UN’s top court orders Israel to ‘prevent genocide’ in Gaza but fails to call for immediate ceasefire

By Michelle Farrell, University of Liverpool

In a landmark decision – and with the whole world watching – the International Court of Justice in The Hague has ordered Israel to “take all measures within its power to prevent the commission of acts of genocide” in Gaza and to allow desperately needed humanitarian aid to enter the territory.

But the court’s “provisional measures” in the case brought by South Africa at the end of December stop short of ordering a ceasefire.

In a blow to Israel, which had asked the court to throw the case out, the ICJ accepted South Africa’s arguments that it had jurisdiction over the case. It required Israel to prevent its armed forces committing any acts covered by the 1948 Genocide Convention “with immediate effect”.

That the court has found that Israel’s actions in Gaza are plausibly genocidal is damning. The decision has implications for Israel in its continued bombardment and siege of Gaza. But it also has implications for Israel’s allies in their political and material support of Israel’s actions and for other states in their international relations with Israel.

The headline of this case must be that the ICJ has accepted that there is a plausible case that Israel has been committing genocide in Gaza. But for Palestinians living there it is the order 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” which will have the most immediate affect.

In adopting this provisional measure, the court dismissed as insufficient Israel’s purported efforts to “address and alleviate the conditions faced” in Gaza.

But the absence of an order to Israel to suspend its military operations in Gaza – the first of the list of provisional measures requested by South Africa – has been greeted with disappointment. South Africa had argued that a humanitarian ceasefire was the only way to alleviate the humanitarian crisis.

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