Gaza: World court orders Israel to halt military operations in Rafah

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Friday issued new provisional measures that order Israel to immediately end military operations in Rafah in southern Gaza and to open the governate’s border crossing for urgent aid deliveries.

This follows a request from South Africa in a pending case accusing Israel of violating its obligations under the Genocide Convention.

Reading the new provisional measures in an open session at the court in The Hague, ICJ Justice Nawaf Salam announced that Israel must abide by its obligations under the Genocide Convention to “immediately halt its military offensive and any other action in the Rafah governate which may inflict upon the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that would bring about its physical destruction in whole and in part”.

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The court issued that decision by 13 votes in favour to two against.

The new provisional measures came in response to South Africa’s request made on 10 May related to its initial accusations in December that Israel is violating its obligations under the Genocide Convention during the war in Gaza, which broke out after Hamas-led attacks on Israel in October that killed more than 1,200 people and left another 250 taken hostage. 

Israel’s military response has, to date, killed nearly 36,000 Palestinians and caused widespread destruction and a looming famine in the besieged and bombarded enclave.

Court orders opening of Rafah border crossing

Given the worsening conditions on the ground since Israel’s incursion into Rafah on 7 May, the court decided, also by votes of 13 in favour to two against, the new provisional measures shall require Israel to open the Rafah crossing for the unhindered delivery of urgent humanitarian aid and ensure unimpeded access for fact-finding missions to investigate allegations of genocide.

The Rafah border crossing, which has been the main entry point for aid to the enclave, has been closed since 7 May.

“The court is not convinced that evacuation efforts and related measures that Israel has affirmed to have undertaken to enhance the security of civilians in the Gaza Strip, and in particular those recently displaced from the Rafah governate, are sufficient to alleviate immense risks to which the Palestinian population is exposed as a result of the military offensive in Rafah,” Mr. Salam said.

In addition, the ICJ ordered Israel to submit a report within one month on steps taken to implement these provisional measures.

Deteriorating conditions

Mr. Salam said the ICJ had noted that the situation in Gaza has deteriorated since it last issued provisional measures in March, adding that since Israel’s incursion into Rafah, the Najjar Hospital was no longer functioning and aid efforts have been impacted.

The court also noted that Israel’s evacuation orders for Rafah residents had led more than 800,000 people to flee to places like the coastal area of Al Mawasi, which lacked the basic essentials and services to accommodate them.

Since taking up South Africa’s case in January, the ICJ had already issued provisional measures in January and March by which Israel must, among other things, take all steps to ensure sufficient humanitarian aid enters Gaza.

However, UN agencies are reporting that scant aid is currently entering Gaza.

Court reiterates call to release hostages

On Friday, Mr. Salam recalled that in the two previous orders for provisional measures “the court expressed its grave concern over the fate of the hostages abducted during the attack in Israel on 7 October 2023 and held since then by Hamas and other armed groups, and called for their immediate and unconditional release.”

He said “the court finds it deeply troubling that many of these hostages remain in captivity and reiterates its call for their immediate and unconditional release.”

© UNRWA

 

The people of Gaza continue to be forcibly displaced since the military offensive on Rafah started in early May.

What’s the difference between the ICJ and the ICC?

There is frequent confusion between the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Both courts have open cases against Israel related to the ongoing conflict in Gaza.

The simplest way to explain the difference is that ICJ cases involve countries, and the ICC is a criminal court, which brings cases against individuals for war crimes or crimes against humanity. While the ICJ is an organ of the United Nations, the ICC is legally independent of the UN, although it is endorsed by the General Assembly.

The ICJ is currently considering South Africa’s accusations that Israel is violating the Genocide Convention.

On Monday, the ICC sought arrest warrants related to possible war crimes against three Hamas leaders and Israel’s Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant. The request for the warrants are now being considered by the court’s judges.

Read more about the courts in our explainers on the ICJ and the ICC.

Watch Friday’s announcement at the ICJ in The Hague below:

Originally published in the United Nations News Centre on March 26th, 2024

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World Marks Six Months of 'Relentless Death and Destruction' in Gaza

U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres reiterated his call for an "immediate humanitarian cease-fire, the unconditional release of all hostages, the protection of civilians, and the unimpeded delivery of humanitarian aid."

 Peace and human rights advocates on Sunday renewed calls for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza and an increase in lifesaving  humanitarian aid for its starving people as the embattled enclave  marked six months since the start of Israel's genocidal retaliation  for the October 7 attacks.

