Israel must prevent any possible act of genocide and allow access of humanitarian aid to Gaza, the highest court of the UN ruled Friday in a highly anticipated verdict, which however did not mention a cease-fire. fire.
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At this point, the Court has not commented on whether or not Israel is in fact committing genocide. This part of the case can take years.
But she judged that the “catastrophic humanitarian situation” in Gaza was “at serious risk of deteriorating further” before a final decision, and therefore issued a series of emergency measures.
Israel must “take all measures in its power” to prevent any act of genocide and no leader must make statements inciting genocide, the court said.
Furthermore, “the State of Israel must immediately take effective measures to enable the provision of basic services and humanitarian aid,” she added.
South Africa launched the procedure by considering that Israel is violating the United Nations Convention on Genocide of 1948, established in the aftermath of the Second World War and the Holocaust.
Speaking to reporters on the steps of the Peace Palace in The Hague, headquarters of the ICJ, South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor said the measures amounted to a call for a ceasefire.
“How can we provide humanitarian aid without a ceasefire? How to provide water and access to energy? How to ensure that the injured receive health care, etc. ?,” she asked. “Without a ceasefire, none of this can be done,” she added.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has deemed South Africa’s accusations of “genocide” in Gaza “scandalous”.
Israel stressed during the hearings that it was acting in self-defense after the October 7 Hamas attack and was doing everything in its power to protect civilians.
But even if measures aimed at helping civilians “should be encouraged, they are insufficient” to protect the rights of Palestinians, said the ICJ.
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Outside the court, hundreds of protesters from both sides gathered, chanting slogans and holding banners.
“Survivors of a genocide are being tried for committing genocide, it’s crazy,” Noyleyb, a 32-year-old pro-Israeli entrepreneur, told AFP, refusing to give his last name.
“It really breaks my heart that there is no ceasefire,” said Nikita Shabazy, 48, a pro-Palestinian demonstrator.
“Grossly distorted”
Pretoria accused Israel of “genocidal” acts aimed at bringing about the “destruction of a substantial part of the Palestinian national, racial and ethnic group.”
Israel dismissed the case as a “grossly distorted story” and said that if acts of genocide were committed, they were carried out against Israel during the Hamas attack.
The question now is whether the ICJ’s orders will be respected. They are legally binding and final, but the Court has no means of enforcing them. For example, she ordered Russia to suspend its invasion of Ukraine, to no avail.
Mr. Netanyahu has already suggested that he would not feel obliged to follow a court order. “No one will stop us, neither The Hague, nor the Axis of Evil, nor anyone else,” he said.
But experts believe that in addition to the symbolic impact, there could still be tangible consequences on the ground.
“It is much more difficult for other states to continue to support Israel in the face of a neutral third party who believes that there is a risk of genocide,” Juliette McIntyre, an expert in international law at the University, analyzed for AFP. from South Australia.
“States could withdraw military or other support for Israel in order to avoid this,” she added.
The war was sparked by the unprecedented Hamas attack on Israeli soil on October 7, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count based on official data.
Israel vowed to “annihilate” Hamas and launched a vast military operation that killed 26,083 Palestinians, the vast majority women, children and adolescents, according to the Islamist movement’s health ministry.
The ICJ also asked Israel to preserve all possible evidence that could be used later in the legal process to determine whether genocide was being committed.
Israel must also report within a month on steps taken to comply with ICJ orders.