(The Hague) The highest court of the UN announced Wednesday that it would render its decision on Friday on urgent measures requested by South Africa, which accuses Israel of “genocide” of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) could potentially order Israel to halt its military campaign in Gaza, sparked by the unprecedented Hamas attack on October 7.
Friday, January 26, at 1 p.m. (7 a.m. Eastern), the ICJ “will issue its order on the request for the indication of provisional measures presented by South Africa” at the Peace Palace, its headquarters in La Haye, she announced in a press release.
South Africa filed an urgent appeal last month, arguing that Israel was violating the United Nations Convention on Genocide, signed in 1948 following the Holocaust.
Pretoria wants the ICJ to issue “provisional measures”, emergency orders to protect Palestinians in Gaza against possible violations of the convention.
The orders of the ICJ, which decides disputes between countries, are legally binding and final. However, it has no means of enforcing them. For example, she ordered Russia to suspend its invasion of Ukraine.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has already suggested that he would not feel obliged to follow an order from the ICJ.
“No one will stop us, not The Hague, not the Axis of Evil, not anyone else,” he said at a press conference on January 14.
The court will only rule on South Africa’s request for emergency measures, not on the fundamental question of whether Israel is actually committing genocide – this could take years.
But an ICJ ruling against Israel would certainly increase political pressure on the country and could serve as a pretext for sanctions.
The war in Gaza erupted when Hamas launched an unprecedented attack on October 7, which left around 1,140 people dead in Israel, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Israel responded with a relentless military campaign that has killed at least 25,700 people, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run health ministry in Gaza.
“Genocidal acts”
South Africa can sue Israel at the ICJ since both countries signed the Genocide Convention.
During hearings in mid-January, Pretoria recognized the “particular weight of responsibility” of accusing Israel of genocide.
But South Africa’s lawyers said Israel’s bombing campaign was aimed at “the destruction of Palestinian lives” and had pushed the people “to the brink of starvation.”
Genocides are never declared in advance, but this court has the benefit of the last 13 weeks of evidence that indisputably shows a pattern of behavior and intent that supports a plausible allegation of genocidal acts.
lawyer Adila Hassim
Israel responded that it was not seeking to destroy the Palestinian people and dismissed the South African accusations as a “totally distorted factual and legal picture” of events in Gaza.
“Israel is engaged in a war of defense against Hamas, not against the Palestinian people,” said lawyer Tal Becker.
In these circumstances, “there cannot be a more false or more malicious accusation than the accusation of genocide against Israel,” he said.
The ICJ ruling is seen as an important test of international justice and will be closely scrutinized around the world, with many countries already siding with one of the two sides.
The United States has already rejected South Africa’s request and Germany has said it will intervene as a third party alongside Israel when the court considers the genocide case on its merits.
Berlin’s statement sparked scathing criticism from the southern African country and former German colony of Namibia, saying Pretoria had made a “morally right” accusation.
Namibian President Hage Geingob denounced “Germany’s inability to learn the lessons of its terrible history”.