THE HAGUE, Netherlands (CN) — The highest court of the United Nations on Friday ordered Israel to stop its military operation in Rafah, the besieged southern Gaza city.
Judges at the International Court of Justice issued their third round of emergency orders since South Africa launched proceedings at The Hague-based court in December, accusing Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
“The State of Israel shall … immediately halt its military offensive, and any other action in the Rafah Governorate,” court President Nawaf Salam said in reading out the 11-page decision.
Only a handful of pro-Palestinian protesters braved the pouring rain outside of The Hague courtroom.
South Africa asked the court two weeks ago to intervene for the fourth time, saying that the situation in Gaza had deteriorated enough that the previous orders were insufficient.
In a 13-2 decision, the court agreed.
“The aforementioned developments, which are exceptionally grave, in particular the military offensive in Gaza … constitute a change in the situation,” the judges wrote in the ruling.
Beyond ordering a halt of military activities, the court also said that Israel must allow in fact finding missions from the United Nations and report back to the court within a month as to how it is complying with the order.
Israel’s ad hoc Judge Aharon Barak voted against the measures, as did court Vice President Julia Sebutinde. The pair had voted against several of the previous orders as well.
Although Israel is unlikely to comply with the order, it will ratchet up the pressure on the increasingly isolated country.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would be organizing his war cabinet to respond to the ruling. “The fact that the ICJ did not even directly connect the end of the military operation in Rafah to the release of the hostages and to Israel’s right to defend itself against terror is an abject moral failure,” Yair Lapid, the leader of the opposition, said in response to the decision.
Israel has strongly denied it was committing genocide in Gaza and said it had a right to defend itself.
“Armed conflict is not a synonym of genocide,” Israel’s Deputy Attorney General Gilad Noam told the court during hearings last week.
South Africa said it was happy with the decision.
“We are really pleased that the court has given very serious consideration to the matters that we have put before it and has affirmed that an urgent decision is needed from the court to pause this onslaught against innocent Palestinian people," South Africa's Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor said on public broadcaster SABC.
On Monday, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court asked judges to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Minister of Defense Yoav Gallant and Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar and other senior officials in connection with war crimes and crimes against humanity.
According to Karim Khan, there is sufficient evidence to charge the Israeli leaders for using starvation as a war crime, pointing to the “arbitrary” closing of border crossings and cutting off water and electricity to the Gaza Strip. The charges against Hamas stem from the cross-border raid last year that left more than 1,000 dead. Khan says the trio are guilty of extermination, murder, taking hostages and sexual assault for organizing the Oct. 7 attacks.
South Africa launched proceedings in December, accusing Israel of committing genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza under the 1948 Genocide Convention.
Any party to the post-World War II treaty can initiate a case at The Hague-based court against another signatory under the convention. The West African country of Gambia launched a complaint against Myanmar in 2020, claiming the government was committing genocide against the Rohingya.
In January, judges called on Israel to prevent any genocidal acts against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip. The legally binding order did not go as far as calling on Israel to stop its military response to the Oct. 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas.
In a second round of emergency measures in March, the court ordered Israel to cooperate with the United Nations in providing food, water and medical care to the 2.3 million people living in the Gaza Strip in light of the “catastrophic situation.”
The underlying case on the merits is expected to take years.
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