The top United Nations court on Friday ordered Israel to halt military operations in Rafah, a landmark ruling likely to increase mounting international pressure on Israel more than seven months into the Gaza war.
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 said.
It also ordered Israel to keep open the Rafah crossing into Gaza for the "unhindered" provision of humanitarian aid.
ICJ rulings are legally binding, but the court has no concrete means to enforce them. For example, it ordered Russia to halt its invasion of Ukraine, to no avail.
Israel had argued before the court that in order to stop military activity would give free rein to Hamas and prevent its army from rescuing captives taken in the group's 7 October attack.