In a landmark ruling, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Friday confirmed that Palestinians have a right to be protected from acts of genocide, ordering Israel to “take all measures within its power” to prevent actions that amount to genocide. Among the provisional measures, the Court also ordered Israel to allow the entry of desperately needed humanitarian aid into the war-shattered enclave and to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services to Palestinians there.
The ruling refers to a case that was brought to the ICJ by South Africa, which argued that Israel is violating the 1948 Genocide Convention. Israel has denied that it is committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The court has yet to decide, if Israel is committing genocide or has already pursued its military campaign with genocidal intent or actions. A decision may take years.
Israel denies the accusation of genocide, although its security forces have killed or wounded more than four percent of the civilian population within months and the political leadership is depriving the people in Gaza of access to basic means of survival.
In its December application, South Africa requested the Court to order provisional measures in order to “protect against further, severe and irreparable harm to the rights of the Palestinian people under the Genocide Convention”.
During a recent hearing, South Africa referred to the high number of civilian casualties in Gaza, the destruction of civilian infrastructure and the restrictions on access to water, food, healthcare, and medical equipment. South Africa also mentioned statements by senior Israeli government officials confirming that civilians were directly being targeted.
While the Court stopped short of ordering an immediate halt to Israeli attacks against the tiny territory, the court orders Israel, in accordance with its obligations under the Genocide Convention, “to take all measures within its power” in relation to Palestinians in Gaza to prevent the commission of acts within the scope of the Genocide Convention (Article II), including killing, causing serious bodily or mental harm, deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about the group’s destruction and imposing measures intended to prevent births.
The world court instructs Israel to ensure “with immediate effect” that its military does not commit any of these genocidal acts. Israel must also take all measures within its power “to prevent and punish the direct and public incitement to commit genocide” in relation to members of the Palestinian group in the Gaza Strip.
Under the 1948 Genocide Convention the act of genocide, the attempt to commit genocide, the conspiracy to commit genocide, the complicity in genocide, as well as the direct and public incitement to commit genocide are punishable (Article III).
According to Gaza officials, more than 26,000 Palestinians have been killed and 64,400 Palestinians injured since Israel mounted its offensive in Gaza in response to atrocities by Palestinian armed groups in Israel on October 7 last year that killed some 1,200 people and resulted in 240 others taken hostage.
Humanitarian agencies say Israel’s bombardment and siege are depriving the civilian population of the basic means to survive and are rendering Gaza uninhabitable. The civilian population in Gaza faces a humanitarian crisis of unprecedented severity and scale.
The International Court of Justice now orders Israel to take immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to address the adverse conditions of life faced by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Israel must also prevent the destruction and ensure the preservation of evidence related to acts of genocide, and submit a report to the Court on all measures taken within one month.
Pursuant to the UN Charter and to the Statute of the Court, decisions of the Court – including provisional measures - are legally binding on all member states. The International Court of Justice is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. It was established by the Charter in June 1945 and began its activities in April 1946. The Court is composed of 15 judges elected for a nine-year term by the General Assembly and the Security Council of the United Nations. The seat of the Court is The Hague, Netherlands.
Human rights and humanitarian organizations have welcomed the ICJ ruling, the latter in particular the provisional measures imposed to ensure humanitarian access.
“The World Court’s landmark decision puts Israel and its allies on notice that immediate action is needed to prevent genocide and further atrocities against Palestinians in Gaza,” said Balkees Jarrah, associate international justice director at the international human rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) in a statement.
“Lives hang in the balance, and governments need to urgently use their leverage to ensure that the order is enforced. The scale and gravity of civilian suffering in Gaza driven by Israeli war crimes demands nothing less.”
Many organizations regret that the Court did not explicitly order a ceasefire, an essential provisional measure that would allow hostilities to cease. Humanitarian agencies, human rights groups, United Nations officials, and more than 153 UN member states have called again and again for an immediate ceasefire, yet Israeli military operations in Gaza continue to kill people at unprecedented levels.
The international human rights group Amnesty International (AI) said Friday the Court’s decision sent a clear message that the world would not stand by in silence as “Israel pursued a ruthless military campaign to decimate the population of the Gaza Strip and unleashed death, horror and suffering against Palestinians” on an unprecedented scale.
“However, the ICJ decision alone cannot put an end to the atrocities and devastation Gazans are witnessing. Alarming signs of genocide in Gaza, and Israel’s flagrant disregard for international law highlight the urgent need for effective, unified pressure on Israel to stop its onslaught against Palestinians,” said Agnès Callamard, Secretary General of Amnesty International.
“An immediate ceasefire by all parties remains essential and – although not ordered by the Court – is the most effective condition to implement the provisional measures and end unprecedented civilian suffering.”
In a related development on Thursday, 16 international humanitarian agencies and human rights groups urged all UN member states to stop fueling the crisis in Gaza and avert further humanitarian catastrophe and loss of civilian life.
