ICJ Orders of 28 March and 24 May 2024 — Additional Measures and the Rafah Order
The International Court of Justice's second and third provisional measures orders in South Africa v. Israel: the 28 March 2024 order on famine and humanitarian access, and the 24 May 2024 order directing Israel to immediately halt its military offensive in Rafah.
South Africa returned to the International Court of Justice twice in spring 2024, arguing that Israel’s non-compliance with the January order and the unfolding famine and Rafah offensive required modified and additional measures. On 28 March 2024, the Court — citing the spread of famine and starvation — ordered Israel, by fifteen votes to one, to take all necessary and effective measures to ensure, without delay and in full cooperation with the United Nations, the unhindered provision at scale of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance, including food, water, electricity, fuel, shelter, clothing, hygiene and sanitation requirements, and medical supplies and care, including by increasing the capacity and number of land crossing points and maintaining them open for as long as necessary. By sixteen votes to none, it ordered Israel to ensure with immediate effect that its military does not commit acts violating the rights of Palestinians in Gaza under the Convention, including by preventing the delivery of humanitarian assistance; and, by fifteen votes to one, to report within one month.
On 24 May 2024, following hearings on 16–17 May, the Court ordered, each by thirteen votes to two, that Israel (1) “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”; (2) maintain open the Rafah crossing for the unhindered provision at scale of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance; (3) take effective measures to ensure the unimpeded access to Gaza of any commission of inquiry, fact-finding mission or other investigative body mandated by competent organs of the United Nations to investigate allegations of genocide; and (4) report to the Court within one month. Judges Sebutinde and Barak (ad hoc) dissented on all four points.
Why it matters
- The 24 May 2024 “halt its military offensive” directive on Rafah is the most operationally specific binding order ever issued by the Court in a genocide case — and Israel’s ground offensive continued, making the order the central compliance record.
- The March order judicially documented the onset of famine in Gaza and ordered land crossings kept open at scale — the legal foundation for later starvation findings by other bodies.
- Together the three 2024 orders form an escalating, binding framework whose repeated non-implementation is itself part of the primary legal record.
Key resources
Cited work
The summary above is written by FALASTEEN.AI. The document itself is published by ICJ and is linked here in full.