THE HAGUE (Dispatches) – The top United Nations court Friday ordered the Zionist regime to halt its military aggression in Rafah, a landmark ruling likely to increase mounting international pressure on the occupying regime more than seven months into the Gaza war.
The regime must “immediately halt its military aggression, and any other action in the Rafah Governorate, which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part,” the International Court of Justice said.
It also ordered the Zionist regime to keep open the Rafah crossing into Gaza for the “unhindered” provision of humanitarian aid.
ICJ rulings are legally binding but the court has no concrete means to enforce them. For example, it ordered Russia to halt its invasion of Ukraine, to no avail.
The ICJ ruling comes hot on the heels of another highly charged decision Monday by the International Criminal Court prosecutor to seek arrest warrants for top Israeli leaders.
Prosecutor Karim Khan said that senior Israeli leaders, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, were guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity related to the war in Gaza and the October 7 attack.
South Africa brought the case before the ICJ last year alleging that Israel’s Gaza genocide breached the 1948 UN Genocide Convention.
In a ruling on January 26 that made headlines worldwide, the ICJ ordered Israel to do everything it could to prevent acts of genocide during its military operation in Gaza.
But South Africa has since returned several times to the ICJ arguing that the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza compels the court to issue further fresh emergency measures.
The court did so in March, ordering new measures compelling Israel to ensure the “unhindered provision at scale” of humanitarian aid.
In public hearings last week, South Africa’s ambassador Vusimuzi Madonsela alleged that “Israel’s genocide has continued apace and has just reached a new and horrific stage”.
“Although the present application was triggered by the unfolding situation in Rafah, Israel’s genocidal onslaught across Gaza has intensified over the past few days, also warranting the attention of this court,” he said.
South Africa argued the only way to enable humanitarian aid is to ease the crisis in Gaza was a full halt to Israel’s military operations.