ICJ orders Israel to stop Rafah offensive

[Pelican Press 0]

ICJ orders ******* to stop Rafah offensive

EPA

The UN’s top court, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), has issued a dramatic ruling, ordering ******* to “immediately halt its military offensive in Rafah”.

It acted in support of a South ******** application last week which sought a number of measures against *******, accusing it of stepping up what it says is a genocide.

Presiding judge Nawaf Salam said the situation in Gaza had deteriorated since the court last ordered ******* to take steps to improve it.

******* has vehemently denied the allegation and signalled it would ignore any order to halt its operation.

Reading the court’s ruling on Friday, Nawaf Salam said “******* must immediately halt its military offensive, and any other action in the Rafah Governorate” which could bring about “the physical destruction” of the Palestinians – alluding to what constitutes genocide under international law.

*******, he added, must also allow unimpeded access to Gaza to any UN body investigating allegations of genocide.

The ruling also reiterated a requirement for ******* to enable “unhindered provision at scale” of basic services and humanitarian aid for Gaza.

“The humanitarian situation [in Gaza] is now to be characterised as disastrous,” the ruling said.

******* rejected the court’s ruling and said its military offensive in Gaza was in line with international law.

“******* has not and will not carry out military operations in the Rafah area that create living conditions that could cause the destruction of the ************ civilian population, in whole or in part,” National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said in a ****** statement with the foreign ministry.

War cabinet minister Benny Gantz said ******* would continue its offensive “wherever and whenever necessary – including in Rafah”.

Meanwhile, the ************ ambassador to the UN, Riyad Mansour, hailed the ruling and called for ******* to abide by it.

“We expect that resolutions of the ICJ be implemented without hesitation,” he said. “That’s mandatory. And ******* is party to the convention.”

Reuters

Heavy machinery disposes of rotten eggs, part of aid packages, as Rafah crossing ******** closed to aid

Aid agencies and the UN say insufficient amounts of aid are reaching people in Gaza, which they say is facing famine.

The UN suspended food distribution in Rafah on Tuesday because of the perilous situation there. ******* says it has made “extensive efforts” to ensure that humanitarian aid is “flowing into Gaza”.

Judge Salam also said that the court found it “deeply troubling” that ******** hostages were still being held by ****** and other armed groups in Gaza, and called for “their immediate and unconditional release”.

******** opposition leader Yair Lapid criticised the ruling, calling it an “abject moral ********” that the ICJ did not connect their bombardment of Rafah to the release of the hostages.

South *******’s foreign ministry chief Zane Dangor called the ruling “groundbreaking”, alluding to it being the first time the court has made an explicit order to ******* to halt action in a part of Gaza.

****** said it welcomed the decision which it said “demands that the brutal Zionist entity [*******] stop its aggression” in Rafah”.

Reuters

Smoke rises during an ******** airstrike in Rafah, 24 May, 2024

Minutes after the ruling was delivered, ******* warplanes carried out a series of air strikes on the Shaboura camp in the centre of Rafah.

A local activist at nearby Kuwait Hospital told the BBC that rescue teams in the hospital were unable to reach the site of the raids due to their intensity.

******* began a long-anticipated offensive in Rafah about three weeks ago, vowing to ******** the remaining ****** battalions there. It says it believes ******** hostages are also being held in the town.

The UN says more than 800,000 Palestinians have fled from Rafah since the offensive began. About 1.5 million had been sheltering there from the fighting elsewhere in Gaza.

The hearing is part of a case brought by South ******* to the ICJ in December, claiming ******* was committing genocide in Gaza. That case is ongoing.

******* began its offensive in Gaza after gunmen from ******, the organisation which ruled the territory, attacked ******* on 7 October, ******** about 1,200 people and taking 252 others back to Gaza as hostages.

At least 35,800 Palestinians have been ******* in the war since then, according to Gaza’s ******-run health ministry.

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