Gaza: Israeli advance on Rafah would have ‘dire humanitarian consequences’

 19 February 2024 Peace and Security

An extension of Israel’s military operation in Rafah, where over a million internally displaced Palestinians have been forced to shelter, will have “dire humanitarian consequences”, the UN Senior Humanitarian Coordinator for Gaza said on Monday.

Sigrid Kaag reiterated Secretary-General António Guterres’s concern that such an operation at present time would be potentially disastrous for innocent civilians.

“There are more than a million people crammed in Rafah. It's not intended for a million people in shelters, in random sort of plastic sheeted constructions. Health conditions are very worrisome,” she told correspondents in Brussels after briefing European Union foreign ministers.

She also voiced deep concern over getting aid into the Gaza Strip and distributing it to those in need.

“We have to acknowledge the fact that the security conditions, separate from military operations, due to what is called self-distribution by desperate civilians, but also looting and criminalization, is hampering efforts by the humanitarian community…to deliver assistance to the people that actually need it,” she said.

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More needs to be done 

Also on Monday, UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process, Tor Wennesland, visited the Gaza Strip, where he met with internally displaced families.

He also met with NGO and UN personnel the see the challenges they face first hand, including the breakdown of law and order which is impacting the distribution of humanitarian supplies.

“It’s clear that more needs to be done,” UN Spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told correspondents in New York at the regular press briefing.

“The UN needs the tools to deliver on the ground, including the need for Israel to allow entry of items critical to UN operations and to improve deconfliction,” he added. 

Continued hostilities

Intense Israeli bombardment from air, land and sea continues across much of the war-torn enclave, according to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), resulting in further civilian casualties, displacement, and destruction of civilian infrastructure.

Widespread ground operations and heavy fighting between Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups also continue to be reported, especially in Khan Younis and Deir al Balah, OCHA said in a flash update on Monday.

Between 17 and 19 February, dozens of rockets were also reportedly fired by armed Palestinians toward Israel, it added.

Nasser hospital evacuations

Furthermore, the Israeli military operation in the Nasser Hospital complex in Khan Younis have continued, OCHA said, noting that on Sunday, the UN and the Palestine Red Crescent Society evacuated 14 patients. Negotiations are ongoing for the evacuation of the remaining patients.

According to the UN World Health Organization (WHO), over 180 patients and 15 doctors and nurses remain inside the hospital.

“The hospital is still experiencing an acute shortage of food, basic medical supplies, and oxygen. There is no tap water and no electricity, except a backup generator maintaining some lifesaving machines,” WHO said.

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‘Steep rise’ in child malnutrition

UN agencies on Monday warned of a steep rise in malnutrition among children and pregnant and breastfeeding women, posing grave threat to health.

The situation is especially serious in north Gaza, which has been almost completely cut off from aid for weeks, and where one in six children under the age of two is acutely malnourished.

The situation is not much better in southern Gaza Strip the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), WHO and the World Food Programme (WFP), said in a new report.

In Rafah, where aid has been more available, five per cent of children under two are acutely malnourished.

“This is clear evidence that access to humanitarian aid is needed and can help prevent the worst outcomes,” the agencies said, reiterating the call to protect Rafah from the threat of intensified military operations. 

West Bank violence

OCHA also reported further violent incidents in the West Bank over the weekend, claiming both Israeli and Palestinian lives.

On 16 February, two Israeli men were shot and killed in southern Israel, and four others including a child were injured, by a Palestinian man from Shu’fat refugee camp in East Jerusalem. The Palestinian man was then shot and killed by an armed Israeli civilian.

On Sunday, Israeli forces killed two Palestinian men in Tulkarm Refugee camp, during an exchange of fire with a Palestinian man whose body was later withheld by Israeli forces from being handed over.

The second fatality was an unarmed Palestinian who was reportedly killed by an Israeli army sniper while standing on the rooftop of his house, OCHA said.

Between 7 October 2023 and 18 February, 393 Palestinians have been killed, including 100 children, and 4,511 Palestinians, including 699 children, have been injured in conflict-related incidents across the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and Israel.  

During the same period, 12 Israelis, including four members of Israeli forces, were killed and 80 injured in conflict-related incidents in the same areas, according to OCHA.

World court asked for legal opinion

Meanwhile, at the Peace Palace in The Hague, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is holding a hearing concerning an advisory opinion on the Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem.

