 "'Israel will not stop until we make it': UN Palestine Envoy Francesca Albanese calls for sanctions on Israel")
Francesca Albanese, the United Nations (UN) envoy for Palestine, has said that “Israel will not stop this madness” until the world made it stop.
In her plea to the international community to stop the Israeli war in Gaza, Albanese said the countries should impose sanctions on Israel and cut diplomatic and political relations with it.
Albanese made the call as she shared a post from the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) over the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) order for Israel to immediately stop its military operation in Rafah in the Gaza Strip.
Rafah is a town at the southern tip of the Palestinian enclave of Gaza. It is the last-remaining town where major Israeli ground offensive has not yet taken place. Until some weeks back, around 1.3-4 million Palestinians displaced from months of war in Gaza had taken shelter in Rafah. The international community, including the United States, had asked Israel to not invade Rafah as it could lead to high civilian casualties and a catastrophic humanitarian crisis.
While Israel has not yet launched a full-fledged invasion of Rafah, it has conducted phased and limited operations in the city and around 900,000 people have left the town. While Israel sees this as a successful evacuation of those sheltering in Gaza, the ICJ saw it as a displacement of a population that was already displaced from the fighting.
‘As ICJ orders Israel to stop, it intensifies attacks’
Albanese in her post on X (formerly Twitter) said that while the ICJ ordered Israel to stop its offensive in Rafah, Israel has intensified it.
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More ShortsAlbanese further called the Israeli war in Gaza as “madness” and called for the world to impose punitive measures on Israel.
“Be sure: Israel will not stop this madness until we make it stop. Member states must impose sanctions, arms embargo, and suspend diplomatic/political relations with Israel till it ceases its assault,” said Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on Palestine.
Let's be clear. As the ICJ orders Israel to stop its offensive in Rafah, Israel intensifies its attacks on it.
— Francesca Albanese, UN Special Rapporteur oPt (@FranceskAlbs) May 24, 2024
The news I am receiving from the people trapped therein are terrifying.
Be sure: Israel will not stop this madness until WE make it stop. Member states must impose… https://t.co/64SQbOKNXz
How did Israel respond to ICJ’s order?
While the ICJ’s order has generally been interpreted as calling for an immediate cessation of Israeli operation in Rafah, Israel and some in the pro-Israel camp have interpreted it as allowing for room for limited actions short of a full-fledged invasion of Rafah.
In its order, the ICJ said 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.”
PRESS RELEASE: the #ICJ reaffirms its previous provisional measures and indicates new measures in the case #SouthAfrica v. #Israel https://t.co/wZnu5RuPn7 pic.twitter.com/CAuUBxSu8m
— CIJ_ICJ (@CIJ_ICJ) May 24, 2024
The ICJ, the top UN’s court, further ordered Israel to “maintain open the Rafah crossing for unhindered provision at scale of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance”.
In a statement following the ICJ’s order, Israeli National Security Council and Foreign Ministry said in a joint statement that Israel “has not and will not” carry out operations that risk the destruction of the civilian population in Rafah, according to The Times of Israel. It further said that it “will continue to enable the Rafah crossing to remain open for the entry of humanitarian assistance”.
The statement appeared to emphasise that the Israeli war in Rafah could continue in line with the ICJ’s order.
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