Pakistan, Maldives condemn Israeli bombardment of Rafah

Pakistan and Maldives issued statements Monday condemning in the “strongest terms” Israel's bombardment of the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.

The two nations called on Israel to abide by the additional provisional measures ordered by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) asking it to immediately halt its military offensive in Rafah.

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

The attack came despite a ruling by the ICJ that ordered Israel to halt its offensive against the city, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the Israel-Hamas war before it was invaded on May 6.

Pakistan also called on the UN Security Council to “play its role in preventing Israel from (carrying out) any further attacks against civilians in Rafah and taking effective measures to protect the people of Gaza.”

Blasting the “apartheid” state of Israel, the country's former Prime Minister Imran Khan said: “No condemnation is enough for the massacre being carried out” by the Israeli army in Rafah.

“If ever there was a rogue state in all senses of the word, it is Israel, which sees itself above all international laws and norms of intra-human conduct,” Khan, who is serving a jail term, said in a statement on X posted by his Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf party.

Maldives also strongly condemned the Israeli army's aggression against unarmed civilians in Gaza.

“Such deliberate aggression and genocidal acts targeted against civilians are in gross violation of international humanitarian law,” said the island nation's Foreign Ministry.