The International Court of Justice (ICJ), the highest court of the UN, indicated this Thursday additional precautionary measures against Israel and demanded that it prevent its Army commits acts of genocide against the Palestinians of Gaza or prevents “by any action, the delivery of urgent humanitarian assistance”.
The ICJ warned that civilians in the Strip “no longer only face a risk of famine,” as the Court had warned on January 26, when it asked Israel for urgent measures to prevent genocide, but that “famine is already setting in” and “the catastrophic living conditions of Palestinians in Gaza have become even worse”.
The ICJ.
Photo:AFP
The court requires Israel to “take all necessary and effective measures” to ensure the “unimpeded and large-scale” provision of basic services and humanitarian assistance, including food, water, electricity, fuel, shelter, clothing, hygiene requirements and sanitation, medical supplies and healthcare.
This means, added the ICJ, increasing “the capacity and number of land crossing points and keep them open as long as necessary” to alleviate the situation of the civilian population in the Strip.
Israel must “ensure with immediate effect that its military does not commit acts that constitute a violation of any of the rights of the Palestinians in Gaza as a protected group under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, including preventing, by any action, the delivery of urgently needed humanitarian assistance,” the court adds as an additional precautionary measure.
Displaced Palestinians on the coastal road after fleeing the Al-Shifa hospital area of Gaza City, near the Nuseirat camp in central Gaza.
Photo:Bloomberg
The Israeli Government has one month, from this order, to present a report to the Court on the measures taken to give effect to these provisional measures.
On December 29, South Africa initiated proceedings against Israel before the ICJ for violating the Genocide Convention with its war in Gaza.
On January 26, the ICJ issued precautionary measures requiring Israel to take “immediate and effective” steps to prevent the commission of genocide against the Palestinians of the Strip.
On March 6, and for the second time since late January, South Africa demanded additional measures against Israel, including an immediate ceasefire, because, it denounced, Israel violates the measures issued in the first place.
Hearing at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague on the legal consequences of the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories.
Photo:EFE
Pretoria alleged the “threat of total famine” faced by Palestinians and the need to “stop the immediate tragedy.”
In response to that request, the Israeli Government assured that getting aid to Gaza “is not a simple matter” and explained that the humanitarian suffering in the Strip is a “painful result of the intensive armed hostilities that Israel neither initiated nor wanted.” , accusing South Africa of “falsely attributing a supposed reality to improper acts” by Israel.
The additional measures announced this Thursday are the response to the South African request, although, again, The court chose not to demand an immediate ceasefire from Israel in Gaza.
In a separate case, Nicaragua initiated ICJ proceedings against the German government for failing to “prevent a plausible genocide” against the Palestinians of Gaza, including by providing “political, financial and military support” to Israel and by withdrawing funding to the UNRWA agency.
The next April 8 and 9 will be the first hearings of this case.
US hopes Israel will not invade Rafah yet
The United States Government hopes that Israel does not invade the Rafah enclave at least until it has been able to propose “alternatives” in meetings in Washington that the Israelis have agreed to reschedule after canceling.
A displaced Palestinian girl washes dishes outside a makeshift tent in a camp next to a street in Rafah
Photo:AFP
The spokesman for the White House National Security Council, John Kirby, said this Thursday in a call with reporters that Both governments are still looking for dates to reschedule those meetings, but they hope Israel does not enter Rafah before then.
We hope to get a better idea of what they think about Rafah, in more specific terms, and also to have an opportunity to share with them some of our ideas about viable alternatives to major ground operations.
“We hope to get a better idea of what they think about Rafah, in more specific terms, and also to have an opportunity to share with them some of our ideas about viable alternatives to major ground operations,” he noted.
“We are talking right now about rescheduling that meeting on Rafah with the Prime Minister’s (Benjamin Netanyahu) office and our Israeli counterparts. We are working right now to finalize the date,” he said.
A delegation led by the Israeli National Security Advisor, Tzachi Hanegbi, and the Israeli Minister of Strategic Affairs, Ron Dermer, – from Netanyahu’s closest circle – had to be in Washington this week for meetings on Rafah.
John Kirby.
Photo:Getty Images
However, Netanyahu canceled the visit after the United States on Monday allowed the UN Security Council to approve a resolution calling for a ceasefire in the Gaza Strip with its abstention..
The United States announced this Wednesday that the Israelis had agreed to reschedule the meetings and Kirby assured that the tone of the contacts between the two countries is being “serious and professional.”
The invasion of Rafah, the last enclave within Gaza that the Israelis have not yet entered and where nearly 1.4 million Palestinians take refuge, is one of the main issues of friction between Washington and Israel.
While Israeli authorities have proposed an invasion of Rafah with the aim of eliminating Hamas cadres that they say are hiding in the enclave, Washington fears that the operation will worsen the humanitarian drama.
