Australia Backs Court Ruling Against Israel Assault

Australia has backed an International Court of Justice ruling that Israel must cease its offensive against the last Hamas holdout in the Gaza Strip.

Israeli forces have launched a ground assault on Rafah near the Egyptian border, which is the last area of Gaza still under the control of Hamas.

But in an ambiguously worded ruling on Friday night, the ICJ in the Netherlands ordered that “Israel must 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”.

In international law the ICJ’s rulings are considered legally binding but are unenforceable.

On Saturday, Environment Minister Chris Bowen said the government had been “crystal clear” about its position on the Rafah invasion.

“This is a humanitarian disaster and has the scope to be much worse. Rafah has been the closest thing we have to a haven for people escaping within Gaza,” he said. “We have been very consistent that Rafah should not be attacked. We are very consistent that the rulings, the binding rulings of the ICJ, should be abided by all parties, including Israel.”

Mr Bowen said “Australia believes international law should be complied with. Australia believes the rulings – binding rulings – should be complied with, and we believe Rafah should not be invaded by Israel.”

Opposition foreign affairs spokesman Simon Birmingham said Australia should back Israel’s war aims.

“Australia should be resolute in our support of Israel to remove the barbaric threat posed by Hamas terrorists, while continuing to expect that every effort is made to protect innocent civilians,” he said.

“Hamas continues to launch rockets from within Rafah and hide hostages in Rafah, but could bring this conflict to an end by releasing hostages and surrendering.”

Israel said genocide charges brought to the ICJ by South Africa were “false, outrageous and morally repugnant”.

It said that, following the attack against Israel on October 7, 2023, it had embarked upon a defensive and just war to eliminate Hamas and to secure the release of hostages.