Top UN Court Orders Israel to Halt Rafah Combat Operations

Prime Minister Netanyahu has insisted that a full-scale assault in the city is necessary to achieving his wartime goal to eliminate Hamas.

Judge Nawaf Salam, president of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) presides over the International Court of Justice (ICJ), during a ruling on South Africa's request to order a halt to Israel's Rafah offensive in Gaza as part of a larger case brought before the Hague-based court by South Africa accusing Israel of genocide, in The Hague, Netherlands, on May 24, 2024. Johanna Geron/Reuters

The Netherlands-based International Court of Justice (ICJ) called on the Israeli government on Friday to immediately halt its military operations in the southern Gaza Strip territory of Rafah.

By a 13–2 vote, the top United Nations court ordered Israeli forces to halt “its military offensive, and any other action in the Rafah Governorate.”