Magistrates are seen at the International Court of Justice as part of South Africa's request on a Gaza ceasefire in The Hague on Friday. AFP

The top United Nations court Friday ordered Israel to halt military operations in Rafah, a landmark ruling likely to increase mounting international pressure on Israel more than seven months into the Gaza war.

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," the International Court of Justice said.

The court also ordered Israel to keep the Rafah crossing into Egypt open "for unhindered provision at scale of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance.”

Israel must "maintain open the Rafah crossing for unhindered provision at scale of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance," the ICJ said in a hotly awaited ruling.

While the ruling by the International Court of Justice is a blow to Israel's international standing, the court does not have a police force to enforce its orders. In another case on its docket, Russia has so far ignored a 2022 order by the court to halt its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Delegates attend a ruling on South Africa's request to order a halt to Israel's Rafah offensive in Gaza, in The Hague. Reuters

Ahead of the ruling, Israel signaled it, too, would brush off an ICJ order to stop its operations. "No power on earth will stop Israel from protecting its citizens and going after Hamas in Gaza,” Avi Hyman, the government spokesperson, said in a press briefing on Thursday.

The court’s president, Nawaf Salam, read out the ruling, as a small group of pro-Palestinian protesters demonstrated outside.

Fears about an operation in Rafah have "materialised,” the ruling said, and "the humanitarian situation is now to be characterised as disastrous.”

Agencies