Top UN court orders Israel to immediately halt military offensive in Rafah

The Hague, NT Bureau: The top United Nations court ordered Israel on Friday to immediately halt its military offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah — but stopped short of ordering a cease-fire for the enclave.

While Israel is unlikely to comply with the order, it will ratchet up the pressure on the increasingly isolated country. Criticism of Israel's conduct in the war in Gaza has been growing, particularly once it turned its focus to Rafah.

This week alone, three European countries announced they would recognize a Palestinian state, and the chief prosecutor for another international court requested arrest warrants for Israeli leaders, along with Hamas officials.

While the ruling by the International Court of Justice is a blow to Israel's international standing, the court does not have a police force to enforce its orders.

In another case on its docket, Russia has so far ignored a 2022 order by the court to halt its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Earlier, Israel signaled it, too, would brush off an ICJ order to stop its operations.

“No power on earth will stop Israel from protecting its citizens and going after Hamas in Gaza,” Avi Hyman, the government spokesperson, said in a press briefing Thursday.

Good decision. Israel May not obey this order. The US can force it to obey. If the US does not do that, the Biden administration would show that it has no regard for International law -Prashant Bhushan, SC lawyer

Immediately after the ruling, Netanyahu announced that he would hold a special ministerial meeting to decide how to respond. The court's president, Nawaf Salam, read out the ruling, as a small group of pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrated outside.

Fears the court expressed earlier this year about an operation in Rafah have “materialized,” the ruling said, and Israel must “immediately halt its military offensive” in the city and anything else that might result in conditions that could cause the “physical destruction in whole or in part” of Palestinians there.

Rafah is in the southernmost part of the Gaza Strip, on the border with Egypt, and over 1 million people sought refuge there in recent months after fleeing fighting elsewhere,.

Netanyahu under pressure at home to end war

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is also under heavy pressure at home to end the war, which was triggered when Hamasled militants stormed into Israel, killing 1,200 people, most civilians, and taking some 250 captive.

Thousands of Israelis have joined weekly demonstrations calling on the government to reach a deal to bring the hostages home, fearing that time is running out.