EU’s foreign policy chief urges Israel to comply with top UN court decisions

The EU foreign policy chief on Monday said that all UN members, including Israel, must comply with decisions of the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

"All members of the UN, are obliged to comply with the ICJ decisions," Josep Borrell said at a news conference in Brussels, following a meeting of the European Political Community.

He added that Sunday's Israeli attack on a refugee camp in the city of Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, proved the need for the implementation of the ICJ order for Israel to stop its military offensive in the city.

Borrell also maintained that attacks and land grabbing by extremist Israeli settlers in the West Bank as well as the Israeli government's policies undermine the prospect of the two-state solution, which the EU strongly supports.

"From now on I will never say Israel, I will say 'the Netanyahu government', because it's this government who is making the decisions that could kill the Palestinian Authority," he said.

"EU countries have reached 'necessary unanimity' to convene an Association Council with Israel to discuss the situation in Gaza, and respect for human rights," Borrell said.

He proposed that the EU combine the International Peace Conference with Arab countries' proposal to hold an international conference on how to implement a two-state solution.

Borrell also revealed that the union's ministers agreed to reactivate the European Union Border Assistance Mission to Rafah (EURAM).

At least 45 people, mostly women and children, were killed and nearly 250 others injured in an Israeli strike on a camp for displaced people in Rafah on Sunday.

The attack comes despite a ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that ordered Israel to halt its offensive in Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

Israel has killed more than 36,000 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7 last year, which killed around 1,200 people.

The military campaign has turned much of the enclave of 2.3 million people into ruins, leaving most civilians homeless and at risk of famine.