Rafah offensive

At least 90 Palestinians were killed and 300 others injured in an Israeli attack targeting displaced persons' camps in the southern Gaza Strip on Saturday, according to the enclave's Health Ministry.

The U.N. humanitarian coordinator for Gaza said Tuesday that 1.9 million people — 80 percent of the territory's population — were now displaced, adding she was "deeply concerned" by reports of new evacuation orders for Khan Yunis.

Israeli attacks have destroyed more than 70 percent of public facilities in Rafah in southern Gaza, the city's mayor has said.

"Over 70 percent of public facilities and infrastructure have been destroyed in the Israeli onslaught," Ahmed al-Soufi said late on June 20.

He said the Israeli army blew up dozens of homes in the Saudi neighborhood of western Rafah.

Israel's military said Sunday it would "pause" fighting around a south Gaza route daily to facilitate aid deliveries, following months of warnings of famine in the besieged Palestinian territory.

The Turkish Foreign Ministry has welcomed the International Court of Justice's (ICJ) order to Israel to immediately halt the Rafah operation in southern Gaza on Friday and expects the decisions to be implemented swiftly.

Israel bombed the Gaza Strip, including Rafah, on Saturday, a day after the top U.N. court ordered it to halt military operations in the southern city as efforts get underway in Paris to seek a ceasefire in the war sparked by Hamas's Oct. 7 attack.

The top United Nations court Friday ordered Israel to halt military operations in Rafah, a landmark ruling likely to increase mounting international pressure on Israel more than seven months into the Gaza war.

The U.N.'s top court said it will rule Friday on a request by South Africa to order Israel to implement a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip.

South Africa has petitioned the International Court of Justice for emergency measures to order Israel to "cease its military operations in the Gaza Strip" including in Rafah city, where it is pressing an offensive.

The United Nations has halted food distribution in Rafah due to a severe shortage of supplies and insecurity in the area, as reported by Voice of America (VOA).

The U.N. Agency helping Palestinian refugees reported that its distribution center and the U.N. World Food Program's warehouses in Gaza's southern city of Rafah "are now inaccessible due to ongoing military operations," U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said.