Amnesty International Australia is deeply horrified by the situation in Rafah. To describe the situation in Rafah as catastrophic, is an understatement. Amnesty Australia urgently calls on the international community and the Australian Government to adhere to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) orders and immediately stop the attacks on Rafah.
The situation in Rafah has severely worsened, as Israel has launched a ground operation targeting Palestinian civilians in what was designated as one of the last ‘safe zones’. Despite the ICJ’s order for an immediate halt to military operations in Rafah, Israel has continued its offensive, leading to severe humanitarian consequences.
On Sunday night, Israel struck tents that were housing displaced people in an area that was supposed to be safe from attack. At least 45 Palestinians, including 23 women, children. and elderly were killed.
Mohamed Duar, Amnesty International Australia’s Occupied Palestinian Spokesperson says,
“Amid international condemnation, Israel continues to target Palestinian civilians sheltering in Rafah in the most horrific of attacks flouting the ICJ provisional orders.
“We are witnessing a humanitarian catastrophe. Two million Palestinians in Gaza have experienced seven months of relentless bombardment, being displaced multiple times and attacked while they shelter in their sleep.
“Amnesty has documented Israel’s deliberate targeting of civilians, attacks on hospitals, schools, and refugee camps, and the severe restriction of humanitarian aid access, water, and electricity with the closure of the Rafah Crossing. Israel has weaponised starvation as a tactic of war. Now, by striking the last safe zone in Rafah, they are exacerbating the risk of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
“The scale of death and destruction we have witnessed in Gaza, remains unparalleled. Israel continues to flout international law time and time again, and continues committing a cruel abomination. The international community and the Australian Government must act in pressuring Israel to stop its Rafah attacks and to continue to call for an immediate ceasefire to prevent further death and destruction.
“The Australian Government must also stop exporting arms and arms parts to prevent the risk of genocide and must provide a clear humanitarian pathway for Palestinians to get to safety”.
Mohamed Duar, Amnesty International Australia’s Occupied Palestinian Spokesperson
Responding to the International Court of Justice’s ruling, which ordered Israel to immediately halt military operations in the governorate of Rafah, following South Africa’s application for additional provisional measures in its genocide case, Heba Morayef, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa, said:
“With this order the International Court of Justice (ICJ) – the UN’s principal court – has made it crystal clear: the Israeli authorities must completely halt military operations in Rafah, as any ongoing military action could constitute an underlying act of genocide. Unequivocally, the ground incursion and the associated mass forced displacement it has caused, pose further irreparable risk to the rights of the Palestinian people protected under the Genocide Convention and further threaten their physical destruction in whole or in part.
“It is nearly four months since the ICJ first indicated provisional measures in South Africa’s genocide case against Israel. In that time the humanitarian situation for Palestinians has grown exponentially worse with 35,000 Palestinians killed, mounting evidence of unlawful attacks on civilians and the UN declaring a famine amid a continuing woeful shortage in humanitarian aid.
“Despite these facts, Israeli authorities went ahead with plans for a ground operation in Rafah, ignoring repeated warnings about the catastrophic impact it would have for Palestinian civilians – most of whom have been forcibly displaced multiple times already- as well as for Gaza’s entire humanitarian aid system. The ground incursion into eastern Rafah has already led to the mass forced displacement of over 800,000 Palestinians and to the shutdown of the governorate’s largest hospital, Abu Yousef al-Najjar.
“Significantly, the Court exposed the charade of “safe zones” that Israeli authorities have been using to put a veneer of legality on the operations. The areas to which Israel has forced people to “evacuate”, especially al-Mawasi, are desperately unequipped to host them and lack the most basic standards of safe and dignified living conditions, including necessary amounts of water, sanitation, food, medicine and shelter. Israel’s actions, including the closure of the Rafah border crossing on 7 May, show that far from protecting civilians in Gaza its forces have repeatedly pursued cruel and inhumane policies and shown a shocking disregard for the lives of Palestinians facing a real risk of genocide.
“The court has spoken and it is time for Israel and all states to act in line with their obligations in the Genocide Convention. Israel must immediately halt its ground operations in Rafah – and indeed halt military operations in all of Gaza – and ensure unfettered access for humanitarian aid and services.
The court also ordered Israel to allow unimpeded access for fact-finding missions, UN commissions of inquiry, investigators and journalists to preserve evidence and record conditions on the ground in Gaza, as well as to independently and impartially investigate possible violations of the Genocide Convention.
“Given previous orders, this order is no longer a ‘wake up call’ to all states, but a further unequivocal affirmation of their legal duty to prevent genocide which requires them to ensure that all the ICJ’s provisional measures are duly implemented. Allies of Israel must use any capacity they have to influence Israel’s actions to halt the Rafah ground operations and push for an immediate and sustained ceasefire by all parties.
“A ceasefire remains the most effective means to alleviate mass suffering of civilians and ensure the ICJ measures, including its call for the immediate and unconditional release of hostages held by Hamas and other armed groups, can truly be implemented to prevent genocide against Palestinians.”
