United Nations (UN)’ highest judicial authority, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), has delivered a significant ruling, demanding that Israel “immediately cease its military offensive in Rafah.”
This decision supports a recent application by South Africa, which called for various actions against Israel, accusing it of escalating what they describe as a genocide.
Israel has strongly denied these accusations and indicated it would disregard any directive to stop its operations.
Government spokesperson David Mencer told the BBC: “There is no power in the world that will push us to commit a public suicide, because that’s what this is, to stop our war against Hamas.”
A Hamas spokesmansaid: “We welcome the decision of the International Court of Justice, which demands that the brutal Zionist entity [Israel] stop its aggression” in Rafah.
Reading the court’s ruling on Friday, presiding judge Nawaz Salam said that “Israel 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.
Israel, he added, must also allow unimpeded access to Gaza to any UN body investigating allegations of genocide.
The ruling also reiterated a requirement for Israel 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.
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.
Israel says it has made “extensive efforts” t 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.
He said Israel was forced to defend itself, adding: “There is no country in the world which wouldn’t defend itself against an attack like that.”
Minutes after the ruling was delivered, Israeli warplanes launched a series of airstrikes on the Shaboura camp in central Rafah.
A local activist at Kuwait Hospital nearby informed the BBC that the intensity of the raids prevented rescue teams from reaching the site.
Israel commenced a long-awaited offensive in Rafah approximately three weeks ago, aiming to eliminate the remaining Hamas battalions and asserting that Israeli hostages are being held in the town.
According to the UN, over 800,000 Palestinians have fled Rafah since the offensive began, with about 1.5 million people taking refuge there from conflicts elsewhere in Gaza.
The hearing is part of a case initiated by South Africa at the ICJ in December, accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. The case remains ongoing.
Israel’s offensive in Gaza began after Hamas gunmen attacked Israel on October 7, killing around 1,200 people and taking 252 hostages back to Gaza.
Since then, Gaza’s Hamas-run health ministry reports that at least 35,800 Palestinians have been killed in the conflict.