Seven months into its genocidal campaign, Israel’s assault on Rafah led the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to issue a preliminary order on May 24. The court called on Israel to “Immediately halt its military offensive, and any other action in the Rafah Governorate, which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part.” It also ordered Israel to keep the Rafah crossing open and permit United Nations investigative commissions to enter Gaza and investigate allegations of genocide.
In addition, mounting Israeli atrocities propelled Karim Khan, chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), to seek arrest warrants on May 20 against Israeli officials.
The ICC has “made the first truly historic move since its establishment in 2002” by seeking arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, and three prominent leaders of Hamas, Professor Richard Falk wrote.
“The ICJ and ICC confirmed this week that international action is needed because Israel will not hold itself accountable and will not voluntarily end its crimes,” said Raed Jarrar, advocacy director for Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN).
But just minutes after the ICJ ruled that Israel must halt its military offensive in Rafah, Israel intensified its bombing of the city. Two days later, on May 26, Israeli bombs targeted a tent encampment in a “safe zone” in the Tal al-Sultan neighborhood of Rafah, where Israel had instructed displaced Palestinians to shelter. The airstrikes killed nearly 45 Palestinians, including women and children.
The bombing caused “a large inferno and massive casualties, including children who were burned alive in a sea of flames,” Michel Moushabeck wrote at Truthout. Video recordings circulating on social media show “a headless child, charred bodies of children, women and children frantically running in all directions trying to escape the fires,” he added. “They bring Israeli atrocities in Gaza to a new level of unspeakable cruelty and horror.”
On May 28, two days after the Tal al-Sultan massacre, Israeli tanks began rolling into central Rafah, in an escalation of Israel’s offensive.
Since October 7, 2023, Israel has conducted a full-fledged genocide in Gaza, killing more than 36,000 Palestinians. The death toll will invariably rise as untold numbers of people are trapped under the rubble. Over 80 percent of the people in Gaza have been displaced from their homes and more than half of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million are believed to be sheltering in Rafah. In spite of the ICJ’s previous orders of........