ANIC Welcomes and Commends the ICJ Order for Israel to Halt Rafah Offensive

The Australian National Imams Council (ANIC) welcomes and commends the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) ruling and decision overnight to order Israel to halt the Rafah offensive in Gaza.

The United Nations’ top court, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), has ordered Israel to immediately halt its military operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

“Israel must immediately halt its military offensive and any other action in Rafah which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part,” Judge Nawaf Salam, president of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), said on Friday.

The ICJ considers the humanitarian situation in Rafah to be “disastrous”, adding that UN officials have indicated that the situation was set to “intensify even further” if the Israeli operation in Rafah continues.

More than a million Palestinians were taking shelter in Rafah before Israel started its operation, but the ICJ noted that around 800,000 have since been displaced.

The ICJ also ordered Israel to open the Rafah crossing for humanitarian assistance and said it had found that the evacuation and living conditions provided by Israel are not “sufficient to alleviate the immense risk, which the Palestinian population is exposed to”.

This comes just a few days after the International Criminal Court (ICC) made an application for arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Minister of Defence of Israel Yoav Gallant into war crimes in Palestine. The ICC announced that it had “reasonable grounds” to believe that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant bear “criminal responsibility” for “war crimes and crimes against humanity”.

More than 35,500 Palestinians have since been killed, the vast majority of whom have been women and children, and over 79,600 others injured; over 2 million Palestinians in Gaza have been displaced, and the entire city turned to rubble, by the occupying Israeli defence force led by Netanyahu and Gallant, since last October.

Further, ANIC calls upon the Australian Government to immediately:

• Condemn Israel’s indiscriminate attacks on innocent Palestinians
• Cease support for any defence operations with Israel
• Uphold its responsibilities under international law
• Place sanctions on Israel and its top leaders
• Support the ICC application for arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant
• Support the ICJ South African case against Israel and end the war, and
• Recognise the State of Palestine.

Additionally, ANIC thanks South Africa and supporting countries for their courage and integrity in standing against Israel’s actions of genocide, indiscriminate attacks, and war crimes against the Palestinian people.

We also thank all the people around the world and in Australia for their support of the Palestinian people against occupation and genocide.