South Africa announced, on Tuesday, that it had submitted a request to the International Court of Justice to consider whether Israel’s decision to expand its military operations in Rafah required the court to use its authority to prevent further violations of Palestinian rights.
Last month, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to take all measures within its power to prevent its forces from committing genocide against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, as part of a case brought by South Africa.
Israel intends to expand the scope of its ground invasion of the Gaza Strip to include the city of Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians have taken refuge to escape the attack that destroyed a large part of the Strip since October 7.
During the past few days, Israel began launching air strikes on the city of Rafah, adjacent to the Egyptian border.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu described Rafah as “the last stronghold of Hamas, where 4 battalions of the movement’s militants are stationed.”
He said that Israel cannot achieve its goal of eliminating the movement if it remains in the small city, amid regional and international pressure to dissuade it from this step, and fears of deepening the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza.
Israel has sought to eliminate Hamas since it led the October 7 attack.
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