Islamabad (Web Desk): Pakistan has welcomed the additional provisional measures by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordering Israel to immediately halt its military offensive in Rafah.
In a statement, Foreign Office (FO) Spokesperson Mumtaz Zahra Baloch said Pakistan supports the application filed by South Africa before the ICJ against Israel under the 1948 Genocide Convention, in follow up to which the Court announced additional provisional measures.
“As required by the latest ruling of ICJ, Israeli occupation authorities should keep the Rafah crossing open for unhindered provision of humanitarian assistance and ensure unimpeded access to the Gaza Strip of any commission of inquiry, fact-finding mission or other investigative body mandated by the United Nations (UN) to investigate allegations of genocide,” she said.
The spokesperson said Pakistan demands immediate and unconditional implementation of the latest orders of the ICJ as well as the previous orders.
“We call on the UN Security Council to play its role in ending Israel’s ongoing brutal military campaign across Gaza; allowing unhindered flow of humanitarian assistance; taking effective measures to protect civilians in Gaza; and holding Israel accountable for its crimes,” Mumtaz Baloch said.
The FO spokesperson reaffirmed Pakistan's unwavering support for the inalienable right to self-determination of the Palestinians for a viable, secure, contiguous and sovereign State of Palestine on the basis of the pre-1967 borders with Al-Quds Al-Sharif as its capital.
Earlier, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, reaffirming Pakistan’s strong commitment to the just struggle of the Palestinian people, lauded the ICJ’s decision to order Israel to stop its assault on Gaza and Rafah.
“We hope the oppressed people of Kashmir would receive similar attention from the international community, as they too have been enduring brutal occupation and denial of fundamental human rights for the last seven decades,” the premier wrote on his official X (formerly Twitter) timeline.
On Friday, the ICJ) ordered Israel to ‘immediately’ halt its military assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah.
Reading out a ruling by the International Court of Justice or World Court, the body's president Nawaf Salam said provisional measures ordered by the court in March did not fully address the situation in the besieged Palestinian enclave now, and conditions had been met for a new emergency order.
"Israel must immediately halt its military offensive" in Rafah, he said.
The court also ordered Israel to open the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza to allow in humanitarian aid and said it must provide access to the besieged enclave for investigators and report back on its progress within one month.
The order was adopted by the panel of 15 judges from around the world in a 13-2 vote, opposed only by judges from Uganda and Israel itself.
The court backed a South African request to order Israel to halt its offensive in Rafah, a week after Pretoria called for the measure in a case accusing Israel of genocide.