The UN Supreme Court has said Israel must prevent genocidal actions in Gaza and facilitate "urgently needed" humanitarian aid in the besieged territory, AFP reports.
The court urged Israel to refrain from possible genocidal actions as it continues its military operation in Gaza, but did not order a ceasefire.
Israel must take "immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to address the Palestinians' adverse living conditions," the court said.
At this stage, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is not considering whether Israel is actually committing genocide in Gaza, as this is a process that will likely take several years.
But the court warned Israel to "take all measures in its power to prevent" actions that could fall under the UN Genocide Convention, established in 1948 as the world shook off the horrors of the Nazi Holocaust.
He also said Israel must "prevent and punish" any incitement to genocide.
The case was brought by South Africa, which accused Israel of violating the UN Genocide Convention.
Over two days of hearings earlier this month in the gilded hall of the Peace Palace, where the International Court of Justice sits, lawyers for both sides battled over the interpretation of that convention.
South Africa has accused Israel of "genocidal" actions that were intended to cause "the destruction of a significant part of the Palestinian national, racial and ethnic group."
It called on the court to order Israel to "immediately cease" its military operations in Gaza and allow humanitarian aid to reach civilians there.
Israel dismissed the lawsuit as a "grossly distorted story" and said that if any genocidal acts were committed, they were committed against Israel during the 7 October Hamas attacks.
"What Israel seeks to achieve by acting in Gaza is not to destroy a people, but to defend a people, its people, who are under attack on multiple fronts," said Tal Becker, Israel's top lawyer.
The question now is whether the court's decisions will be implemented.
Although the ICJ’s rulings are legally binding, it has no mechanism to enforce them and sometimes they are completely ignored - for example, it has ordered Russia to halt its invasion of Ukraine.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has already hinted that Israel will not comply with any decision, saying that "no one will stop us", not even the verdict in The Hague.
However, experts believe that in addition to the significant symbolic impact of the ruling, it could have tangible consequences on the ground.
"It will be much harder for other countries to continue to support Israel if a neutral third party finds that there is a risk of genocide," says Juliet McIntyre, an international law expert at the University of South Australia.
"States can withdraw military or other support for Israel to avoid this," she added.
The October 7 Hamas attack resulted in the deaths of about 1,140 people in Israel, most of them civilians.
Since then, at least 26,083 Palestinians have died in the Gaza Strip in Israeli bombardments and ground offensives, about 70% of them women, young children and adolescents, according to the Hamas government's health ministry. / BGNES
