World Court orders Israel to halt assault on Gaza's Rafah

Judges at the top United Nations court, also called the International Court of Justice (ICJ), made the landmark emergency ruling in South Africa's case accusing Israel of genocide.

Reading out the ruling, World Court president Nawaf Salam said the situation in the Palestinian enclave had deteriorated since the court last ordered Israel to take steps to improve it, and conditions had been met for a new emergency order.

Kenneth Roth, the former executive director of Human Rights Watch, noted that the court had focused much of its ruling on the fact that 800,000 Palestinians had been forced to flee Rafah due to Israel’s assault, and would now be without shelter or provisions.

Roth told Reuters that there is a “credible case of genocide” against Israel, but that regardless of whether that term is applicable, Israel has demonstrably committed war crimes in Gaza.

Israel launched its air and ground war on Gaza after Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israeli communities, killing around 1,200 people and seizing more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. More than 35,000 Palestinians have since been killed in the offensive, Gaza's health ministry says.

Earlier this week, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which is not a UN body, filed for arrest warrants against Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, as well as three Hamas leaders.

If Israel failed to comply with the ICJ’s ruling, Kenneth Roth said, it would make it more likely the ICC warrants would be issued.

South Africa has done a “tremendous job” in building its case against Israel, Heidi Matthews, Assistant Professor of Law at York University in Toronto, Canada, told Reuters. “The evidentiary basis for this order is crystal clear to me,” she said.

But enforcement could be a challenge, Matthews said, given that the ICJ has no means to enforce its orders. Under the UN charter the UN Security Council could compel enforcement of the ICJ ruling, she said, but it would likely face opposition from the United States which frequently uses its veto power to support Israel.

Reuters