The International Court of Justice at The Hague on Friday ordered Israel to halt its military operations in Rafah in response to a request by South Africa for provisional measures to protect the Palestinian population in Gaza.

“Israel must immediately halt its military offensive and any other action in the Rafah governorate," the court's ruling read, Al-monitor reported.

The court also noted that Israel must provide "unimpeded" access to the Gaza Strip to any investigative body affiliated with reliable authorities for the purposes of investing allegations of genocide.

In issuing this order, which is legally binding but comes with no enforcement mechanism, the ICJ accepted part of a South African request submitted May 10. The Israeli military had entered eastern Rafah on May 7 and taken control of the Rafah crossing on the border with Egypt. 

South Africa asked that the court order Israel to halt all its military operations in Gaza, not only in Rafah, citing the growing humanitarian crisis and allegations that Israel is killing Palestinian civilians, including by starvation.