In an interim judgment delivered on Friday, the president of the court, Joan Donoghue, said Israel must “take all measures within its power” to prevent acts that fall within the scope of the genocide convention and must ensure “with immediate effect” that its forces do not commit any of the acts covered by the convention.
The court stopped short of granting South Africa’s request to order an immediate ceasefire to the war, which has destroyed much of the Gaza Strip and killed more than 25,000 Palestinians, according to Gaza health authorities.
The ruling is not the final word from the court on whether Israel’s actions amount to genocide, but it provides a strong indication that the judges believe there is a credible risk to Palestinians under the genocide convention. Granting South Africa’s application for special measures, the court did not have to find whether Israel had committed genocide, which will be determined at a later date, but only that its acts were capable of falling within the genocideconvention and that urgent preventive action was necessary.
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“The court is also of the view that Israel must take measures within its power to prevent and punish the direct and public incitement to commit genocide in relation to the members of the Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip,” the US judge said.
“The court further considers that Israel must 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.”
Yoav Gallant, Israel’s defence minister, whose call for a total siege of Gaza as part of a battle against “human animals” was noted by the court on Friday, said the ICJ had “granted South Africa’s antisemitic request”.
It recalls that the military operation conducted by Israel after 7 October 2023 has resulted inter alia in tens of thousands of deaths and injuries and the destruction of homes, schools, medical facilities and other vital infrastructure, as well as displacement on a massive scale.
The 1948 genocide convention, enacted after the mass murder of Jews in the Nazi Holocaust, defines it as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”.
A Reuters report on Thursday said the director of the US CIA and his Israeli counterpart would meet Qatari officials in the coming days for talks on a second potential Gaza hostage deal and a pause in fighting.
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