UN Court Orders Israel to Stop Rafah Operation; Ukraine Aid, China Trade War In Focus at G7 Meeting

Judges at the United Nations' top court ordered Israel on May 24 to immediately halt its military operation against Hamas in the Southern Gazan city of Rafah, in a landmark emergency ruling in South Africa's case accusing Israel of genocide. However, the International Court of Justice did not order the IDF to completely withdraw from Gaza. Hamas, the Palestinian Authority, and South Africa welcomed the order, while Israel objected to it.

Meanwhile, Israel’s army said it has recovered from Gaza the bodies of three more hostages killed on Oct. 7. The bodies of Hanan Yablonka, Michel Nisenbaum, and Orión Hernández Radoux were recovered, and their families have been notified. The IDF said the three men were killed on the day of the attack at the Mefalsim intersection, and their bodies were then taken to Gaza. The announcement comes less than a week after the IDF recovered the bodies of three other Israeli hostages.

As finance ministers from the Group of Seven nations opened a two-day meeting in Italy, the United States sought to build support for squeezing more money for Ukraine out of frozen Russian assets, and for uniting against China’s illegal trade practices. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen is pushing at the meeting in Stresa for “more ambitious options” to unlock money from some $260 billion in Russian central bank reserves that were frozen in Europe and the United States after the Feb. 24, 2022 invasion.