing, saying that his death raised the number of journalists killed in the enclave to 161.
Meanwhile, the latest update by the Health Ministry in the besieged territory stated that the number of people killed in Israeli attacks on Gaza since the start of the war has risen to at least 38,919.
Another 89,622 have been wounded, with thousands also missing under the rubble of destroyed buildings.
In the West Bank, there has been an escalation of Israeli military raids.
The number of daily raids, whether at night or in the morning, has more than tripled in these past months.
An Israeli raid was reported in Nablus. According to local media reports, Israeli military arrested two men after storming their homes in the town of Jaba, south of Jenin in the occupied West Bank.
Military raids were also reported in other locations in the occupied West Bank, including the Dhnaba and Ezbet al-Tayah neighbourhoods, east of the city of Tulkarem and the town of al-Fandouqmiya in Jenin.
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