The International Court of Justice at the Hague has put a series of provisional measures in place to ensure "the right of Palestinians in Gaza to be protected from genocide" but stopped short of ordering a ceasefire.
South Africa brought a case to the UN court accusing Israel of committing genocidal acts during its war in the Gaza strip.
Delivering its interim judgement on Friday, the court stated that Israel must take all actions within its power to prevent anything relating to the genocide convention, take measures to prevent and punish those inciting genocide, and take "immediate and effective" measures to ensure humanitarian aid and basic services.
The first two measures passed 15-2, with the second two passing by 16-1.
However, the court stopped short of ordering a ceasefire. South Africa, which brought the case, had asked for the court to order Israel to halt its operation.
The decision does not mean that Israel has been found guilty of genocide, with a ruling not expected on that for several years.
However, the interim measures are designed to prevent the situation getting worse as a matter of urgency,
Judge Joan E Donoghue said the court had jurisdiction on the case, and would not be throwing out the case per the request of Israel.
She laid out the humanitarian situation in Gaza, as well as statements by Israeli military and political figures.
This included a post on social media by the country's Minister for Energy and Infrastructure in which he wrote: "They will not receive a drop of water or a single battery until they leave the world".
Gaza is blockaded by Israel, and the flow of electricity and water is controlled by the country. It was criticised for shutting off both power and water in the early days of the conflict.
The court found "at least some of the rights claimed by South Africa and for which it is seeking protection are plausible, the right of Palestinians in Gaza to be protected from genocide".
It concluded "the civilian population in the Gaza strip remains extremely vulnerable", and noted Benjamin Netanyahu's statement that "the war will take many more long months".
Judge Donoghue then turned to the humanitarian situation, with many lacking food, clean water and healthcare.
She said: "In these circumstances the court considers that the catastrophic humanitarian condition in the Gaza strip is at risk of deteriorating further before the court renders its final judgement.
"The court considers that there is urgency, in the sense that there is a real and imminent risk that irreparable prejudice will be caused before it gives its final decision.
"It is therefore necessary, pending its final decision, for the court to indicate certain measures to protect the rights claimed by South Africa that the court has found to be plausible.
"In the present case, having considered the terms of the provisional measures requested, the court finds that the measures need not be identical to those requested.
"The court considers that Israel must, in accordance with its obligations under the Genocide Convention, in relation to the Palestinians in Gaza, take all measures within its power to prevent all acts within the scope of article 2.
"The court is also of the view that Israel must take measures within its power to prevent the public incitement to commit genocide in the Gaza strip.
"The court further considers that Israel must take immediate and effective measures to allow desperately needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to address the adverse conditions faced by Palestinians in the Gaza strip."
Israel was also ordered to prevent the destruction of any evidence which could be used in a genocide case, which includes not denying access to this evidence by fact-finding missions, international mandates and other bodies to the Gaza strip.
This passed by 15-2.
Israel was given a month to submit a report as to how it was taking these measures.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel