THE HAGUE: Stopping short of ordering a ceasefire as requested by South Africa, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered Israel on Friday to prevent acts of genocide against the Palestinians and do more to protect and help civilians.
The ruling, though, failed to come up to the Palestinian expectations about a binding order to halt Gaza war, it represented a legal setback for Israel, which had hoped to throw out a case brought under the genocide convention established in the ashes of the Holocaust.
The court found that Palestinians were protected under the convention, and that there was a case to be heard about whether their rights were being denied in a war that the court said was causing grievous humanitarian harm. It also called for Palestinian armed groups to release hostages captured in the Oct. 7 attacks that precipitated the conflict.
BREAKING: THE ICJ FIND THE SOUTH AFRICA HAS SUFFICIENT BASIS AND REJECTS ISRAEL’S APPLICATION TO HAVE CASE THROWN OUT pic.twitter.com/TFZENkH4On
— Sulaiman Ahmed (@ShaykhSulaiman) January 26, 2024
Palestinian officials largely lauded the decision, terming it was a welcome reminder “no state is above the law”. Sami Abu Zuhri, a senior Hamas official told Reuters the decision would contribute to “isolating the occupation and exposing its crimes in Gaza.”
The ICJ ruling ordered Israel to take all measures within its authority to prevent its troops from committing genocide, take steps for improving the humanitarian situation and report back on its progress in a month.
Although the ruling cannot be appealed, it did not decide the merits of the genocide allegations, which could take years.
‘Israeli govt mocks the ruling’
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the court had “justly rejected the outrageous demand” to deprive Israel of what he called the “basic right to defend itself”, by ordering it to halt fighting.
His Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir mocked the ruling in a two-word social media post with a Yiddish-style putdown: “Hague shmague”.
‘The Case’
South Africa brought the case to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) earlier this month, asking it to grant emergency measures to halt the fighting, which has killed more than 26,000 Palestinians and displaced the majority of the population in a more than three-month campaign of intensive bombardment.
It accused Israel of state-led genocide in its offensive, begun after Hamas fighters stormed into Israel killing 1,200 and kidnapping more than 240. Israel sought to have the case thrown out.
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