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Israel is unlikely to comply with the order.
The International Court of Justice has ordered Israel to halt its offensive on the Gaza city of Rafah, a landmark ruling likely to increase mounting international pressure on Israel more than seven months into the Gaza war.
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,” the International Court of Justice said.
More » The Guardian / The Guardian / Globe and Mail / CBC / NBC / NY Times / Washington Post / Al Jazeera
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» Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says military operations in Rafah need to stop now that the ICJ has ordered Israel to halt its offensive in the southern Gaza city. (CBC)
» The US now has an opening available to stop the bloodshed
For much of the world, Israel is now a pariah state that has repeatedly ignored pressure from international bodies to end its brutal war in Gaza, stop using starvation as a weapon of war, and allow more aid into the besieged territory. On Monday, the chief prosecutor of the international criminal court (ICC), a separate tribunalalso based in The Hague, announced he was seeking arrest warrants for senior Hamas and Israeli leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the 7 October attack by Hamas and the ensuing war in Gaza. The prosecutor is seeking warrants against the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his defence minister, Yoav Gallant, as well as three top Hamas leaders.
On Wednesday, the leaders of Ireland, Spain and Norway said they would recognize an independent Palestinian state (NY Times), underlining frustration in Europe with Netanyahu’s rightwing government, which continues to oppose Palestinian statehood and expand settlements in the Israeli-occupied West Bank.
Joe Biden and his administration should be using these international judgments and Israel’s growing isolation as leverage to stop US weapons shipments to Israel and pressure Netanyahu’s government to end its war. Instead, Biden and his top aides spent months trying to discredit various international courts, and especially the case at the ICJ, which South Africa first brought in December and which accused Israel of violating the genocide convention.
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Last Updated on May 27, 2024