UN court orders Israel to stop offensive on Rafah
Israeli authorities say it would be public suicide to comply with the ruling
The International Court of Justice has ruled that Israel must immediately cease its military offensive and other actions in Rafah, citing "imminent danger" to the Palestinian people.
Source. This was reported by the BBC.
President of the International Court of Justice Nawaf Salam said that the court orders Israel to stop the offensive in Rafah, as the current situation poses a further risk of irreparable harm to the rights of Gazans.
According to him, the situation has changed since the International Court of Justice issued its previous rulings, and the conditions for new emergency measures in this case have been met.
The International Court of Justice ordered Israel to submit a report to the Court within a month on the progress of the measures provided for in the ruling.
"The Court expresses its grave concern over the fate of the hostages and calls for their immediate and unconditional release," Nawaf Salam said.
"We are deeply concerned that many of them remain in captivity," he added.
The International Court of Justice has ordered Israel:
- Stop the military operation in Rafah
- Open the Rafah border crossing with Egypt to allow large quantities of humanitarian aid to enter
- Allow access to Gaza for investigators and fact-finding missions
- Report to the court within one month on the progress of these measures
The international panel of judges said that Israel had not convinced them that its efforts to evacuate the local population and its measures to ensure their safety were sufficient.
The UN Court of Justice considers disputes between states and issues formally binding decisions. However, it does not have the tools to enforce its decisions; for example, in March 2022, the court ordered Russia to suspend military operations in Ukraine.
Israeli government spokesman David Menser told the BBC:
"There is no force in the world that would push us to commit public suicide, because that is what ending our war against Hamas is all about."
Israeli officials have repeatedly stated that nothing will prevent Israel from defending its citizens and pursuing Hamas in the Gaza Strip.
At the same time, the media reported that a few minutes after the International Court of Justice's decision was made public, Israeli aircraft launched a series of strikes on the al-Shabura camp in Rafah.
Background. As a reminder, the International Criminal Court has requested an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. They also want to detain Israeli Defence Minister Galant and three Hamas leaders.
Soon after, it became known that US Congress Speaker Mike Johnson threatened the ICC judges with sanctions if they decided to issue an arrest warrant for Netanyahu.
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