BRUSSELS (AN) — The International Court of Justice ordered Israel to "immediately halt" its offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, ruling the evidence shows that Palestinians could face "physical destruction."
In its ruling on Friday, the court, which previously refrained from interfering in Israel's military operations, found the escalation of the humanitarian crisis since the May 7 start of the offensive on Rafah, the last city in Gaza with functional civilian infrastructure, warranted ICJ intervention.
"The military offensive in Rafah and resulting repeated large-scale displacement of an already extremely vulnerable Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip constitute a change in the situation that requires the court to act," ICJ justices ruled in a 13-2 decision. "The humanitarian situation is now to be categorized as disastrous."
Israel's Defense Minister Yoav Gallant had said on Thursday that Israeli forces were stepping up their offensive on Rafah, and that about 1 million Gazans had fled the city.
The order is the third from The Hague-based ICJ, the U.N.'s top court, on the war in Gaza, where more than 35,300 Palestinians have been killed and 79,000 others injured, according to local health officials.
The ruling is part of a broader case by South Africa accusing Israel of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. In January, the court first asked Israel to follow international genocide law. In March, it ordered Israel to allow more aid and food into Gaza to prevent famine. A final ruling on the genocide case is expected to take years.
Despite ordering an immediate halt to Israel's military operations in Rafah, the court stopped short of calling for a cease-fire. But the ruling raises pressure on Israel, which has criticized South Africa's case before the ICJ as "completely divorced from the facts and circumstances."
Israel asserts it has a right to defend itself since Hamas attacked on Oct. 7, killing around 1,140 Israelis and taking 250 others hostage. Hamas is still believed to be holding 129 hostages.
The ruling came just six days after South Africa submitted an "urgent" request to the court to order the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza.
While ICJ rulings are legally binding under international law, the court has no enforcement mechanism. Russia has ignored the court's 2022 order to halt its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The justices cited warnings from U.N. agencies, unheeded by Israel, that an offensive on Rafah would put "hundreds of thousands of people at imminent risk of death." The conditions in Gaza, they ruled, could bring "irreparable harm" to the Palestinian people.
They also noted reports that "humanitarian zones" designated by Israel for evacuated civilians cannot accommodate or provide emergency assistance to the 800,000 Palestinians the court estimates have fled Rafah.
The reports describe, for example, Al-Mawasi, one of the towns where Israel ordered people to shelter, as little more than a 14-kilometre stretch of farmland along the southern coast of the Gaza Strip with few facilities to protect against the elements.
"Israel has not provided sufficient information concerning the safety of the population during the evacuation process, or the availability in the Al-Mawasi area of the necessary amount of water, sanitation, food, medicine and shelter for the 800,000 Palestinians that have evacuated thus far," the judges ruled.
"Consequently," they wrote, "the court is of the view that Israel has not sufficiently addressed and dispelled the concerns raised by its military offensive in Rafah."
"Immediate and unconditional" release of hostages ordered
The court reaffirmed its calls to protect Palestinian civilians and ordered Israel to allow "unhindered" passage of humanitarian aid, grant access to Gaza for U.N. investigators to "preserve evidence" related to possible breaches of the Genocide Convention, and maintain open land crossing points, "in particular the Rafah crossing," which Israeli forces captured and shut down at the start of the offensive on the city.
Israel contends it is undertaking significant efforts to allow for the passage of aid, but international observers, U.N. agencies, and now the ICJ have found it to be insufficient.
Israeli airstrikes have repeatedly struck aid convoys, while Israeli police reportedly provided information to violent settler groups about the location of aid trucks, enabling them to attack the vehicles and prevent the delivery of aid to Gaza. Famine is imminent in Gaza, according to the World Food Program.
The court ordered Israel to submit a report in one month on its compliance with the issued orders and reaffirmed its call for the "immediate and unconditional release" of the hostages still held by Hamas.
This ruling is the latest blow in a week of diplomatic firestorms against Israel, including charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity levelled at Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant by the International Criminal Court.
Israeli leaders stand accused of using starvation as a weapon of war, a charge never before seen in the history of the ICC. A panel of three judges from the U.N. court is expected to decide whether to approve the arrest warrant request in the coming months.
The recognition of Palestine by Norway, Ireland, and Spain this week further isolated Israel on the world stage over its devastating military response to Hamas' Oct. 7 attack.
Following the ICJ ruling, the E.U.'s top diplomat, Josep Borrell, said the bloc will face a "difficult decision" between "support for international institutions and the rule of law, and our support for Israel."
