UN Court Stops Short Of Gaza Ceasefire, Says Israel Must Prevent Genocide

The Hague: 

The World Court ordered Israel on Friday to prevent acts of genocide against the Palestinians and do more to help civilians, although it stopped short of ordering a ceasefire as requested by South Africa.

While the ruling denied Palestinian hopes of a binding order to halt the war in Gaza, it also represented a legal setback for Israel, which had hoped to throw out a case brought under the genocide convention established in the ashes of the Holocaust.

The court found that Palestinians were protected under the convention, and that there was a case to be heard about whether their rights were being denied in a war that the court said was causing grievous humanitarian harm. It also called for Palestinian armed groups to release hostages captured in the Oct. 7 attacks that precipitated the conflict.

Palestinian officials largely hailed the decision. The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said it was a welcome reminder “no state is above the law”. Sami Abu Zuhri, a senior Hamas official told Reuters the decision would contribute to “isolating the occupation and exposing its crimes in Gaza.”

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that the court had “justly rejected the outrageous demand” to deprive Israel of what he called the “basic right to defend itself”, by ordering it to halt fighting.

“But the mere claim that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians is not only false, it’s outrageous, and the willingness of the court to even discuss this is a disgrace that will not be erased for generations.”

Israeli Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir mocked the ruling in a two-word social media post with a Yiddish-style putdown: “Hague shmague”