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Hind Al Soulia - Riyadh - THE HAGUE — The UN’s top court ordered Israel to “take all measures” to prevent genocide in Gaza, but stopped short of calling for Israel to suspend its military campaign in the war-torn enclave.
In a hearing in The Hague, the Netherlands, on Friday, the International Court of Justice said Israel must limit the death and destruction caused by its military campaign, as well as prevent and punish incitement to genocide, and to ensure the provision of humanitarian aid to Gaza.
South Africa had accused Israel of violating international laws on genocide in its war in Gaza, and wanted the court to order a halt in fighting.
Friday’s decision related only to South Africa’s request for emergency measures, which act like a restraining order while the Court considers the full merits of the genocide case, which could take years.
“The catastrophic humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip is at serious risk of deteriorating further before the Court renders its final judgment,” Judge Joan Donoghue, the Court’s president, said Friday.
The Court’s 17-judge panel issued six emergency measures, ordering Israel to “take all measures within its power” to prevent acts which could fall foul of the Genocide Convention, and saying it must “ensure with immediate effect that its military does not commit” any genocidal acts.
The Court also ordered Israel to “prevent and punish the direct and public incitement to commit genocide,” as well as to “ensure the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance” in Gaza.
It said Israel must also preserve evidence related to allegations of genocide and submit a report in a month’s time on its compliance with these measures.
The Court’s decisions are binding and cannot be appealed, but it has no way of enforcing them. Israel earlier indicated it would not accept the ICJ’s orders.
The Court’s panel ordinarily comprises 15 judges, but was expanded in this case by additional judges from South Africa and Israel.
Israel’s judge Aharon Barak, an 87-year-old Holocaust survivor and former president of the country’s Supreme Court, voted in favor of two of the emergency measures, ordering Israel to curb incitements to genocide and to ensure aid can enter the enclave.
Apart from its call for a halt in fighting, the bulk of South Africa’s nine requests to the Court were met.
Despite this, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hailed the ruling as a rejection of discrimination against his country.
“Like every country, Israel has an inherent right to defend itself,” he said in a short video message. “The vile attempt to deny Israel this fundamental right is blatant discrimination against the Jewish state, and it was justly rejected.”
But legal experts have said that, while the Court did not grant the most explosive of South Africa’s requests, in finding that Israel is “plausibly” violating laws on genocide, its decision is damning.
“Even though it is not a definitive verdict, it is a very significant rebuke for the armed forces of a democratic state that sometimes says it has the most moral army in the world,” Janina Dill, co-director at Oxford University’s Institute for Ethics, Law and Armed Conflict, told CNN.
South Africa said it was “disappointed” that the Court did not order a ceasefire, but said it believes that Israel will have to observe one if it is to comply with the other measures ordered.
“Israel has very powerful friends who I hope will advise Israel,” Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor added, without specifying, having held a call with US Secretary of State Antony Blinken on Thursday. The US is Israel’s major ally.
In the initial hearing two weeks ago, South Africa said Israel’s leadership was “intent on destroying the Palestinians as a group in Gaza,” and that its aerial and ground assaults aimed to “bring about the destruction” of Palestinians in the enclave.
South Africa and Israel are both parties to the Genocide Convention, meaning they are obliged not to commit genocide and to prevent and punish it.
Israel reacted furiously to the accusation and rejected what it called South Africa’s “grossly distorted story,” telling the court its war in Gaza was fought in self-defense, that it was targeting Hamas rather than Palestinian civilians, and that its leadership had not displayed genocidal intent.
It said the accusation of genocide was an attempt to “pervert the meaning” of the term and empty it of its “unique force.”
Israel claimed if genocidal acts had been committed, they were “perpetrated against Israel” on October 7, when Hamas fighters stormed into the country from Gaza, killing more than 1,200 people and taking 240 hostage, according to Israeli officials. Israel’s retaliatory offensive in Gaza has since killed more than 26,000 people, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in the enclave. — CNN
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