The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ordered Israel to halt its ongoing military operation in the Palestinian city of Rafah, as it is “not convinced” that the Israeli military’s evacuation orders are doing enough to protect civilians.
Reading out the court’s order on Friday, ICJ head Nawaf Salam said that its justices were “not convinced that the evacuation efforts and the related measures that Israel affirms to have undertaken” are sufficient to “alleviate the immense risk” to civilians in Rafah.
“Israel must immediately hold its military offensive of [sic] any other action in the Rafah governorate,” Salam continued, warning that failure to do so could bring about the wholesale destruction of life in the city.
Situated in southern Gaza near the border with Egypt, Rafah hosted around 1.4 million Palestinian refugees displaced from other areas of the enclave until earlier this month, when Israel ordered around half that number to evacuate the city as it sent tanks and troops into its eastern neighborhoods.
The ICJ has already ordered Israel to do everything in its power to prevent genocide in Gaza, and to take action to improve conditions for its two million residents. However, Salam said that the humanitarian situation has “deteriorated further” since the court’s last order in March, and is now classified as “disastrous.”
