UN’s top court, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), hasd ordered Israel to “immediately halt its military offensive in Rafah”.
It acted in support of a South African application last week which sought a number of measures against Israel, accusing it of stepping up what it says is a genocide.
Presiding judge Nawaf Salam said the situation in Gaza had deteriorated since the court last ordered Israel to take steps to improve it.
Israel has vehemently denied the allegation and signalled it would ignore any order to halt its operation.
Reading the court’s ruling on Friday, Nawaf Salam said “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.
Israel rejected the court’s ruling and said its military offensive in Gaza was in line with international law.
“Israel has not and will not carry out military operations in the Rafah area that create living conditions that could cause the destruction of the Palestinian civilian population, in whole or in part,” National Security Adviser Tzachi Hanegbi said in a joint statement with the foreign ministry.
War cabinet minister Benny Gantz said Israel would continue its offensive “wherever and whenever necessary – including in Rafah”.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian ambassador to the UN, Riyad Mansour, hailed the ruling and called for Israel to abide by it.
The UN suspended food distribution in Rafah on Tuesday because of the perilous situation there. Israel says it has made “extensive efforts” to 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”.
