The United Nations’ top court, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), on May 24 issued new provisional measures ordering Israel to “immediately” halt its military offensive in Rafah, which broke out after Hamasled attacks in October last year, killing 1,200 Israeli people, and taking roughly 250 hostages. Israel’s military response has, to date, killed nearly 36,000 Palestinians, the vast majority of them being children and women, and caused widespread destruction and a looming famine in the besieged and bombarded enclave of Gaza. Previously, the ICJ had issued similar provisional measures in January and March.

In January, while delivering an interim judgement, the ICJ judges had stressed that they did not need to say for now whether genocide had occurred but concluded that some of the acts of Israel in Gaza amount “plausibly” to genocide. Rafah is the last remaining stronghold of Hamas in Gaza where about half of Gaza’s 2.3 million people have taken refuge in recent months. Israel claims that Hamas leaders and many operatives are hiding in Rafah, and also that an unspecified number of the remaining 121 hostages kidnapped are also being held in the city. Israel has been insisting that it has no choice but to carry out an operation in the city to root out the Hamas battalions there, to rescue its hostages, ensure the safety of its citizens, and to prevent the smuggling of weapons and cash into Gaza.

The ICJ’s May 24 ruling also calls on Israel to allow unhindered access to humanitarian assistance via the Rafah crossing. The court noted that the humanitarian situation in Rafah has deteriorated further since it last issued provisional measures in March and acknowledged that they have proved to be insufficient. The ICJ president, Judge Salam, said that 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........

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