The non-governmental organizations (NGOs) called on the states to immediately halt the transfer of weapons, parts, and ammunition to Israel and Palestinian armed groups, while there was risk, they were used to commit or facilitate serious violations of international humanitarian or human rights law.
Meanwhile, a senior United Nations official has warned Friday that civil order could break down in Gaza if Israeli attacks force more and more Palestinians to flee to Rafah, an area crammed with 1.3 million people – more than half of Gaza’s population - which prior to October 7 accommodated fewer than 300,000.
"It is packed. There is no space. People are angry. There is no food. There can be a civil disorder, a breakdown of civil order," said Ajith Sunghay, head of the UN Human Rights Office for the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT).
Sunghay, who returned from a mission to Gaza to his post in Amman, Jordan, this week, told journalists by video link Friday that he met people in Khan Younis who have been under intense Israeli bombardment and heavy fighting. He said they "were frustrated, angry, and understandably wary."
"The current situation is catastrophic," he said. "If what is happening in Khan Younis continues the way it is, at the intensity that we are seeing, hundreds of thousands of already displaced people would likely feel they have no other choice but to move again."
People would have only a few places to flee, he added.
"On the one side you have the Mediterranean Sea, on the other, you have the Egyptian border," he said. "If you have people moving there in large numbers from Khan Younis and other places, it is going to be a massive catastrophe."
In Rafah, he said he saw "displaced people who had been ordered by Israeli authorities to leave their homes, with no provision for their accommodation." Sunghay described people living on the street, amid sewage, and in conditions of desperation.
"The people I spoke to fear the extreme violence is spilling into Rafah, which will have catastrophic implications for the more than 1.3 million people already crowded there," he said.
Hospitals and health care facilities have taken a major hit from heavy bombardment by Israel Defense Forces (IDF) over the past three months. The World Health Organization (WHO) reports only 14 of the 36 health facilities and hospitals in Gaza are partially functioning.
WHO spokesperson Christian Lindmeier said: "The few functioning hospitals in Gaza are absolutely in dire circumstances, with hostilities often preventing the access of patients and supplies."
He added that Nasser hospital in Khan Younis was "now basically besieged … and has no way in and out."
Human rights official Sunghay said attacks on hospitals, schools, and other places of refuge have repeatedly displaced Palestinians into ever-smaller areas, with ever-decreasing access to the essentials needed to sustain life.
"I am very, very worried. I fear that many more civilians will die. The continued attacks on specially protected facilities, such as hospitals, will kill civilians and there will be a further, massive impact on access to health care, safety, and security in general of Palestinians," he stressed.
“Northern Gaza, where IDF bombardment continues, is barely accessible even to provide basic humanitarian aid,” Sunghay said, adding that the apparent disregard for international law needs to end.
UN human rights spokesperson Ravina Shamdasani said her office shines a spotlight on the situation in Gaza but that "much more could be done on the international level. The high commissioner has repeatedly called on all states with influence to exercise that influence to bring this horror to an end."
She said that the UN rights office has sent letters and reports to Israeli authorities before they are published for their comments.
"So, our concerns are expressed to them directly … but the Office has had no formal response from them," she said.
Sunghay said he was particularly concerned about the potential movement of hundreds of thousands of people into Rafah. He warned a rush of people into Egypt would create a terrible situation.
"It is something that we are dreading and hoping does not happen. But this is exactly my fear." He warned that "all the indications that we have at this point in time is if Rafah is attacked, then we are in uncharted territory."
Some information for this report provided by VOA.
Further information
Full text: Order of 26 January 2024, Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel), International Court of Justice, published January 26, 2024
https://www.icj-cij.org/sites/default/files/case-related/192/192-20240126-ord-01-00-en.pdf
Full text: Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, December 9 1948, Entry into force: January 12, 1951, United Nations Office on Genocide Prevention and the Responsibility to Protect
https://www.un.org/en/genocideprevention/documents/atrocity-crimes/Doc.1_Convention%20on%20the%20Prevention%20and%20Punishment%20of%20the%20Crime%20of%20Genocide.pdf
Full text: Israel must comply with key ICJ ruling ordering it do all in its power to prevent genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, Amnesty International, press release, published January 26, 2024
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2024/01/israel-must-comply-with-key-icj-ruling-ordering-it-do-all-in-its-power-to-prevent-genocide-against-palestinians-in-gaza/
Full text: An open call to all UN Member States to stop fuelling the crisis in Gaza and avert further humanitarian catastrophe and loss of civilian life, joint statement signed by 16 international humanitarian agencies and human rights groups, Norwegian Refugee Council, released January 25, 2024
https://www.nrc.no/news/2024/january/An-open-call-to-all-UN-Member-States-to-stop-fuelling-the-crisis-in-Gaza-and-avert-further-humanitarian-catastrophe-and-loss-of-civilian-life/
Full text: Gaza: ‘Nothing short of a catastrophe’, Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, press briefing notes, published January 26, 2024
https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-briefing-notes/2024/01/gaza-nothing-short-catastrophe