{"id":58252,"date":"2024-05-24T18:50:10","date_gmt":"2024-05-24T18:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/24\/the-u-n-court-ruling-adds-to-the-international-pressure-on-israel-over-its-conduct-in-the-war\/"},"modified":"2024-05-24T18:50:10","modified_gmt":"2024-05-24T18:50:10","slug":"the-u-n-court-ruling-adds-to-the-international-pressure-on-israel-over-its-conduct-in-the-war","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/24\/the-u-n-court-ruling-adds-to-the-international-pressure-on-israel-over-its-conduct-in-the-war\/","title":{"rendered":"The U.N. court ruling adds to the international pressure on Israel over its conduct in the war."},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"text-align:center\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1050\" height=\"550\" src=\"https:\/\/i3.wp.com\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/05\/24\/multimedia\/24mideast-crisis-icj-ruling-03-hpqb\/24mideast-crisis-icj-ruling-03-hpqb-facebookJumbo.jpg?fit=1050,550&amp;ssl=1\" class=\"attachment-post-thumbnail size-post-thumbnail wp-post-image\" alt=\"The U.N. court ruling adds to the international pressure on Israel over its conduct in the war.\" title=\"The U.N. court ruling adds to the international pressure on Israel over its conduct in the war.\" \/><\/div><p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The International Court of Justice on Friday ruled that Israel must immediately halt its military offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, dealing another blow to the country as it faces increasing international isolation.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The court has no means of enforcing its orders, and Israel said the language of the ruling left some room for interpretation. Hard-line politicians in Israel immediately vowed that Israel would not comply.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Still, the 13-2 ruling puts more pressure on the Netanyahu government over the conduct of the war. Gazan authorities say at least 35,000 people have been killed, without distinguishing between combatants and civilians, and hundreds of thousands have been forced to flee repeatedly to avoid the Israeli bombardment, which has devastated most of the enclave.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cThe court considers that in conformity with obligations under the Genocide Convention, 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,\u201d the court\u2019s president, Nawaf Salam, said in reading the ruling.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The ruling is the latest in a series of rebukes of Israel over the conduct of its war against Hamas in the Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The court emphasized the need for \u201cthe unhindered provision at scale by all concerned of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance,\u201d including maintaining open land crossings and, in particular, the Rafah crossing, which Israel seized more than two weeks ago. It ordered Israel to \u201cimmediately take all effective measures to ensure and facilitate the unimpeded access\u201d of United Nations investigators into Gaza. The judges also ordered Israel to submit a report on the measures it had taken to implement the decision within a month.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">A South African legal team had urged the I.C.J., the United Nations\u2019 top court, last week to put further constraints on Israel\u2019s incursion in Rafah, saying it was \u201cthe last step in the destruction of Gaza and its people.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Israel\u2019s military has said that since early May, it has been conducting a precise, targeted offensive against Hamas in Rafah, and is fighting in neighborhoods near the heart of the city. More than a million people who fled other parts of Gaza were sheltering in Rafah, but most have fled this month.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Israel\u2019s deputy attorney general for international law, Gilad Noam, and other Israeli lawyers rejected the claims before the court last week, calling South Africa\u2019s case an \u201cinversion of reality.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In a statement, the Israeli government said its military \u201chas not and will not\u201d taken actions that would lead to the partial or complete destruction of the civilian population of Rafah, In effect, it said that the court\u2019s decision has no bearing on Israel\u2019s offensive because the military is not committing the prohibited acts.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Satellite imagery of Rafah from May 22 showed damage and clearing reaching around four miles into Gaza from the border with Israel toward Rafah\u2019s center.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Some far-right allies of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the court order and suggested that Israel should not comply. \u201cThere ought to be one response: the conquest of Rafah, the escalation of military pressure, and the utter shattering of Hamas until the achievement of total victory,\u201d Itamar Ben-Gvir, the national security minister, said in a statement.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Adil Haque, a professor of law at Rutgers Law School, said the ruling restricts Israel\u2019s offensive in and around Rafah, but leaves it some room to defend itself.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cLarge-scale military operations in or around Rafah are likely off the table because they will lead to mass death and displacement of civilians,\u201d he said. \u201cBut the targeted operations to specifically respond to rocket fire or to rescue hostages, in principle, should still be on the table.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIsrael can take the legally safe course and keep its operations strictly limited,\u201d he added, \u201cor it can take the legally risky course and test the court\u2019s patience.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Dire Tladi, a South African judge on the court, clarified in a separate opinion that \u201clegitimate defensive actions, within the strict confines of international law, to repel specific attacks,\u201d would be consistent with the court\u2019s ruling. But \u201cthe continuation of the offensive military operation in Rafah, and elsewhere,\u201d would not.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">South Africa argued that Israel\u2019s control over the two major border crossings in southern Gaza, at Rafah and Kerem Shalom, prevented enough aid from getting in, plunging Gaza into \u201cunprecedented levels of humanitarian need.\u201d Few aid trucks are entering, according to U.N. data, but many commercial trucks \u2014 which carry goods to sell rather than to distribute free \u2014 have entered the enclave.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The hearings are part of South Africa\u2019s case, <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2023\/12\/29\/world\/middleeast\/south-africa-israel-genocide.html\" title=\"\">filed in December<\/a>, accusing Israel of genocide, which Israel strongly denies. In late January, the court <a class=\"css-yywogo\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/01\/26\/world\/middleeast\/icj-israel-gaza-genocide.html\" title=\"\">ordered Israel to do more<\/a> to prevent acts of genocide, but stopped short of calling for a cease-fire. The main body of the case, dealing with genocide, is not expected to start until next year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">In March, in its strongest language to that point, the court ordered Israel to stop obstructing humanitarian aid to Gaza as severe hunger there spread, open more border crossings for supplies and provide \u201cfull cooperation\u201d with the United Nations.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Judge Salam said the situation in Gaza had deteriorated since March, and was now \u201cto be characterized as disastrous.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Israel launched its military operation in retaliation for the Oct. 7 attacks that officials say killed 1,200 people and led to the abduction of about 250 others into Gaza. The court reiterated its call for the \u201cimmediate and unconditional release\u201d of the hostages still held by Hamas and other armed groups in Gaza. <\/p>\n<p class=\"css-798hid etfikam0\">Lauren Leatherby<!-- --> contributed reporting.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/2024\/05\/24\/world\/middleeast\/uns-top-court-is-expected-to-rule-on-a-request-to-order-israel-to-halt-its-rafah-offensive.html\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The International Court of Justice on Friday ruled that Israel must immediately halt its military offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, dealing another blow to the country as it faces increasing international isolation. The court has no means of enforcing its orders, and Israel said the language of the ruling left some room [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":58253,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2024\/05\/24\/multimedia\/24mideast-crisis-icj-ruling-03-hpqb\/24mideast-crisis-icj-ruling-03-hpqb-facebookJumbo.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[756,9795,1625,27,38,1500,1872,3449,3102],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58252"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58252"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58252\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58254,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58252\/revisions\/58254"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/58253"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58252"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58252"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.talkwithrattan.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58252"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}