The International Court of Justice has ordered provisional measures against Israel to prevent genocide in Gaza and rejected the request to dismiss the genocide charge.
The International Court of Justice has ordered Israel to adopt all measures within its power to prevent genocide against Palestinians. At the end of December, South Africa had accused Israel of genocide against the Palestinian people before the International Court of Justice. A ruling on the genocide charge could take years, but the ruling on the provisional measures to be taken in the Gaza Strip has now arrived. Having acknowledged the ongoing humanitarian disaster in Gaza, the Court ordered Israel to take all measures within its power to prevent genocide against the Palestinian people, including preventing and punishing incitement to genocide, allowing the entry of humanitarian aid and adopting further measures to protect Palestinians.
The International Court of Justice also accepted the genocide complaint filed by South Africa against Israel, declaring that it has jurisdiction over it. "Some of Israel's acts appear to be capable of falling within the genocide convention."
Since the start of the offensive, Israeli attacks have caused approximately 26,000 deaths, 40 per cent of whom are children. Around half of all buildings have been destroyed, and among the victims are hundreds of journalists, doctors and United Nations staff members.
90 per cent of Gaza's population is living in conditions of food insecurity and 85 per cent have been displaced from their homes, which have often been destroyed. In November, UN experts spoke of an ongoing "risk of genocide", while a few weeks later the United Nations explicitly referred to "acts of genocide". At the very start of 2024, the human rights organisation Law for Palestine published a dossier containing over 500 statements by Israeli political and military representatives featuring genocidal rhetoric.
At the end of December, South Africa submitted to the UN's International Court of Justice an 84-page complaint dossier against Israel. The charge is of acts of genocide against the Palestinian people in the context of the air, land and sea offensive launched by Tel Aviv on the Gaza Strip on 7 October 2023, following Hamas's attack. On Thursday 11 October, the Court's proceedings in the South African case began. Reaching a ruling on the genocide charge could take years, but the first matter to be examined was South Africa's request for a ruling ordering provisional measures against Israel for its operations in the Strip. That ruling arrived today, 26 January.
The ruling by the judges of the International Court of Justice was delivered at 1 pm on 26 January. The Court stated that it is fully aware of the scale of the human tragedy unfolding in the Gaza Strip and that it is deeply concerned by the ongoing loss of human life and suffering. It also determined that it could not grant Israel's request to dismiss the case, because some of the acts reported in South Africa's dossier against Israel appear to be capable of falling within the genocide convention.
The Court ordered Israel to take all measures within its power to prevent genocide against the Palestinian people, including preventing and punishing incitement to genocide, allowing the entry of humanitarian aid and adopting further measures to protect Palestinians. Within one month, Israel must report to the Court on what it is doing to comply with the provisional measures orders issued. The judges in The Hague also called for the immediate release of the Israeli hostages held by Hamas. However, the judges did not call for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip, as South Africa had hoped.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the Court's ruling "outrageous towards Israel." Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir described it as an "antisemitic Court." South Africa, on the other hand, said the ruling "marks a decisive victory for the rule of international law and a significant milestone in the pursuit of justice for the Palestinian people."
The International Court of Justice is the highest legal body within the United Nations for disputes between states. Its rulings are binding but have frequently been ignored by countries in the past. A recent case is that of Russia, which the Court ordered in March 2022 to implement a ceasefire in Ukraine — a measure that was never actually adopted. The current ruling against Israel carries significant symbolic weight, at a moment when the country is losing much of its international support. According to an Economist/YouGov poll, even public opinion in the United States, Israel's long-standing ally, is distancing itself from Israeli actions in the Gaza Strip. When asked whether a genocide is taking place, only 36 per cent answered no. 35 per cent answered yes and 29 per cent said they were undecided.
