As detailed in our 14.14 post, the UN's top court has today opened a hearing calling for emergency measures to halt Israel's onslaught in Rafah.As the hearing got under way, judges at the International Court of Justice, also known as the World Court, were told the Palestinian people faced 'ongoing annihilation'.South Africa wants the court to impose the emergency measures to protect Rafah, a southern Gaza city where more than a million Palestinians have been sheltering.
It says Israel has so far ignored and violated earlier court orders.'The key point today is that Israel's declared aim of wiping Gaza from the map is about to be realised,' South Africa's legal representative, Vaughan Lowe, told the panel of judges.'Further, evidence of appalling crimes and atrocities is literally being destroyed and bulldozed, in effect wiping the slate clean for those who've committed these crimes and making a mockery of justice.