UN court orders Israel to stop assault on Rafah

By Nathan Morley

This case was brought to the International Court of Justice, ICJ, by South Africa, which accuses Israel of violating the UN genocide convention. 

"The situation has deteriorated since the last rulings on January 26 and March 28," Judge Nawaf Salam, president of the court, said in The Hague. "The humanitarian situation is now disastrous."

"After weeks of bombardments on Rafah, 100,000 Palestinians were already ordered to evacuate on May 6," Salam added. "The military operations are still ongoing and led to new evacuations. As a result, nearly 800,000 people were evacuated on May 18."

Now, the European Union’s top diplomat Joseph Borrell says the EU will have to make a choice of supporting Israel or international institutions and the rule of law. 

For their part, Israel said no power on earth would stop it going after Hamas. Israeli Justice Ministry official Gilad Noam said that Israel had been involved in a "tragic war" to defend itself and rejected South Africa's allegations regarding genocide.

Separately, the Arab League and Egypt welcomed the order handed down by the ICJ.

Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul-Gheit said the decision signals the conviction of the judges that Israel has not taken any measures to respond to requests and conditions set by the court in March.

In a separate development, Israel has reportedly agreed to renew talks on a hostage deal with Hamas with the mediation of Qatar and the United States, Israel's state-run Kan TV reported on Saturday.