Israel must "immediately suspend the military offensive as well as any other action" in Rafah "that could inflict upon the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part," the ICJ said. The Hague-based court cited Israel's obligations "under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, and in light of the worsening living conditions of civilians" in Rafah. The ICJ also said Israel must keep the Rafah crossing open to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza "without hindrance." Israel must also "take effective measures to ensure the unimpeded access to the Gaza Strip of any duly authorized United Nations fact-finding commission, mission or other investigative body" to probe allegations of genocide. The State of Israel must also report back to the court within 90 days on the measures it has taken to comply with the ICJ's order. The decision was adopted by 13 votes to two, the ICJ's Lebanese president Nawaf Salam said. It follows a request by South Africa to the ICJ in December, two months after the start of a war between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. In January, the ICJ ordered Israel to do everything in its power to prevent any acts of genocide and to allow humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip. But with the situation in Rafah worsening, South Africa asked the ICJ for further measures, which were announced at the court's headquarters in the Netherlands on Thursday. Unlike the International Criminal Court (ICC), also based in The Hague, which tries individuals for war crimes and crimes against humanity, the ICJ settles legal disputes between states. The ICJ is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations and was set up in 1946. It has 15 judges. The ICJ's rulings are binding, but the court has no means of enforcing them. Israel has told the ICJ that an imposed ceasefire would allow Hamas fighters to regroup and would make it impossible to free Israeli hostages still held by the Islamist movement. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would convene a meeting of his cabinet to discuss the ICJ ruling, the French news agency AFP reported. [News updated at 15:48] See also: Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza partially reopens dialysis sector (Portuguese version)