ICJ orders Israel to prevent genocidal acts in Gaza
Raisi lauds South Africa for taking Israel to court
The UN top court on Friday said Israel must prevent genocidal acts in Gaza and facilitate “urgently needed” humanitarian aid into the besieged territory, handing down rulings in a case that has drawn global attention.
The court urged Israel to refrain from any possible genocidal acts as it presses its military operation in the Gaza Strip, but stopped short of ordering a cease-fire.
Israel must take “immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to address the adverse conditions of life faced by Palestinians,” the court said, according to AFP.
At this stage, the ICJ was not considering whether Israel is actually committing genocide in Gaza – that process will take several years.
But the court warned Israel to “take all measures in its power to prevent” acts that could fall under the UN Genocide Convention, set up in 1948 as the world reeled from the horrors of the Nazi Holocaust.
It also said Israel should “prevent and punish” any incitement to genocide.
The case was brought by South Africa, which has accused Israel of breaching the UN Genocide Convention. Over two days of hearings earlier this month in the gilded hall of the Peace Palace, where the ICJ sits, lawyers from both sides battled it over the interpretation of this Convention.
South Africa accused Israel of “genocidal” acts that were intended to cause the “destruction of a substantial part of the Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group.”
It urged the court to order Israel to “immediately suspend” its military operations in Gaza and allow humanitarian aid to reach the civilians there.
South Africa on Friday hailed a ruling by the United Nations’ top court.
“Today marks a decisive victory for the international rule of law and a significant milestone in the search for justice for the Palestinian people,” the foreign ministry said.
On Thursday, Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi said South Africa’s case against Israel has drawn the admiration of all freedom seekers worldwide, Press TV wrote.
‘Courageous’ initiative
During a telephone conversation with his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa, Raisi lauded the “courageous” initiative, stressing that the move was taken by a country that has experienced the menace of racism and genocide for years.
“The measure is praised not only by the Muslim world but also by all freedom seekers across the globe,” the Iranian president said, according to his press service.
Isolating Israel
Palestinian resistance group Hamas hailed the “important” ruling, saying it “contributes to isolating Israel “.
“The (International) Court of Justice’s decision is an important development which contributes to isolating Israel and exposing its crimes in Gaza,” the group said in a statement, according to AFP.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed as “outrageous” South Africa’s case against it at the UN’s top court.
“The charge of genocide levelled against Israel is not only false, it’s outrageous, and decent people everywhere should reject it,” Netanyahu said in a video statement. Israel earlier dismissed the case as a “grossly distorted story” and said that if any genocidal acts had been carried out, they had been executed against Israel during the October 7 Hamas attacks.
Spain, one of the most critical voices in Europe of Israel’s offensive against Hamas, welcomed the ruling.
The question now is whether the court’s rulings will be obeyed. Although its rulings are legally binding, it has no mechanism to enforce them and they are sometimes completely ignored – it has ordered Russia to stop its invasion of Ukraine for example.
Netanyahu has already hinted Israel would not abide by any ruling saying “no one will stop us”, not even a verdict in The Hague.
The October 7 Hamas attack resulted in the death of around 1,140 people in Israel.
At least 26,083 Palestinians, around 70 percent of them women, young children and adolescents, have been killed in the Gaza Strip in Israeli bombardments and ground offensive since then, according to the Gaza Health Ministry.