The ICJ will rule tomorrow on South Africa’s request for additional measures from Israel after the offensive in Rafah

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May 23. (EUROPA PRESS) –

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) will rule this Friday on South Africa’s request to require Israel to take new additional measures in the Gaza Strip, including its withdrawal from the city of Rafah, following Pretoria’s claim for emergency measures before the offensive launched against the enclave after the attacks carried out on October 7 by the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas).

The court, the main judicial body of the United Nations, has indicated in a statement that it will issue its decision on Friday at 3:00 p.m. from The Hague on South Africa’s request for “the modification and indication of provisional measures” claimed on May 10 by South Africa. , after the start of the Israeli offensive against Rafah, on the border between Gaza and Egypt.

Thus, he has detailed that the event will take place at the Peace Palace in The Hague, where the president of the ICJ, Nawaf Salam, will read the court’s order, which addresses a petition from South Africa asking for action from December 29, 2023. against Israel for alleged violations of its responsibilities under the Convention for the Prevention of Genocide.

South Africa maintained on May 10 that the previous provisional measures sought by the ICJ following its first request “are not capable of fully addressing the changed circumstances and new facts” due to the Rafah offensive and asked the court for additional measures and review the previous ones in the face of the risk of genocide in the Strip.

Along these lines, Pretoria maintained that the Israeli authorities have “disdained” the ICJ by “ignoring” and “violating” the provisional measures issued in January and March within the framework of the offensive, after the court ordered the country to “take “all possible measures” to avoid genocide in the Strip.

For his part, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Oren Marmorstein accused Pretoria last week of acting as the “legal arm” of Hamas and of “distorting reality,” while reiterating that the Army “acts in accordance with International Law and its humanitarian obligations”.

The offensive against Rafah was launched on April 6, just one day after Hamas announced that it accepted an agreement proposal presented by Egypt and Qatar, considered insufficient by the Israeli authorities. Israeli military operations allowed the Army to take control of the Palestinian side of the border crossing on May 7, suspending the entry of humanitarian aid through it, which has triggered international alarms due to the deepening of the crisis in the enclave.

In addition, some 900,000 people have since fled the city, according to the United Nations Agency for Palestinian Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). Before the start of Israeli operations there were some 1.4 million people in Rafah, most of them forcibly displaced from other parts of the enclave due to the conflict.

Israel launched its offensive against Gaza after the aforementioned Hamas attacks, which left some 1,200 dead and nearly 240 kidnapped. Israeli attacks have so far left more than 35,700 Palestinians dead, according to the Gazan authorities, controlled by the Islamist group, to which are added more than 510 Palestinians killed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem at the hands of Israeli forces and in attacks carried out by settlers since October 7.