UN Court Orders Israel to Halt Rafah Offensive
The United Nations' top court, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), has issued a significant ruling demanding that Israel "immediately halt its military offensive in Rafah."
This decision follows a South African application filed last week, which called for several measures against Israel, accusing it of escalating actions that it claims amount to genocide. Presiding Judge Nawaf Salam noted that the situation in Gaza has worsened since the court previously ordered Israel to take steps to improve it.
Israel has strongly denied the allegations and indicated it would disregard any order to cease its operations.
In the court's ruling delivered on Friday, Nawaf Salam stated that "Israel must immediately halt its military offensive and any other actions in the Rafah Governorate" that could lead to "the physical destruction" of the Palestinians, referencing the definition of genocide under international law.
Furthermore, Israel must allow unrestricted access to Gaza for any UN body investigating genocide allegations. The ruling also reiterated that Israel must facilitate "unhindered provision at scale" of basic services and humanitarian aid to Gaza.
"The humanitarian situation [in Gaza] is now to be characterised as disastrous," the ruling said.
Israel rejected the court's ruling and said its military offensive in Gaza was in line with international law.
"Israel has not and will not carry out military operations in the Rafah area that create living conditions that could cause the destruction of the Palestinian civilian population, in whole or in part," National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said in a joint statement with the foreign ministry.
War cabinet minister Benny Gantz said Israel would continue its offensive "wherever and whenever necessary - including in Rafah".
Meanwhile, the Palestinian ambassador to the UN, Riyad Mansour, hailed the ruling and called for Israel to abide by it.
"We expect that resolutions of the ICJ be implemented without hesitation," he said. "That's mandatory. And Israel is party to the convention."
The UN suspended food distribution in Rafah on Tuesday because of the perilous situation there. Israel 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 Israeli hostages were still being held by Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza, and called for "their immediate and unconditional release".
Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid criticised the ruling, calling it an "abject moral failure" that the ICJ did not connect their bombardment of Rafah to the release of the hostages.
South Africa's foreign ministry chief, Zane Dangor, described the ruling as "groundbreaking," noting it is the first explicit order from the court for Israel to halt actions in a specific part of Gaza.
Shortly after the ruling, Israeli warplanes launched air strikes on the Shaboura camp in central Rafah.
Israel initiated a long-awaited offensive in Rafah around three weeks ago, aiming to dismantle the remaining Hamas battalions, with claims that Israeli hostages are also held in the town.
The UN reports that over 800,000 Palestinians have fled Rafah since the offensive began, out of the 1.5 million who had taken refuge there from other areas in Gaza. The ruling is part of an ongoing case filed by South Africa in December, accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza.
Israel's offensive in Gaza began following an October 7 attack by Hamas gunmen, which killed around 1,200 people and resulted in 252 hostages being taken back to Gaza. According to Gaza's Hamas-run health ministry, at least 35,800 Palestinians have died in the conflict since then.
