The judges in The Hague see the new military operation in the south of the Gaza Strip as a threat to the lives of the civilian population. International pressure on Israel is thus increasing further.
After applying for an arrest warrant against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, Israel has suffered another setback in court. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Israel on Friday to immediately stop its offensive in Rafah. The military operation in the south of the Gaza Strip poses an immense risk to the population, ruled the UN Supreme Court in The Hague. By ordering the evacuation of Rafah, Israel did not do enough to protect civilians.
The humanitarian situation is disastrous, the judges declared. More than 800,000 people have had to leave Rafah since the beginning of May because of Israeli air strikes and the ground offensive. In the al-Mawasi protection zone designated by Israel for the refugees, there are no adequate sanitary and health facilities. In the agricultural area on the coast of the Mediterranean, there are neither permanent accommodations nor sufficient drinking water.
The court thus granted a request by South Africa for additional emergency measures in the case against Israel for violating the Genocide Convention. South Africa had argued that the offensive on Rafah meant a change in the situation that required the adoption of further measures. In January, the ICJ had already requested more aid deliveries at the request of South Africa and in March demanded the opening of further border crossings.
Israel has ignored all warnings
The orders of the International Court of Justice are binding for all UN members. However, the court has no way of enforcing its decisions in practice. It is therefore questionable whether Israel will comply with them. At a hearing in the case last week, Israeli representatives rejected South Africa’s accusations and stressed that the offensive in Rafah was a local operation. Israel also blames Egypt for the blockade of aid deliveries.
The court’s decision nevertheless increases the pressure on Israel to stop the offensive. It had already warned in February against an attack on the city, which had become a refuge for 1.5 million Palestinians as a result of the fighting in the north of the Gaza Strip. Even the USA, Israel’s closest ally, had urged Netanyahu to refrain from an offensive because of the impending humanitarian consequences.
The Israeli head of government argues that an offensive on Rafah is necessary to crush the remaining Hamas brigades. However, even within the army leadership there are increasing doubts that the current approach will lead to success. Because as soon as the army withdraws its troops from an area, Hamas regroups there. The army is thus forced to repeatedly return to cities that it had actually already secured.
Netanyahu is coming under increasing pressure
It is increasingly clear that it will not be possible to hold on to the Gaza Strip in the long term without an alternative to the Hamas administration. Defense Minister Gallant therefore called on Netanyahu last week to finally present a strategy for the post-war order. Opposition politician Benny Gantz, who has been a member of the war cabinet since October, also gave Netanyahu an ultimatum of June 8 to present a plan for the post-war period. Otherwise, he would leave the war cabinet.
The chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Karim Khan, requested arrest warrants against Netanyahu and Gallant on Monday on suspicion of war crimes and crimes against humanity. He justified this by saying that the closure of the Gaza Strip could be interpreted as an attempt to starve the population. Although Khan also requested arrest warrants against three Hamas leaders, his actions met with widespread outrage in Israel.
Amid the excitement surrounding the chief prosecutor’s motion, Spain, Ireland and Norway announced on Tuesday that they would recognize Palestine as a state. Spain in particular sharply criticized Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip. The fact that the International Court of Justice is now demanding a halt to the Rafah offensive is likely to strengthen Israel’s critics in their stance. The judges also ordered that Israel must keep all border crossings open. It must also grant any UN commission of inquiry unhindered access to the Gaza Strip.