The advisory, non-binding, opinion on the occupation was requested by the General Assembly in December 2022.

The hearings will be held from 19 to 26 February, with over 50 countries, groups and the State of Palestine scheduled to speak.

This article originally appeared in UN News on February 19th, 2023. 

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ICJ Hearings to Examine 57 Years of Israeli Occupation of Palestine

By Brett Wilkins

"Decades of injustice will finally face scrutiny," said U.N. human rights official Francesca Albanese ahead of next week's Hague hearings on the legal consequences of Israel's illegal occupation.

More than 50 countries are set to participate in next week's hearings at the International Court of Justice focusing on Israel's illegal 57-year occupation of Palestine, a forum that follows the Hague tribunal's finding last month that Israel is "plausibly" committing genocide in occupied Gaza.

The ICJ—also known as the World Court—will hold a week of hearings on the legal consequences of Israel's occupation of Palestine, which dates to the Israeli conquest of the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Gaza Strip, Syrian Golan Heights, and Egyptian Sinai Peninsula during the 1967 Six-Day War.

"The International Court of Justice is set for the first time to broadly consider the legal consequences of Israel's nearly six-decades-long occupation and mistreatment of the Palestinian people," Human Rights Watch senior legal adviser Clive Baldwin said in a statement. "Governments that are presenting their arguments to the court should seize these landmark hearings to highlight the grave abuses Israeli authorities are committing against Palestinians, including the crimes against humanity of apartheid and persecution."

The West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Golan Heights remain under Israeli military occupation six decades after their conquest. The United Nations—to which the ICJ belongs—and many international NGOs contend that, despite removing its troops and settlers from Gaza two decades ago, Israel continues to occupy Gaza by controlling the besieged enclave's airspace, territorial waters, and the entry and exit of people and goods.

Since the October 7 Hamas-led attacks on Israel, the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) have killed or wounded more than 100,000 Palestinians in Gaza while forcibly displacing around 90% of the population. Numerous Israeli leaders have called for the renewed physical occupation, Jewish resettlement, and ethnic cleansing of the strip.

During the current assault on Gaza, occupation forces have also killed at least 388 Palestinians, including 99 children, in the West Bank, according to U.N. human rights officials.

Israeli settlers have for decades been steadily colonizing the occupied territories under the protection of the IDF, while ethnically cleansing Palestinians whose lands and homes they steal.

Next week's hearings come on the heels of the ICJ's provisional ruling last month in a case led by South Africa—which will be the first nation after Palestine to present at next week's hearing—that Israel is "plausibly" committing genocide in Gaza. The tribunal ordered Israel to "take all measures within its power" to adhere to its obligations under Article II of the Genocide Convention.

Earlier this week, South Africa urgently appealed to the ICJ to act amid the looming threat of an Israeli ground invasion of Rafah. More than 1.5 million Palestinians, most of them refugees ordered to flee to the south of Gaza by invading Israeli forces, are crammed into what is now one of the world's most densely populated places.

On Friday, the ICJ declined to take any additional action against Israel, while reiterating that the "perilous situation" in Rafah "demands immediate and effective implementation of the provisional measures indicated by the court" in last month's ruling.

This article originally appeared in Common Dreams on February 16th, 2024.  

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Groups Intensify Global Push for Gaza Cease-Fire After ICJ Ruling

By Jessica Corbett

"An immediate cease-fire by all parties remains essential and—although not ordered by the court—is the most effective condition to implement the provisional measures and end unprecedented civilian suffering."

While welcoming the International Court of Justice's initial ruling in the South African-led case accusing Israel of genocide in the Gaza Strip, rights groups around the world on Friday renewed calls for a cease-fire.

The United Nations' top judicial body ordered Israel to "take all measures within its power" to uphold its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide but stopped short of demanding an immediate cease-fire. The ICJ proceedings that could find Israel guilty of genocide are expected to take years—time that the people of Gaza don't have.

"Today's decision is an authoritative reminder of the crucial role of international law in preventing genocide and protecting all victims of atrocity crimes," said Amnesty International secretary general Agnès Callamard. "It sends a clear message that the world will not stand by in silence as Israel pursues a ruthless military campaign to decimate the population of the Gaza Strip and unleash death, horror, and suffering against Palestinians on an unprecedented scale."

