Chile’s President Gabriel Boric announced on Saturday that the country would support South Africa’s lawsuit against Israel at the International Court of Justice in The Hague.<\/p>\n
In a lengthy speech lasting over two- and-a-half hours before the National Congress in Valparaiso, Boric stated that “Chile will join and back South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, under the UN Genocide Convention.”<\/p>\n
\u201cI decided that Chile will be a party to and support the case that South Africa presented against Israel before the International Court of Justice in The Hague, within the scope of the UN Convention on Genocide. I have ordered the Ministry of Foreign Affairs teams to prepare a brief with our arguments on this subject,\u201d president Gabriel said.<\/p>\n
Criticism of Israel’s conduct in the war in Gaza has been growing, particularly since it turned its focus to Rafah. This week alone, three European countries\u00a0announced they would recognize a Palestinian state, and the chief prosecutor for another international court\u00a0requested arrest warrants\u00a0for Israeli leaders, along with Hamas officials.<\/p>\n
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is also under some pressure at home to end the war, which was triggered when Hamas-led militants\u00a0stormed into Israel, killing 1,200 people, most civilians, and taking roughly 250 hostage. Thousands of Israelis have joined weekly demonstrations calling on the government to reach a deal to bring the hostages home, fearing time is running out.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe charges of genocide brought by South Africa against Israel at the International Court of Justice in the Hague are false, outrageous and morally repugnant,\u201d Netanyahu\u2019s government said in response to the ruling, maintaining its position that the military hasn’t and won’t target civilians.<\/p>\n
South Africa was able to bring its case because it and Israel are signatories to the U.N.’s Genocide Convention, which includes a clause allowing the court to settle disputes over it.<\/p>\n
Although the ruling is a blow to Israel’s international standing, the court doesn’t have a police force to enforce its orders. In another case on its docket, Russia has ignored the court’s\u00a02022 order\u00a0to halt its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n
The sharply focused decision sent a three-pronged message to Israel, ordering a halt to the Rafah offensive, access to Gaza for war crimes investigators, and a big and immediate increase of humanitarian aid to the region, parts of which are\u00a0enduring famine.<\/p>\n
Rafah is in the southernmost part of the Gaza Strip, on the border with Egypt, and over 1 million people sought refuge there in recent months after fleeing fighting elsewhere, with many of them living in teeming tent camps. Israel has been vowing for months to invade Rafah, saying it was Hamas\u2019 last major stronghold, even as several allies warned that an all-out assault would spell disaster.<\/p>\n
Israel started issuing evacuation orders about two weeks ago as it began operations on the edge of the city. Since then, the army says an estimated 1 million people have left as forces press deeper inside.<\/p>\n
Rafah is also home to a critical crossing for aid, and the U.N. says the flow of aid reaching it has plunged since the incursion began, though commercial trucking has continued to enter Gaza.<\/p>\n
The court ordered Israel to keep the Rafah crossing open, saying \u201cthe humanitarian situation is now to be characterized as disastrous.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis legally binding and very specific ruling leaves Israel with very little wiggle room,\u201d said Reed Brody, a veteran human rights lawyer and prosecutor.<\/p>\n
Benny Gantz, a popular centrist member of Netanyahu’s war cabinet, appeared to indicate that Israel would not change its course regarding Rafah.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe State of Israel is committed to continue fighting to return its hostages and promise the security of its citizens \u2014 wherever and whenever necessary \u2014 including in Rafah,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
“We will continue operating in accordance with international law wherever we might operate, while safeguarding to the best extent possible the civilian population. Not because of the ICJ, but because of who we are and the values we stand for.\u201d<\/p>\n
Balkees Jarrah, associate international justice director at Human Rights Watch, said the court\u2019s order underscored the perilous situation of Palestinians in Gaza, but warned that it could be ignored if the international community doesn’t use whatever leverage it can on Israel.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe ICJ\u2019s decision opens up the possibility for relief, but only if governments use their leverage, including through arms embargoes and targeted sanctions, to press Israel to urgently enforce the court\u2019s measures,\u201d Jarrah said.<\/p>\n
The court\u2019s president, Nawaf Salam, read out the ruling as a small group of pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrated outside.<\/p>\n
Fears the court expressed earlier this year about an operation in Rafah have \u201cmaterialized,\u201d the ruling said, and Israel must \u201cimmediately halt its military offensive\u201d in the city and anything else that might result in conditions that could cause the \u201cphysical destruction in whole or in part\u201d of Palestinians there.<\/p>\n
But the ruling didn’t call for a full cease-fire throughout Gaza, as South Africa, which has historic ties to the Palestinian people and brought the case, requested last week.<\/p>\n
South Africa’s foreign minister, Naledi Pandor, said the country’s allegation that a genocide is underway is getting \u201cstronger and stronger by the day.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are really pleased that the court has given very serious consideration to the matters that we put before it and has affirmed that an urgent decision is needed from the court to pause this onslaught against innocent Palestinian people,\u201d she told South African state broadcaster SABC, adding that it’s now up to the U.N. Security Council to determine how to protect the Palestinians.<\/p>\n
The cease-fire request\u00a0is part of a case\u00a0accusing Israel of committing genocide during its Gaza campaign. Israel vehemently denies the allegations. The case will take years to resolve, but South Africa wants interim orders to protect Palestinians while the legal wrangling continues.<\/p>\n
The court ruled Friday that Israel must ensure access for any fact-finding or investigative mission sent by the U.N. to investigate the genocide allegations.<\/p>\n
At public hearings last week at the\u00a0International Court of Justice, South Africa’s ambassador to the Netherlands, Vusimuzi Madonsela, urged the panel of 15 international judges to order Israel to \u201ctotally and unconditionally withdraw\u201d from the Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n