UN top court orders Israel to halt Rafah offensive

The International Court of Justice ruled Friday that Israel must immediately halt its offensive in Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.

The court cited the “immediate risk” to Palestinians of a further Israeli military assault in the coastal enclave.

Israel must “immediately halt its military offensive, and any other action in the Rafah governorate, which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part,” the court ruled.

The ICJ also ordered Israel to open the Rafah border crossing with Egypt for the entry of humanitarian aid at scale; ensure access to Gaza for investigators and fact-finding missions; report to the court within a month on its progress in applying these measures.

The court’s rulings are legally binding but the ICJ itself has no enforcement powers.

Following the announcement, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is convening an emergency meeting with officials including Foreign Minister Israel Katz and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Israeli broadcaster Channel 13 reported.

Israel has been carrying out a retaliatory assault on the Gaza Strip since October last year, when Hamas militants conducted a violent attack on Israel, killing around 1,200 people and taking hundreds of hostages. According to estimates, Israel has killed more than 30,000 people during its war on Gaza, drawing outrage from around the world.

On the hostages being held in Gaza, Judge Nawaf Salam, president of the court, added, “The court expresses grave concern over the fate of the hostages… and calls for their immediate and unconditional release.”

Human rights advocates praised the ICJ’s order.

“The International Court of Justice’s order underlines the gravity of the situation facing Palestinians in Gaza, who have for months endured the blocking of basic services and humanitarian aid amid continued fighting,” said Balkees Jarrah, associate international justice director at Human Rights Watch. “Nowhere in Gaza is safe, and civilians there are facing famine — and yet the Israeli government continues to flout the World Court’s binding orders by obstructing the entry of lifesaving aid and services.”

“The ICJ’s decision opens up the possibility for relief, but only if governments use their leverage, including through arms embargoes and targeted sanctions, to press Israel to urgently enforce the court’s measures,” he added.

Israeli representatives were furious at the court’s ruling.

“There is no power in the world that will push us to commit a public suicide, because that’s what this is, to stop our war against Hamas,” Israeli government spokesperson David Mencer told the BBC.

 “The ICJ’s decision today is immoral, denies Israel its legal right of self defense, and plays into the hands of the Hamas terrorist organization, which is closely allied with the South African government,” said Anne Herbert of NGO Monitor, a Jerusalem-based conservative research organization monitoring the proceedings. “It is clear that the UN’s court was not guided by international law or human rights, but was a political move aimed to coincide with the indefensible actions of the ICC prosecutor equating Israel to Hamas.”

“The decision is based upon blatantly false information provided to the Court by South Africa’s legal team and to advance the apparent objective of keeping Hamas in power in Gaza,” she added. “Given that there is no legal foundation, nor moral justification for this opinion, Israel should not, and I expect will not, abide by the ICJ’s decision.”

Earlier this month, the EU urged Israel to halt its military operation in Rafah immediately. Not doing so would “inevitably put a heavy strain on the EU’s relationship with Israel,” the EU’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell said.

Belgian Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib welcomed the ICJ’s decision and called for it’s immediate implementation.

“The violence and human suffering in Gaza must stop,” Lahbib said.