"However, the ICJ decision alone cannot put an end to the atrocities and devastation Gazans are witnessing," she continued. "Alarming signs of genocide in Gaza, and Israel's flagrant disregard for international law highlight the urgent need for effective, unified pressure on Israel to stop its onslaught against Palestinians. An immediate cease-fire by all parties remains essential and—although not ordered by the court—is the most effective condition to implement the provisional measures and end unprecedented civilian suffering."

As of Friday, Israel's retaliation for the Hamas-led attack on October 7 has killed at least 26,083 Palestinians—including 11,500 children—and wounded over 64,400 others, according to Gaza officials. The Israeli blockade and bombardment have also devastated civilian infrastructure, displaced most of the enclave's 2.3 million residents, and deprived them of much-needed commercial goods and humanitarian aid.

Stressing that "the stakes could not be higher," Callamard called on leaders from the United States—which gives Israel billions of dollars in military support—along with the United Kingdom, Germany, and other European Union members to "signal their respect for the court's legally binding decision and do everything in their power to uphold their obligation to prevent genocide."

Tens of thousands killed, over a million displaced, Israelis held hostage in the Gaza Strip, Hunger and a humanitarian catastrophe \u2013 all oblige Israel to stop the fighting.\nCeasefire - Now.

— (@)

Balkees Jarrah, associate international justice director at Human Rights Watch, also demanded that Israel and its allies immediately comply with the court's order on provisional measures, declaring that "lives hang in the balance, and governments need to urgently use their leverage to ensure that the order is enforced."

"The ICJ's speedy ruling is recognition of the dire situation in Gaza, where civilians face starvation and are being killed daily at levels unprecedented in the recent history of Israel and Palestine," Jarrah added. "The court's clear and binding order raises the stakes for Israel's allies to back up their stated commitment to a global rules-based order by helping ensure compliance with this watershed ruling."

Some governments across the world hailed the ICJ ruling as progress—even though Israeli leaders quickly made clear they have no plans to end the war. A spokesperson for the U.S. State Department said in part that "we continue to believe that allegations of genocide are unfounded and note the court did not make a finding about genocide or call for a cease-fire in its ruling."

Journalists and legal experts called the response from the United States a "mischaracterization" of the ICJ ruling intended to "justify U.S. policy instead of adjusting U.S. policy" and a signal that President Joe Biden has no plans to "stand up for justice."

\u2696\ufe0fThe provisional measures issued by @CIJ_ICJ order Israel to prevent acts of genocide (incl killing of Palestinians) + to ensure its military does not commit these acts. \n\nThis is very much a challenge to the @StateDept take that has justified illegal collective punishment. (2)

— (@)

Still, in a statement Friday, the U.S.-based anti-war group CodePink praised the ruling as "a crucial step toward justice" and asserted that "the only way to ensure Israel complies with the provisional measures is through an immediate cease-fire."

"CodePink reiterates its urgent call to the Biden administration and Congress to promptly terminate all financial support to Israel, given its perpetration of genocidal actions, and to demand an immediate cease-fire," the group said. "We will follow this historic case as it proceeds and continue to advocate in Congress, email and call our representatives, push for city cease-fire resolutions, and, of course, protest, rally, and disrupt until the genocide in Gaza ends and Palestine is free."

Leaders at Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP), which has spearheaded numerous protests across the United States demanding an end to U.S. support for Israel's unrelenting assault of Gaza, also took aim at Biden—who is seeking reelection this year—and vowed to keep up the fight.

"For over 100 days, the Israeli and the U.S. governments have gaslit and smeared the Palestinian people, denying what the entire world was witnessing: a genocide," noted JVP political director Beth Miller. "Now, the highest court in the world has found these claims plausible. President Biden has a choice to make: He can reject the entire system of international law and continue complicity in Israeli genocide, or he can stop arming a genocidal regime and stop attacking the people and movements struggling to build a more just and peaceful future."

As a hearing was held in U.S. court for a case accusing the Biden administration of complicity in the genocidal violence, JVP executive director Stefanie Fox said, "We don't need courts to tell us genocide is a moral catastrophe, but we do need courts to impose accountability when our own government has so shamefully worked to abet, fund, arm and secure impunity for the Israeli government's genocidal attack on Palestinians in Gaza."

"From here, the next step is clear: an immediate, permanent cease-fire," she added. "We're not stopping until Palestinians, like everyone else, live in justice, safety, and freedom."

Read the post below related to this topic
South Africa Initiates Case Against Israel at International Court of Justice, 

'Crucial Moment in History': ICJ Orders Israel to Prevent Acts of Genocide in Gaza

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