UN court orders Israel to halt its operation in Rafah
Kyiv • UNN
The UN's highest court has ordered Israel to immediately halt its military offensive in Rafah, Gaza, citing catastrophic humanitarian conditions and potential genocide against Palestinians.
The UN's highest court has ordered Israel to stop the military operation in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, UNN reports citing CNN.
Details
"Israel must immediately halt its military offensive and any other action in Rafah which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part," said Judge Nawaf Salam, president of the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
The court, which sits in The Hague, the Netherlands, issued a ruling on Friday in a genocide case brought by South Africa.
In its ruling, the court stated that the humanitarian situation in Gaza had deteriorated "even further" since the court last issued a decision on interim measures in March.
"The humanitarian situation can now be characterized as catastrophic," Salam said.
The court noted that about 800,000 Palestinians were forced to leave Rafah as of May 18 after Israel launched a military offensive on May 7.
Israel had warned civilians in some parts of the city to evacuate before the operation, but the court said that these efforts were "insufficient to mitigate the enormous risk to which the Palestinian population is exposed as a result" of Israel's actions.
Israel also has to submit a report within one month on the progress of the measures envisaged by the UN's highest court.
The ICJ also stated that Israel must take effective measures to ensure access for fact-finding missions and United Nations investigative bodies to investigate "allegations of genocide" and to open the Rafah border crossing to humanitarian aid.
The head of the court, Judge Nawaf Salam, said that UN officials have indicated that the situation could "further deteriorate" if the Israeli "operation" in Rafah continues.
The decisions of the International Court of Justice are binding, but it has no way to enforce them. Although Israel is a signatory to the Genocide Convention, the court cannot force the Israeli government to change its military plans in the Gaza Strip, the newspaper points out.
