The International Court of Justice (ICJ), based in The Hague (Netherlands), yesterday ordered Israel to take “all measures” necessary to “prevent” any act of genocide being committed in the Gaza Strip.
However, none of the precautionary measures established by the Hague Tribunal oblige the Israeli Government to end the hostilities in Gaza. It was the main emergency measure that South Africa had demanded when it took the case to the court, accusing Israel of maintaining a “pattern of genocidal conduct” against the Palestinian people.
Israel’s military operation in the Gaza Strip has devastated much of the territory, killing more than 26,000 Palestinians and displacing 90% of the population, according to the strip’s health authorities.
The UN’s highest court has taken the decision to rule on precautionary measures after rejecting Israel’s request to dismiss the case. And, although he has not yet pronounced on whether Israel has committed genocide in the strip, he has acknowledged that “at least some acts perpetrated [by the Israeli side] seem to fall within the framework of the genocide convention”, according to said Judge Donoghue, president of the ICJ, regarding the United Nations document that describes the crime.
In addition, the judge recognized the right of the Palestinians in Gaza to be protected from acts of genocide: “The court considers that the civilian population is still extremely vulnerable.” “The court considers that the catastrophic humanitarian situation in the strip runs a serious risk of deteriorating even further before the court issues its final verdict,” he argued.
The other urgent measures that Israel must apply, as the court decreed, are to prosecute speeches that incite genocide against the Palestinian people. Also allow with immediate effect the entry of medical services and humanitarian assistance into the Palestinian territory, which has been under an Israeli blockade since October 7. Finally, report within one month to the court on the application of all these measures, reports on which South Africa will be able to make allegations.
The Hague tribunal’s decision is an initial step in a wider case that must address the question of whether Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in the enclave through air and ground offensives, as South Africa alleged in the indictment filed on January 11.
That day, the prosecution called for an end to the war in the strip. The Government of South Africa considered yesterday that a cessation of hostilities in Gaza is “essential” for the Israeli State to comply with the court’s orders. “How do you transport humanitarian aid and ensure that injured people receive health care without a ceasefire?” asked South Africa’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, Naledi Pandor.
In the defense before the Hague, Israel had asked two weeks ago that the court reject the case in full, because it was acting in “self-defense”. He also claimed that if anyone had perpetrated genocide, it would have been the Islamist group Hamas against the Israeli people in the Oct. 7 massacre, in which 1,200 people were killed and about 240 more kidnapped, according to Israel.
The arguments from then were repeated yesterday by the Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, after hearing the Hague decision. “The accusation of genocide made against Israel is not only false, but also scandalous”, he said, while warning that the war will continue “until total victory”.
The Minister of National Security, the anti-Arab extremist Itamar Ben-Gvir, went even further when he suggested that the decision has the value of “a piece of toilet paper”. “International law means nothing to us,” Ben-Gvir wrote on the X social network, formerly Twitter.
From Gaza, Hamas gladly received the court’s decision: “It is an important advance that contributes to isolating the occupation – the term with which it refers to Israel – and to exposing its crimes in Gaza. We ask that the occupation be forced to implement the court’s decisions,” said a statement from Sami Abu Zuhri, spokesman for the Islamist group. From the occupied West Bank, the Palestinian National Authority also saw clearly that “it has been decided in favor of humanity”, although it urged “all states to guarantee” its implementation, since “it is “a binding legal obligation”, added his Minister of Foreign Affairs, Riad al-Maliki.
Although the ICJ’s decision is binding on Israel, the high court has no mechanisms of its own to enforce it. That is why it now depends on the pressure exerted by Israel’s allies to comply, especially the United States, which has the right of veto in the UN Security Council, where measures could be adopted to force compliance. “Governments must use their influence to ensure that [the court’s] order is implemented,” agreed Human Rights Watch.
Beyond the precautionary measures known yesterday, the case addresses Israel’s alleged violation of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, approved by the United Nations in 1948 and in force in 152 countries, including Israel. “Genocide means any act committed with the intention of destroying, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group,” says the convention. The offense has no statute of limitations, and yet it can take years for the court to fully investigate the case.