The top UN court on Friday ordered Israel to halt military operations 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.
“Israel must immediately halt its military offensive and any other action in Rafah which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part,” Judge Nawaf Salam, president of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), said.
Reading the court’s ruling 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. Israel, he added, must also allow unimpeded access to Gaza to any UN body investigating allegations of genocide.
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”.
The International Court of Justice also demanded the immediate release of all hostages still held by Palestinian terrorists, hours after the Israeli military announced troops had recovered the bodies of three more of the captives from northern Gaza.
