Syrian Arab News Agency S A N A
Capitals, SANA-The top United Nations court has ordered the Israeli entity to “immediately” halt its military assault on Rafah, describing the humanitarian situation in the southern Gaza city, where hundreds of thousands of civilians are sheltering, as “disastrous”.
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’s (ICJ’s) president, Nawaf Salam, said.
The emergency measures were ordered on the request of South Africa as part of its genocide case against Israel.
The ICJ has ordered the Israeli occupation to report back to the court within a month about its progress in applying measures ordered by the institution. It has also ordered Israel to reopen the Rafah border crossing with Egypt for humanitarian assistance.
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa
“South Africa welcomes the order handed down by the International Court of Justice today. We are gravely concerned that Israel has restricted necessary levels of aid from entering Gaza and has systematically targeted aid and aid infrastructure within Gaza.
“This case is thus focused on the ordinary Palestinians in Gaza who are now facing their seventh month of suffering through collective punishment for something for which they have no individual responsibility.
Egyptian foreign ministry
“Egypt calls on Israel to comply with its legal obligations within the framework of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide and international humanitarian law, and to implement all interim measures issued by the ICJ, which are considered legally binding and enforceable, as they are issued by the highest international judicial body.
“Egypt stresses that Israel bears full legal responsibility for the deteriorating humanitarian conditions in the Gaza Strip as the occupying power, calling on “Israel” to stop its systematic policies against the Palestinian people of targeting, starvation and siege in violation of all provisions of international law and international humanitarian law.”
Mazen Eyon
