The court also ordered Israel to open the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza to allow in humanitarian aid, and said Israel must provide access to the besieged territory for investigators and report back on its progress within a month.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ordered Israel to stop its military offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
The top United Nations court said the humanitarian situation in Rafah had “deteriorated further” since its previous court order for Israel to improve it, adding that what was happening in the besieged Palestinian territory was “disastrous”.
It comes after South Africa put in an emergency request to the ICJ for it to order Israel to stop its Rafah assault.
The ICJ president Nawaf Salam said in The Hague: “The state of Israel shall… 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 also ordered Israel to open the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza to allow in humanitarian aid, and said Israel must provide access to the territory for investigators and report back on its progress within a month.
The order was handed down a week after it was requested by South Africa, which in January formally accused Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in a hearing at the UN court.
Israel, which claims that its military operations in Gaza are in self-defence and targeted at Hamas fighters, has vehemently denied the accusations.
Israel launched an offensive on Rafah this month, forcing hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to flee the city, which had been a haven for about half of its 2.3 million residents.
The International Court of Justice is the highest body of the United Nations that hears disputes between states. Its judgment is final and binding, but it has been ignored in the past.
No enforcement powers
Courts have no enforcement powers, and Israel is subject to the International Court of Justice, which was approved 13-2 by a panel of 15 judges from around the world. Voting to disobey the recent order, which was rejected only by judges in Uganda and Israel.
In response to the ruling, Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich stated: “Those who demand that the state of Israel end the war are demanding that the state cease to exist by statute. We do not agree with that.” If we lay down our weapons, the enemy will reach the bedside of children and women across the country.This order marks the first time that it has been explicitly stated that Israel should cease military operations in any region. It was groundbreaking.” Gaza.
Hamas also welcomed the ruling, although senior official Bassem Naim said: “We believe it is not enough because the occupation invasion is equally brutal and dangerous in the entire Gaza Strip, especially in the northern part of the Strip.” He said the sentence was insufficient.
“We call on the United Nations Security Council to immediately implement this request of the World Court into practical measures in order to force our Zionist enemy to implement its decision.”
‘We’re doing this in a targeted and precise way’
The Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to both eliminate Hamas and get all the hostages back who were taken in the October 7th attacks.
“Hamas is in Rafah, Hamas has been holding our hostages in Rafah, which is why our forces are manoeuvering in Rafah. We’re doing this in a targeted and precise way,” Israeli chief military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said on Thursday.
But the US – Israel’s most powerful ally – has threatened to scale back its support over the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Gaza.
What were the earlier ICJ rulings?
In a previous ruling in January, the court ordered Israel to prevent any acts of genocide against the Palestinians, while stopping short of ordering a halt to the military offensive.
And in a second order in March, the court said Israel must take measures to improve the humanitarian situation.
Also in January, the ICJ called on Hamas to release hostages it captured on October 7th.
The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, another tribunal also based in The Hague, said Monday he had requested arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Galant and Hamas leaders.
Prosecutor Karim Khan charged Netanyahu and Galant with crimes including extermination using starvation as a weapon and deliberate attacks on civilians. Israel has firmly rejected the allegations.
The Israeli public said Hamas killed 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages in its October 7 raid on southern Israel.
The Israeli invasion has killed more than 35,000 people since, according to the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry.