The International Court of Justice (ICJ), the top United Nations judicial body, on Friday ruled that Israel must contain the civilian death toll in Gaza but did not issue an order demanding a cease-fire in the besieged strip.
The preliminary ruling comes after a plea from South Africa to order a cease-fire in Gaza and stop the displacement of the Palestinian people, among other preliminary requests in a genocide case expected to take years.
The court said Israel must take all steps necessary to protect against the killing of Palestinian civilians and the physical destruction of infrastructure but diverged from South Africa’s more immediate calls to halt all military activity.
ICJ President Joan Donoghue said Israel must take “measures in its power to prevent” the punishment of the Palestinian people.
The court also rejected Israel’s request to throw out a genocide case against it brought by South Africa.
Donoghue said the court issued its determination on a procedural matter of whether South Africa’s complaint that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza falls within the court’s jurisdiction, pointing to Israel’s rejection of South Africa’s complaint.
“At the present stage of the proceedings, the court is not required to ascertain whether any violations of Israel’s obligations under the Genocide Convention have occurred,” Donoghue said in a statement.
The court concluded that it has jurisdiction pursuant to Article Nine of the Genocide Convention to consider the case. Donoghue said that because South Africa alleges genocide against Israel, and Israel denies this, the dispute between the two parties allows the ICJ to take on the case.
“The court concludes prima facia that South Africa has standing to submit to it the dispute with Israel concerning alleged violations of obligations under the Genocide Convention,” Donoghue said.
This is a developing story.
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