The International Court of Justice is scheduled to issue its ruling on Friday on South Africa's demand that Israel immediately suspend its military attack on Gaza. The ruling is an initial step in a broader case over whether Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in the Strip.
The decisions of the court, the highest judicial body in the United Nations, are binding, but the court has few means of implementation. However, a ruling against Israel will increase international pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government over the war.
Here's what you should know about the ruling.
What is the case?
This month, the South African government accused Israel in court in The Hague of committing “acts and omissions” deemed to be “of a genocidal character” against Palestinians in Gaza. South African lawyers told a panel of 17 judges that Israeli leaders and lawmakers had expressed in public statements their intention to commit genocide, which would constitute a violation of the United Nations Charter. United Nations Genocide ConventionTo which Israel is a party.
South Africa cited as evidence the words of Israeli officials, including Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who said in October that Israel would impose a complete blockade of the area because it was fighting “human animals.” A South African lawyer showed the court a video of Israeli soldiers dancing and singing, saying: “There are no uninvolved citizens,” arguing that it showed the soldiers understood the “inflammatory words” of their commanders.
What is Israel's defense?
Israel categorically denied this accusation. The Israeli military worked to preserve civilian lives, giving non-combatants two weeks to leave northern Gaza before the invasion in late October, the state's lawyers told the court. They also say that after freezing aid deliveries to Gaza at the beginning of the war, they have since enabled it to be delivered daily.
Israeli lawyers say that some of the inflammatory statements made by Israeli leaders were made by people who had no executive authority regarding the military campaign, or were taken out of context. Israel has declassified more than 30 secret orders issued by government and military leaders, which it says show Israeli efforts to limit harm to civilians.
What is the importance of the issue?
On some level, the case represents a legal reckoning with the war in Gaza, which began when Hamas led an attack on October 7 that killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians, according to Israeli officials, with about 240 others taken hostage. Israel responded with air strikes and a ground invasion that killed more than 25,000 people in Gaza, according to health authorities there. The United Nations says that about 70 percent of the dead were women and children.
Many Israelis see the issue as part of a decades-old effort to turn the country into a pariah state and subject it to a higher level of scrutiny than other countries. Israeli leaders called the case absurd, saying Israel, which was founded after the genocide of Jews, is fighting a genocidal enemy in Hamas, which has called for Israel's destruction.
However, many Palestinians see the issue as a rare opportunity to subject Israel to scrutiny. They say the United States and other powerful allies have shielded Israel from accountability, including to the UN Security Council.
What could the ruling mean?
The court is not expected to issue a ruling on the genocide charge for years. The decision expected on Friday concerns whether to order “interim measures” requiring Israel to take proactive steps to ensure that genocide does not occur in the future, while the case is still pending, and to stop “further serious and irreparable harm” to Israel. Palestinian people.
Because Israel defended itself in court, legal experts believe that it may be difficult for it to reject any judicial orders. But Israel has ignored the court's findings before: In 2004, the court issued a non-binding opinion that Israel's security wall inside the occupied West Bank is illegal and should be dismantled. Two decades later, the system of walls and fences is still in place.
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