The ICJ today ruled to reaffirm its previous rulings and issue new orders to Israel to cease its Rafah offensive. It also ordered Israel to open the Rafah crossing with Egypt for humanitarian aid and international inquiries. It also ordered Israel to report back in one month.
On Friday 29 December 2023, the South African Government invoked the Genocide Convention against Israel at the International Court of Justice, asking for provisional measures to halt Israel’s genocide “in light of the nature of the rights in issue, as well as the ongoing, extreme and irreparable harm being suffered by Palestinians in Gaza”. Following arguments from both South Africa and Israel, the ICJ issued orders to Israel on Friday 26 January 2023. Yesterday, on Monday 12th February, following Israel’s attack on Rafah, South Africa requested additional measures from the court.
It should go without saying that, with life in the border town of Rafah already an experience of failed ‘shelter’ in tents fashioned from plastic sheets, almost no water or access to medical services, and people subsisting on a few pieces of bread a day, that there is no way to conduct any “evacuation” that would merit being described as “humanitarian.”
