> There has since been a significant development in the situation in Gaza requiring the Court's urgent attention. On Friday 9 February 2024, the Office of the P

> There has since been a significant development in the situation in Gaza requiring the Court's urgent attention. On Friday 9 February 2024, the Office of the Prime Minister of the State of Israel issued the following announcement: "It is impossible to achieve the goal of the war of eliminating Hamas by leaving four Hamas battalions in Rafah. On the contrary, it is clear that intense activity in Rafah requires that civilians evacuate the areas of combat. Therefore, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has ordered the IDF and the security establishment to submit to the Cabinet a combined plan for evacuating the population and destroying the battalions." 3. Despite strong denunciation by the international community, including by some of Israel's closest allies, the Israeli Prime Minister reiterated in an interview broadcast on Sunday 11 February 2024 that: "victory is within reach. We're going to do it. We're going to get the remaining Hamas terrorist battalions in Rafah, which is the last bastion, but we're going to do it". Thereafter, on Sunday evening, Rafah was subjected to an intense, unprecedented Israeli military assault, with an ongoing threat of yet further intensification of the assault — including by way of an Israeli ground invasion. 4. Rafah, normally home to 280,000 Palestinians, currently houses — primarily in makeshift tents — more than half of Gaza's population, estimated at approximately 1.4 million people, approximately half of them children. They fled to Rafah, pursuant to Israeli military evacuation orders, from homes and areas that have been largely destroyed by Israel.' As the International Committee of the Red Cross has made clear, there is "no option" for the evacuation of the Palestinian population in Rafah as "there is nowhere else for the people to go".