The International Court of Justice ordered Israel on Friday to prevent genocide in its conflict with Hamas in Gaza and mandated the provision of humanitarian aid.
The UN top court said on Friday that 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 ceasefire.
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.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu slammed South Africa’s “outrageous” case at the UN’s top court after the judges’ ruling.
The Palestinian Authority said that a ruling by the UN’s top court that Israel should do everything possible to prevent any acts of genocide in Gaza shows “no state is above the law.”
At this stage, the ICJ was not considering whether Israel was committing genocide in Gaza; that process would 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 that Israel should “prevent and punish” any incitement to genocide.
Palestinian militant group Hamas hailed an “important” ruling on Friday by the UN’s top court, saying that it “contributes to isolating Israel.”
The case was brought by South Africa, which 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 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 ethnic 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.
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Katrine Dige Houmøller, with AFP
