Top UN court orders Israel to ‘immediately’ halt Rafah offensive

The United Nations International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Friday ordered Israel to immediately halt its military offensive against Rafah, in southern Gaza, and any other action that could lead to the total or partial destruction of Palestinians as a group. This is a new, urgent measure adopted in view of the fact that “the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip [...] has deteriorated.” The judges also demand that Israel keep the Rafah crossing on the border with Egypt open so that humanitarian aid can enter. Finally, they ask the government of Benjamin Netanyahu to allow access to Gaza to the investigative committees sent by the U.N. to probe allegations of genocide made in the lawsuit presented by South Africa last December. Israel must inform the court within a month of the application of all these measures, which, however, fell short of demanding a complete end to the invasion of Gaza.

For the court, “the humanitarian situation is now to be characterized as disastrous” following the intensification of the bombing and orders for the forced evacuation of Rafah. The judges emphasize that the circumstances are “exceptionally grave.” In the public reading of the decision, the president of the court, Nawaf Salam, recalled that since the recent start of the military operation in Rafah, at least 800,000 people — the vast majority of the 1.2 million living in that small territory — have had to leave the southern city, and that the evacuation and other measures applied by Israel to ensure the safety of civilians are not sufficient and present an imminent risk to the population. The court also stated that it has received no evidence that the Israeli government is providing security and guaranteeing access to decent humanitarian conditions.

Friday’s decision includes emergency and far-reaching precautionary measures to protect Palestinians taking refuge in Rafah, the last area of Gaza that Israel still does not fully control. The ICJ, the U.N. body that settles conflicts between states, demands a stop to the offensive or any other action against “the Palestinians as a group” that could inflict “conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.”

It is the third time that the ICJ judges have ruled in this case since South Africa filed a lawsuit accusing Israel of committing possible “genocidal acts” in the Strip. Pretoria has argued that it may be the court’s “last chance” to ensure the survival of Gazans.

The provisions demanded this Friday by the ICJ were emergency measures due to the intensified bombing by Israel, which does not recognize the jurisdiction of the court. The merits of the case (whether or not genocide is being committed in Gaza) is not being addressed for now. This question, which may take several years to resolve, will require substantiating whether, as South Africa denounces, this crime has indeed occurred. Pretoria currently maintains that Israel’s legitimate defense against Hamas attacks cannot translate into unchecked violence against civilians. Since the Israeli offensive began, starting with the Hamas attacks on October 7, the death toll in Gaza has reached 35,800 people, according to the Gaza Ministry of Health.

According to Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, one of South Africa’s delegates to the ICJ, the Israeli military campaign has not only caused hunger and destroyed infrastructure. “From the onset, Israel’s intent was always to destroy Palestinian life and to wipe them off the face of the earth. Rafah is the final stand,” he said at the ICJ in May. On previous occasions, the court concluded that there was a risk of irreparable harm to the Palestinians’ right to be protected from genocide. For this reason, on January 26, it first demanded that Israel adopt the necessary measures to prevent acts of this kind, and to allow the delivery of essential humanitarian aid to the Palestinians. On March 28, in a second round of expanded precautionary measures, the court again demanded that the Israeli government take steps to avoid famine in the Strip.

The Israeli government has responded that it only launched its attack after Hamas broke into its territory on October 7, killing 1,200 people and taking more than 250 hostages, according to its count. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejects any accusation of genocide, and his spokesmen Avi Hyman said on Thursday that “no power on earth will stop Israel from protecting its citizens and going after Hamas in Gaza.”

The ICJ has no means of enforcing its orders, but this latest decision hinders Israel’s ability to proceed as usual in Gaza. The ICJ is the highest judicial body of the U.N. and there is also the possibility that the Security Council will rule again on this war. It already did so last March by calling for a ceasefire in Gaza after the United States failed to veto the initiative. It also called for the immediate and unconditional release of the hostages held by Hamas. It was the first time that the Council had made an appeal of this nature since the start of the war in October. Right now, the diplomatic pressure on Israel to end hostilities is greater than ever. Spain, Ireland and Norway have announced that they will recognize the Palestinian State next week. Although Palestine is only an observer state within the United Nations, it is already recognized by at least 140 countries in the world.

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