The United Nations\u2019 top court has ordered Israel to immediately halt its controversial military operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, further increasing international pressure on Israel over its war against Hamas. <\/p>\n
\u201cIsrael must immediately halt its military offensive and any other action in Rafah which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part,\u201d Judge Nawaf Salam, president of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), said on Friday. <\/p>\n
The court considers the humanitarian situation in Rafah to be classified as \u201cdisastrous,\u201d he said, adding that UN officials have indicated that the situation was set to \u201cintensify even further\u201d if the Israeli operation in Rafah continues. <\/p>\n
Israel began a limited ground offensive in Rafah on May 7, defying calls from the international community, including the United States, not to proceed. <\/p>\n
More than a million Palestinians were taking shelter in Rafah before Israel started its operation, but the court noted that around 800,000 have since been displaced. <\/p>\n
Upon entering Rafah, the military seized the city\u2019s border crossing with Egypt, which has remained shut since. The crossing was a vital entry point for humanitarian aid. <\/p>\n
The court ordered Israel to open the Rafah crossing for humanitarian assistance and said it had found that the evacuation and living conditions provided by Israel are not \u201csufficient to alleviate the immense risk, which the Palestinian population is exposed\u201d to. <\/p>\n
Rulings by the court are final and binding, but the ICJ doesn\u2019t have a mechanism to enforce them, and they have been ignored in the past. <\/p>\n
Israeli officials have condemned the ICJ\u2019s ruling. Yair Lapid, leader of Israel\u2019s opposition party Yesh Atid, said that \u201cthe fact that the ICJ did not even directly connect the end of the military operation in Rafah to the release of the hostages and to Israel\u2019s right to defend itself against terror is an abject moral failure.\u201d <\/p>\n
Naftali Bennett, who was the 13th Prime Minister of Israel, wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, that \u201cThe International Court of Justice just provided every terror organization on earth with THE PERFECT METHOD TO GET AWAY WITH MURDER.\u201d <\/p>\n
Hamas welcomed the order in a statement, but said it had expected it would be for the entire Gaza Strip, emphasizing that the situations in Jabalya and other cities are equally dire and warrant similar attention. <\/p>\n
South Africa filed an urgent request on May 10 for additional measures against Israel, accusing it of using forced evacuation orders in the southern Gaza city of Rafah to \u201cendanger rather than protect civilian life.\u201d The request was part of a larger case brought by Pretoria against Israel in which South Africa accuses Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians during the seven-month-long conflict. <\/p>\n
Israel\u2019s Deputy Attorney General for International Law Gilad Noam denied the allegations in his opening remarks at the ICJ last week and asked the court to \u201crespect the predicament\u201d Israel is in. <\/p>\n
Following the ruling, a joint statement by the Israel\u2019s National Security Council and Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Friday that Israel \u201chas not carried out and will not carry out military activity in the Rafah area that creates living conditions that could lead to the destruction of the Palestinian civilian population.\u201d <\/p>\n
In response to other orders by the ICJ, including keeping the Rafah crossing open, the statement said that Israel will \u201ccontinue its efforts to allow humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip\u201d and \u201creduce as much as possible the harm to the civilian population in the Gaza Strip.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cThe order can be understood in two ways: either that Israel has to halt the offensive in Rafah; or specifically components that may lead to conditions of life that could bring physical destruction,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n
What is clear, however, is that in the eyes of the court, \u201cthe operation cannot continue in the same way, because it found that as it is now the situation is a risk to the rights protected by the (genocide) Convention,\u201d Lieblich said, adding that it is hard to tell whether Israel will comply with the ruling. <\/p>\n
\u201cI hope that it doesn\u2019t argue that the order means that nothing has to change, because that clearly isn\u2019t the case,\u201d he added. <\/p>\n
The development comes as Israel faces mounting international and domestic pressure to end the war in Gaza. <\/p>\n
This week, the prosecutor at the International Criminal Court (ICC), a separate court in The Hague, sought arrest warrants for Hamas leaders as well as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity over the October 7 attacks on Israel and the subsequent war in Gaza. <\/p>\n
Families of Israeli hostages held in the territory also stepped up pressure on Netanyahu to bring the captives home, releasing graphic footage of female members of the Israel Defense Forces before they were abducted. <\/p>\n
It is unclear how the US, Israel\u2019s closest ally, will respond to the ICJ\u2019s order. The Biden administration has spoken out strongly against the genocide case against Israel, but it has repeatedly warned Israel that Washington will not support a major ground offensive in Rafah unless it sees a credible plan to ensure the safety of civilians. <\/p>\n
The move by the ICJ is likely to add to mounting pressure on Israel to scale down its war in Gaza, but Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said that his country will defend itself even if \u201cforced to stand alone.\u201d <\/p>\n
Israel says that Rafah is the last bastion of Hamas, the Palestinian militant group that led an attack on Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people and taking 250 hostages, according to Israeli authorities. Israel\u2019s subsequent war in Gaza has killed more than 35,000 people, according to the Health Ministry in Gaza. <\/p>\n
While there has always been criticism of some of Israel\u2019s actions, such as the expansion of settlements, \u201cthis is on a different scale, a different universe altogether,\u201d he said. \u201cThe current Israeli government does its best to make Israel a pariah state.\u201d <\/p>\n
The ruling could also undermine Israel\u2019s own judiciary, according to Neve Gordon, professor of human rights law at Queen Mary University of London. <\/p>\n
In response to the ICC\u2019s decision to seek arrest warrants against top Israeli officials, Israel\u2019s Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and State Attorney Amit Aisman were cited by the Times of Israel as backing the Israeli military and said the judicial system is capable of handling such cases. <\/p>\n
\u201c(The) ruling would serve yet another blow to Israel\u2019s judicial system, and particularly the attorney general and the Supreme Court, since the subtext would be that it is not doing its job in ensuring that Israel abide by international law,\u201d said Gordon. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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