UN Supreme Court orders Israel to halt military offensive on Rafah | Wilnesh News

The United Nations’ top court, the International Court of Justice, on Friday ordered Israel to halt its military offensive in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, citing concerns for the safety of Palestinian civilians.

Nawaf Salam, President of the International Court of Justice, said: “Israel must immediately cease its military offensive in Rafah governorate and any other actions that could bring about the physical destruction of Palestinian groups in Gaza, in whole or in part. living conditions.

The court noted that Rafah’s situation had worsened since the ICJ’s final ruling in March. The court also said that provisional measures directed at the time by the International Court of Justice, also known as the World Court, were no longer applicable in the current situation.

The Court further found that the evacuation and other measures taken by Israel in Rafah were insufficient.

“Israel must take effective measures to ensure that any commission of inquiry, fact-finding mission or other investigative body authorized by competent United Nations order has unhindered access to the Gaza Strip to investigate allegations of genocide,” the ruling said.

CNBC has reached out to the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office and Foreign Ministry for comment.

“Those who ask the State of Israel to stop the war are asking Israel to order the cessation of existence. We will not agree to that,” Israeli Finance Minister Bezarel Smotrich said in an update via Google Translate. on social media platform. “If we lay down our weapons, the enemy will be at the bedside of our children and women across our country.”

Earlier this month, Israel advanced military operations into Rafah, where more than 1 million displaced Palestinians have sought refuge.

South Africa has called on the International Court of Justice to rule on the Rafah offensive as part of a broader case launched by the African country in December seeking a declaration from the court on the potential risk of genocide posed by Israel’s wider military operations in Gaza. . The World Court has so far said Israel must take steps to prevent genocide against civilians trapped in the enclave, but has yet to impose a ceasefire.

Israel insists its goal in Gaza is not to target civilians but to eliminate the Palestinian militant group Hamas. The ensuing Israel-Hamas war has killed more than 35,000 people in Gaza, according to the Palestinian health authorities in Gaza.

Hamas welcomed the World Court’s ruling and called for United Nations mediation to put pressure on Israel to comply with the ruling.

“We hope that the International Court of Justice will issue a ruling to stop the aggression and genocide against the people of the entire Gaza Strip,” the Palestinian activist group said in a statement translated by Google. “Not only in Rafah governorate, but also in Jabaliya and the Gaza Strip. What happened in other provinces is no less criminal and dangerous than what happened in Rafah.”

Palestinian presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh told Reuters the Palestinian Authority, which controlled the Gaza Strip before Hamas’ full takeover, also welcomed the ICJ’s ruling and said it represented reached an international consensus to end the enclave war.

The International Court of Justice is known as the World Court, and its rulings are final and cannot be appealed, but they cannot be directly enforced by the court. However, its statement dealt a heavy blow to its reputation and threatened to deepen Israel’s international isolation amid growing concerns abroad about the proportionality of its response to the conflict in Gaza.

The developments in Rafah have heightened tensions between Israel and close ally Washington, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu acknowledging “differences” with the United States over the offensive but firmly arguing that it is important to national security importance.

“But we have to do what we have to do,” Netanyahu said in an interview with CNBC’s Sarah Eisen last week. “Sometimes you have to… you just have to do what is necessary to ensure your survival and your future. We cannot continue to move into the future by allowing Hamas to retake Gaza.”

The World Court ruling is the third diplomatic blow to Israel this week.

On Monday, ICJ prosecutor Karim Khan sought arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Galante for alleged crimes committed during Israel’s operations in the wider Gaza Strip. offense.

In the same document, prosecutors charged Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, the group’s political bureau chief Ismail Haniyeh and Mohammed Diab, commander-in-chief of the Qassam Brigades, Hamas’s military arm, with A warrant for the arrest of Ibrahim al-Masri was issued. Israel and Hamas have both criticized the ICC’s arrest warrant application, which remains to be reviewed.

Later this week, Norway, Ireland and Spain said they would recognize an independent Palestinian state, according to the prime ministers of the three countries.