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South Africa asks ICJ to order Israel to ‘cease its military offensive’ in Rafah

South Africa asks ICJ to order Israel to ‘cease its military offensive’ in Rafah
South African Minister of International Relations Naledi Pandor and SA Ambassador to the Netherlands Vusimuzi Madonsela at the International Court of Justice in The Hague on 26 January 2024. (Photo: EPA-EFE / Remko de Waal)
Victoria O’Regan
By Victoria O’Regan
12 May 2024
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South Africa has made an urgent appeal to the International Court of Justice to order Israel to cease its military incursion in Rafah.

South Africa has again approached the International Court of Justice (ICJ) with a request for additional provisional measures and modifications to its earlier orders against Israel, saying Israel’s military assault on Rafah posed risks “to the very survival of Palestinians in Gaza”.

In its request, filed on Friday, 10 May, South Africa asked the ICJ to order Israel to “immediately withdraw and cease its military offensive” in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. 

Read more in Daily Maverick: Israel-Palestine War

More than a million Palestinians have sought refuge in Rafah after fleeing Israeli bombardment in the north over the past seven months. Earlier last week, Israel issued evacuation orders to Palestinians in Rafah, before seizing control of the Gaza side of the Rafah border crossing with Egypt on Monday, 6 May. The evacuations came as the Israeli military escalated its bombardment of the city, Al Jazeera reported.

An estimated 150,000 people had fled Rafah since Monday, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA). 

In its latest filing, South Africa said: “The situation brought about by the Israeli assault on Rafah, and the extreme risk it poses to humanitarian supplies and basic services in Gaza, to the survival of the Palestinian medical system, and to the very survival of Palestinians in Gaza as a group, is not only an escalation of the prevailing situation, but gives rise to new facts that are causing irreparable harm to the rights of the Palestinian people in Gaza.”

It said Rafah was the “last refuge” for Palestinians in Gaza; the “last viable centre in Gaza for habitation, public administration, and the provision of basic services, including medical care.

“The risk to Palestinians remaining in Rafah is particularly severe.”  

Rafah A Palestinian woman walks down the stairs of a house hit during an Israeli strike in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip, on 9 May 2024. (Photo: Reuters / Hatem Khaled)



According to South Africa, the previous provisional measures issued by the ICJ “have been ignored and violated. Israel has instead chosen to escalate the humanitarian catastrophe through total military onslaught.”



This is the fourth time South Africa has requested the world court to order additional provisional measures in its ongoing genocide case against Israel.

On 26 January, the ICJ ordered Israel to prevent genocide, to prevent and punish incitement to genocide and to increase humanitarian aid to Gaza. But it stopped short of ordering Israel to implement a ceasefire in Gaza, which was the ultimate provisional measure South Africa had requested. 

The court also called on Hamas to release the remaining hostages it captured in its attack on Israel on 7 October. 

Read in Daily Maverick: Israel says ICJ order, if granted, would leave it defenceless against Hamas

On 12 February, South Africa made an urgent application to the court for additional provisional measures to be taken against Israel to prevent harm to civilians in its assault on Rafah. However, the ICJ declined this request, saying Israel remained bound by the court’s order of 26 January. 

On 6 March, South Africa again made an urgent application to the court for additional provisional measures to be made against Israel, this time to prevent famine in Gaza. In response to this request, the ICJ issued fresh orders for Israel to let humanitarian aid into the enclave. 

Israel opposed South Africa’s 6 March request to the ICJ, calling it an attempt to “relitigate” what the court had already decided. Israel has repeatedly said it is acting in accordance with international humanitarian law in Gaza, calling South Africa’s genocide case baseless and accusing the country of acting as “the legal arm of Hamas”.

Humanitarian aid


In addition to ordering Israel to withdraw from Rafah, South Africa – in its latest request – asked the court to order Israel to “take all effective measures to ensure and facilitate unimpeded access” to Gaza for officials of the United Nations (UN) and other international organisations to provide humanitarian aid, and for journalists and investigators. 

South Africa also requested that Israel report back on its progress in giving effect to any provisional measures ordered by the court.

It urged the court to consider its request without holding a hearing, given “the extreme urgency of the situation”. However, if the court considers that it cannot accede to the request without a hearing, South Africa requested the court to schedule an oral hearing on or before 17 May.  

On Tuesday, 7 May, Israel closed the Karem Abu Salem (Kerem Shalom) border crossing in southern Israel for “security reasons”. With both the Kerem Shalom and Rafah crossings closed, humanitarian aid and assistance into Gaza has been halted, despite the recent UN warning of a looming famine. 

south africa icj gaza South African Minister of International Relations Naledi Pandor and South African ambassador to the Netherlands Vusimuzi Madonsela at the International Court of Justice in The Hague on 26 January 2024. (Photo: EPA-EFE / Remko de Waal)



In its application, South Africa said: “Israel’s seizure of those crossings places Israel in control of all access to and from Gaza. Its current closure of the crossings has served to seal Gaza hermetically from the outside world, further crippling the delivery of aid to and within Gaza. As the primary humanitarian hub for humanitarian assistance in Gaza, if Rafah falls, so too does Gaza.”

In a statement on Saturday, 11 May, Presidency spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said that in its application, South Africa had further requested the court to reaffirm and seek urgent compliance by Israel with the provisional measures ordered by the court on 26 January and 28 March, specifically in relation to the unhindered provision of aid into Gaza. 

President Cyril Ramaphosa said in the statement that the world must do more to end the persecution of Palestinians.

“We call on the international community, including the allies of the State of Israel, not to turn a blind eye to the ongoing genocide in Gaza. The gross human rights violations perpetuated by Israel have scaled to incomprehensible levels of cruelty, hate and extreme violent oppression,” Ramaphosa said.

At least 34,500 people have been killed and 78,000 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since 7 October, according to Gaza’s health ministry. About 1,200 people were killed in Israel and 253 hostages were taken on 7 October, when Hamas launched its attack on Israel, Reuters reported. DM

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