ICJ issues Order in response to South Africa's Request for the modification and the indication of provisional measures: Stop Rafah Attack Immediately

The International Court of Justice said that Israel must immediately stop its attack on the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, in a decision issued today, Friday, at the request of South Africa, as part of a comprehensive lawsuit accusing Tel Aviv of committing genocide in the Strip.

The text of the decision read by the President of the International Court of Justice, Lebanese Judge Nawaf Salam, stated that “according to the Genocide Convention, any additional action in Rafah may lead to partial or total destruction.”

The court considered the attack on Rafah “a dangerous development that increases the suffering of the population,” noting that Israel “did not do enough to ensure the safety and security of the displaced.”

Judge Salam explained that the circumstances require changing the decision issued by the court on March 28, which was the first decision in the case that obligated Israel to take temporary measures to ensure compliance with the Genocide Convention.

The order that needed just 8 yes votes to be adopted by the court received 13 votes from the court's bench that consisted of 15 judges.

The presiding judge stated that "Israel must immediately cease its military offensive or any other actions in the Rafah governorate that may endanger the Palestinian population in Gaza, potentially leading to their physical destruction, wholly or partially."

The Court Order contained also three specific measures related to Gaza Strip:

1. Immediate Stop of the Attack on Rafah

2. Keeping the Rafah crossings open

3. Allow unhindered access to investigators to probe alleged crimes

Additionally, Salam emphasized, "Israel must implement effective measures to ensure unhindered access to the Gaza Strip for any commission of inquiry, fact-finding mission, or investigative body authorized by the relevant organs of the United Nations to investigate allegations of genocide."

The ICJ order comes just days after the Prosecutor of the ICC found that his investigators have enough evidence to believe that Israel leaders have committed crimes in Gaza and submitted preliminary list of indictments to the panel of judges that reviews them.

  

 Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip 

(South Africa v. Israel)

Request for the modification and the indication of provisional measures

Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel) – Delivery of the Order of the Court on the request for the indication/modification of provisional measures submitted by South Africa

  

  Israeli Government member response to the court's oder: