The international court ruling over Rafah puts the US in a deeply awkward position

Israel has reacted with outrage to the case, writes Kim Sengupta, but it increases the chances of some nations imposing sanctions

Judges at the International Court of Justice (AFP via Getty)

Benjamin Netanyahu’s government had been expecting the judges at the United Nations’ highest court to accept, at least partly, South Africa’s case over a ceasefire in Gaza and had already gone on the offensive.

A senior Israeli spokesperson, Avi Hyman, declared before the decision was announced that “no power on earth will stop Israel from protecting its citizens and going after Hamas in Gaza”. While Gilad Noam, Israel’s deputy attorney general, said: “Calling something a genocide again and again does not make it genocide. Repeating a lie does not make it true.”

Officials said before the judgment came down that there was a low chance the International Court of Justice (ICJ) would reject South Africa’s request for a cessation of hostilities: a medium one that the court will accept the demand to halt the war in Gaza, and a medium-to-high chance that it would ask the Rafah offensive to be stopped.