UN court to decide on demand for Israel to withdraw from Rafah

A Palestinian child collects his belongings from destroyed buildings after the Israeli army's airstrike at Nuseirat Refugee Camp. Omar Ashtawy/APA Images via ZUMA Press Wire/dpa

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is due to rule on Friday on South Africa's demand for further legal action against Israel to prevent genocide against the Palestinians.

In particular, the ruling concerns the possible ordering of an immediate withdrawal of the Israeli military from Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip.

South Africa submitted an urgent application to this effect to the ICJ on May 10.

The ruling will be announced by the president of the court, Lebanese lawyer Nawaf Salam, at a session in the Peace Palace in The Hague and is due to be broadcast via livestream.

South Africa justified its application to the ICJ by arguing that the court's previous measures in connection with the Gaza war were inadequate.

While the top UN court's rulings are binding, the court has no means of forcing compliance. It can, however, call on the UN Security Council to act.

Israel has rejected all the allegations, with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu invoking the country's right to self-defence in response to the attack mounted by Hamas and other groups on October 7.

Palestinians transport the bodies of dead people at Al-Aqsa Hospital following the bombing of a house belonging to the Al-Shami family in the new camp in Nuseirat in the central Gaza Strip. Saher Alghorra/ZUMA Press Wire/dpa