World Court orders Israel to halt assault on Rafah

Judges at the top United Nations court have ordered Israel to halt its military assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah in a landmark emergency ruling on South Africa’s case accusing Israel of genocide.

While the International Court of Justice, or World Court, has no means to enforce its orders, the case was a stark sign of Israel’s global isolation over its campaign in Gaza, particularly since it began its offensive against Rafah this month against the pleas of its closest ally, the United States.

Reading out the ruling, court president Nawaf Salam said the situation in the Palestinian enclave had deteriorated since the court last ordered Israel to take steps to improve it, and conditions had been met for a new emergency order.

‘‘The state of Israel shall … 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,’’ he said.

Israel had not explained how it would keep the population safe during an evacuation of Rafah, nor provide food, water, sanitation and medicine for the 800,000 Palestinians who had already fled the Israeli advance, he said.

The ICJ ordered Israel to open the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza to let in aid. Israel, it added, must provide access for investigators and report back on its progress within one month.

The order was adopted by the panel of 15 international judges in a 13-2 vote, opposed only by judges from Uganda and Israel itself.

South Africa hailed yesterday’s ruling as groundbreaking.

The internationally recognised Palestinian Authority said it represented a global consensus that the war must end, although presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh said it did not go far enough because it did not halt fighting in other parts of Gaza.

Senior Hamas official Basem Naim said, ‘‘We call upon the UN Security Council to immediately implement this demand by the World Court into practical measures to compel the Zionist enemy to implement the decision.’’

Israel launched its air and ground war on Gaza after Hamasled militants stormed into southern Israeli communities, killing about 1200 people and seizing more than 250 hostages, according to Israeli tallies. More than 35,000 Palestinians have since been killed in the offensive, Gaza’s health ministry says.

Israelis responded with outrage. Far-right Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich said those demanding Israel stop the war were also demanding that it cease to exist.

Opposition leader Yair Lapid called the order ‘‘a moral collapse and a moral disaster’’ for failing to link the demand to to a demand that Hamas free hostages.

The order was handed down a week after it was requested by South Africa as part of its case accusing Israel of violating the Genocide Convention enacted in the wake of the Holocaust.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office rejected the allegations of a genocide in Gaza as “false, outrageous and morally repugnant”.