‼️The ICJ has ruled that Israel must halt its military operation in Rafah.

Rafah, where the IDF just pulled the bodies of 3 more hostages from a tunnel, and where intelligence says additional hostages are being held.

For this ruling to be enforceable, it must be adopted by the UN Security Council, where the US would be expected to veto it.

But will the US veto it?

More specifically, will the US veto it without wringing some painful concessions out of Israel in return?

Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich:

"Those who demand that the State of Israel stop the war, demand that it decree itself to cease to exist. We will not agree to that.

"If we lay down our weapons, the enemy will reach the beds of our children and women throughout the land.

"We continue to fight for ourselves and for the entire free world. History will judge who today stood by the Nazis of Hamas and ISIS."

Hamas has issued a statement thanking the ICJ for taking its side.

Amit Segal: A careful reading of the ICJ order reveals it doesn't necessitate a total halt to IDF operations in Rafah. But it does seek to severely limit them.

It will also create tremendous political pressure for Israel to end the war.

All told, details aside, it facilitates Hamas's survival and continued torture and rape of Israeli hostages.

Sorry, I've been writing "ICC" - but in this instance, the judges were sitting as the International Court of Justice (ICJ), not the International Criminal Court (ICC), which are different bodies.

I have corrected the previous posts.

Moments after the ICJ ruling, Israeli aircraft struck Rafah, and there are initial unconfirmed reports of a “dramatic” assassination.

The IDF and the Shin Bet (Shabak) reportedly tried to take out a very senior Hamas leader using bunker-buster bombs on a tunnel complex in Rafah.

We are waiting to hear if they were successful.

Eliminated: Mohammed Shabanah, commander of the Hamas battalions in Rafah.

Can’t say it any better than that.

Initial report: 4 wounded by Hezbollah fire in northern Israel.

Even Palestinians are against the opening of the Rafah border crossing! Why?

Because it would cause prices on the markets in the Gaza Strip to rise again. And why? Because the import of food via the official Rafah border crossing requires bribes to be paid to the Egyptians on the Egyptian side and to Hamas on the Palestinian side.

A Palestinian journalist in the Gaza Strip explains openly on camera why the coordination between Hamas and Egypt at the Rafah border crossing has driven up the prices of goods in the Gaza Strip and adds:

"Through the (Israeli) Kerem Shalom border crossing, which Hamas is fighting against, goods from Israel are entering the Gaza Strip and have brought prices to a level that we have not seen since the beginning of the war. The Rafah border crossing should remain closed."

Part of the American humanitarian pier in Gaza broke away due to wind and waves and washed ashore near the Israeli coastal town of Ashdod.

Biden says he's working on an immediate Gaza ceasefire that will bring the hostages home.

Hamas responds by reiterating that any deal must begin with a full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza and an end to the war.

We are still at square one.

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Destroying Hamas benefits the Palestinians as much as Israelis.

This is how thieves in the Gaza Strip are treated by Hamas terrorists. They are lined up against the wall and shot in the legs.

Say their names.

This was the scene on Friday at the building that houses the Messianic congregation of Pastor Israel Iluz in Kiryat Shemona.

At around 5pm yet another Hezbollah missile barrage hit the city, and one of the projectiles caused severe damage to the congregation.

That’s the time the congregation would have been meeting under normal circumstances. But the city is nearly abandoned, so thank God no one was there and no injuries sustained.

With most of the people evacuated to other parts of the country, those who remain have been hosting Christian volunteers from abroad to help cook daily meals for IDF soldiers stationed in the area.

It must be reiterated that while the Gaza war overshadows everything, northern Israel is suffering.

The border region is all but abandoned. Bombed-out ghost towns.

It’s a situation that simply cannot continue.