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 1. News
 2. Politics


ISRAEL MUST HALT RAFAH OFFENSIVE, ORDERS UN TOP COURT

ICJ cites “immediate risk” to Palestinians.

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Palestinians look at the rubble of a family house that was hit in Israeli
bombardment in the Tal al-Sultan neighbourhood of Rafah. | AFP via Getty Images
May 24, 2024 3:45 pm CET
By Ali Walker and Jamie Dettmer

The International Court of Justice ruled Friday that Israel must immediately
halt its offensive in Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip.

The court cited the “immediate risk” to Palestinians of a further Israeli
military assault in the coastal enclave.

Israel must “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 ruled.

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The ICJ also ordered Israel to open the Rafah border crossing with Egypt for the
entry of humanitarian aid at scale; ensure access to Gaza for investigators and
fact-finding missions; report to the court within a month on its progress in
applying these measures.

The court’s rulings are legally binding but the ICJ itself has no enforcement
powers.



Israel has been carrying out a retaliatory assault on the Gaza Strip since
October last year, when Hamas militants conducted a violent attack on Israel,
killing around 1,200 people and taking hundreds of hostages. According to
estimates, Israel has killed more than 30,000 people during its war on Gaza,
drawing outrage from around the world.

On the hostages being held in Gaza, Judge Nawaf Salam, president of the court,
added, “The court expresses grave concern over the fate of the hostages… and
calls for their immediate and unconditional release.”

Human rights advocates praised the ICJ’s order.

“The International Court of Justice’s order underlines the gravity of the
situation facing Palestinians in Gaza, who have for months endured the blocking
of basic services and humanitarian aid amid continued fighting,” said Balkees
Jarrah, associate international justice director at Human Rights Watch. “Nowhere
in Gaza is safe, and civilians there are facing famine — and yet the Israeli
government continues to flout the World Court’s binding orders by obstructing
the entry of lifesaving aid and services.”

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“The ICJ’s decision opens up the possibility for relief, but only if governments
use their leverage, including through arms embargoes and targeted sanctions, to
press Israel to urgently enforce the court’s measures,” he added.

Israeli representatives were furious at the court’s ruling.

“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,” Israeli government
spokesperson David Mencer told the BBC.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office says he will consult senior ministers
by phone shortly but a senior official told POLITICO the government is unlikely
to accede to the court’s demand.

Speaking on the condition of anonymity so they could speak ahead of a formal
public position, the official said: “The Prime Minister has been clear all along
that the mission to eliminate Hamas won’t be stopped before we have met our
goal. And we believe the only way to get our hostages back is to maintain
military pressure on Hamas.”

According to the official, the court’s order is not a blanket one and that it is
only ordering a halt to offensive operations in Rafah if Israel can’t ensure
safety of the civilian population. The official also disputed the instruction to
open the Rafah border crossing, arguing that the crossing has not been closed by
Israel but by Egypt.

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“It is clear that the UN’s court was not guided by international law or human
rights, but was a political move aimed to coincide with the indefensible actions
of the ICC prosecutor equating Israel to Hamas,” Anne Herzberg of NGO Monitor
said.

“The decision is based upon blatantly false information provided to the Court by
South Africa’s legal team and to advance the apparent objective of keeping Hamas
in power in Gaza,” she added. “Given that there is no legal foundation, nor
moral justification for this opinion, Israel should not, and I expect will not,
abide by the ICJ’s decision.”

Earlier this month, the EU urged Israel to halt its military operation in Rafah
immediately. Not doing so would “inevitably put a heavy strain on the EU’s
relationship with Israel,” the EU’s chief diplomat Josep Borrell said.

“We will have to choose between our support for international institutions and
the rule of law and our support for Israel,” Borrell said on Friday at a
conference in Florence. “Both things will be quite difficult.”

Belgian Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib welcomed the ICJ’s decision and called for
it’s immediate implementation.

“The violence and human suffering in Gaza must stop,” Lahbib said.

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Janez Lenarčič, European Commissioner for Crisis Management, said that the
“ICJ’s orders are binding on the Parties and they must comply with them.”

“I expect their full and immediate implementation,” he said.

This developing story is being updated.

Related Tags
Israel-Hamas war Israeli-Palestinian conflict Middle East


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