Presiding Judge Nawaf Salam reads the judgment of the International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands, Friday, May 24. The United Nations’ highest court has ruled on an urgent appeal by South Africa to judges to order Israel to suspend its military operations in Gaza. and withdraw from the enclave.
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Peter Dejong/AP
BERLIN and TEL AVIV — The United Nations’ highest court on Friday ordered Israel to suspend its Rafah offensive, citing an “immense risk” to the population of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who have sought refuge in the southern Gaza city . But the court did not call for an end to the Israeli offensive across the Gaza Strip.
Friday’s ruling marks the third time this year that the 15-judge panel has issued preliminary orders aimed at limiting the death toll and paving the way for more humanitarian aid to Gaza.
The court called on Israel to “immediately end its military offensive and any other actions in the Rafah governorate that could inflict living conditions on the Palestinian Gaza group that could lead to its physical destruction, in whole or in part.” “.
In response to the court’s ruling, an Israeli government statement said the country intended to continue its offensive in Rafah – in a manner that would respect the Israeli interpretation of the ruling.
“Israel has not and will not carry out military activities in the Rafah area that create living conditions likely to lead to the destruction of the Palestinian civilian population, in whole or in part,” the government statement said. Israeli.
Yuval Shany, an international law expert at the Hebrew University and senior fellow at the Israel Democracy Institute, says the court’s decision leaves enough ambiguity to allow Israel to continue its offensive there.
Reading the Court’s decision from the headquarters of the International Court of Justice in The Hague, the Court’s President, Nawaf Salam, noted that the interim measures ordered by the Court earlier this year have not fully resolved the situation in Gaza and that conditions, particularly in Rafah, have further deteriorated.
Salam cited a report from the United Nations International Children’s Fund that estimated that about half of the 1.2 million Palestinian refugees in Rafah were children, and he warned that “military operations there would result in, I quote, the few remaining basic services and infrastructure they need to survive being totally destroyed.
Displaced Palestinian children wait for a water tank to fill their containers amid high temperatures at a tent camp in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, April 26.
Mohammed Abed/AFP via Getty Images
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In addition to ordering the Israeli military to immediately cease its operations in Rafah, the court ordered Israel to keep the Rafah border crossing with Egypt open for humanitarian aid, as well as to allow Israel to allow for UN investigative agencies to access Gaza so they can complete an investigation. fact-finding mission to gather evidence for the broader case brought by South Africa accusing Israel of genocide. Finally, the court ordered Israel to submit a report within one month detailing the steps it has taken to carry out the court’s orders.
Airstrikes in Rafah reported before court ruling
Minutes before the court announced its decision, Palestinians in Rafah reported one of the heaviest Israeli bombardments since troops entered the western part of the city in early May. Palestinian journalists said a dozen Israeli airstrikes on a main road cut off access to a city hospital that had largely been evacuated but still had a medical team inside. The Israeli army had no immediate comment.
An hour after the court’s ruling, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu held a telephone meeting to consult with Israel’s top legal official as well as senior government ministers and officials, Netanyahu’s office said.
Israeli political leaders from all sides condemned the court’s decision. Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said: “History will judge who stood today alongside the Nazis of Hamas and ISIS.”
Opposition leader Yair Lapid, a centrist, called the court’s decision a “moral disaster” for not ordering the return of Israeli hostages held by Hamas since its Oct. 7 attack on southern Israel. which started the current war.
Hamas and the head of the rival Palestinian government in the West Bank, President Mahmoud Abbas, both welcomed the court’s decision. But Mahmoud Abu Issa, a Rafah resident who fled the Israeli incursion in May, said he doubted Israel would comply.
“Netanyahu will not respect anyone,” said Abu Issa, who is taking refuge in the ruins of a damaged school in the decimated town of Khan Younis. “He respects neither the United States nor court decisions. Netanyahu doesn’t care about anyone, that’s why the decisions are just empty words.”
Outside the Hague courtroom, pro-Palestinian protesters told NPR they were disappointed by the court’s decision because it did not go so far as to call for a complete end to the Israeli offensive in Gaza.
The conflict around Rafah
The Israeli military operation in Rafah is a long-standing dispute with the United States. Israel said it was necessary to invade the city, calling it the last stronghold of Hamas in Gaza. The United States has opposed a major military operation because it would trigger a humanitarian crisis for more than a million Palestinian refugees in the city.
In early May, Israeli troops entered eastern Rafah and took control of the Gaza-Egypt border crossing. Since then, Rafah has seen one of the largest mass movements of Palestinians into Gaza since the start of the war. More than 800,000 Palestinian refugees in the city have fled to other areas of Gaza.
Displaced Palestinians travel on a cart in Rafah, southern Gaza Strip, on May 7.
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In protest, Egypt halted aid deliveries across its border with Gaza. The UN stopped food distribution in Rafah on May 21 due to lack of supplies and reported a surge in illnesses resulting from mass displacement due to lack of basic supplies.
The court has no power to enforce its decision, but it adds pressure on Israel
Friday’s ruling was linked to one of several interim measures that South Africa added to a broader case it filed with the ICJ in December against Israel, accusing it of committing acts of genocide in Gaza. The court has not yet ruled on this case and it could take months or even years.
The International Court of Justice, despite being the highest court of the UN, does not have the necessary powers to enforce its decisions and, as a result, its orders are often ignored. But Friday’s decision will likely increase international pressure on Netanyahu’s government to show more restraint as Israel continues its military offensive in Rafah.
It also means the UN Security Council may feel compelled to weigh in on Israel’s Rafah offensive and consider how best to protect the Palestinians.
In this case, a draft resolution ordering Israel to comply with the court order could put the United States in the uncomfortable position of having to come to Israel’s aid and veto a vote on the issue. The United States has already vetoed several UN attempts to recognize a Palestinian state, saying only negotiations can lead to statehood.
Even if the United States blocked such a resolution, some countries could impose sanctions against Israel.
This possibility was taken up after the court ruling by Josep Borrell, the European Union’s top diplomat, who asked what position the EU would now take towards Israel. “We will have to choose,” he said, “between our support for international rule of law institutions or our support for Israel.”
Rob Schmitz reported from Berlin and Daniel Estrin from Tel Aviv. Anas Baba contributed to this story from Khan Younis, Gaza Strip. Abu Bakr Bashir contributed to The Hague. Hadeel Al-Shalchi contributed from Tel Aviv.
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