It has been a week since the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued an emergency ruling in the genocide case filed by South Africa against Israel in December.
In its interim ruling, the Hague court ordered Israel to comply with six interim measures. Among these, the tribunal ordered Israel to take all possible measures to prevent acts of genocide, to prevent and punish direct and public incitement to genocide, and to take immediate and effective measures to ensure the provision of basic services and humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza.
The court also ordered Israel to preserve evidence of the genocide and submit a report to the ICJ within a month explaining how it is complying with these orders.
But on Wednesday, South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor said Israel had so far ignored the decision by killing hundreds more civilians in just a few days in Gaza.
So what has Israel done so far to comply with the ICJ’s orders?
Has Israel taken steps to prevent acts of genocide?
In the week following the ICJ’s decision, Israeli forces continued their military offensive in Gaza, and nearly 1,000 more Palestinians were killed.
The number of Palestinian casualties between January 26, the date of the ruling, and Thursday was 936, according to reports from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which receives the figures from the Gaza Health Ministry.
“Hundreds of people have been killed in the last three or four days, and Israel clearly believes it has the right to do whatever it wants,” Pandor said Wednesday.
Despite the move, hospitals also continued to be targets of Israeli attacks, putting even more pressure on Gaza’s crumbling health system. The Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza came under fire this week, and witnesses reported that tanks pounded areas of Khan Younis, particularly around Nasser Hospital, the largest hospital still operating in southern Gaza.
In addition to Nasser Hospital, Israel continued its 11-day siege against al-Amal Hospital in Khan Younis, according to the Palestinian Red Crescent Society (PRCS), which runs it. The PRCS said Israeli forces stormed al-Amal for the third time on Thursday.
Israeli forces have denied the PRCS claims. “There is no assault on the hospital, no entry into it or ordering people out at gunpoint,” an army spokesperson said on Tuesday. Israeli.
Has Israel taken any controversial new steps since the ICJ ruling?
On Thursday, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant made clear that Israel has no plans to end its military operations in Gaza anytime soon. Gallant was one of three Israeli officials personally criticized by the ICJ for comments that could be seen as inciting genocide against Palestinians,
At a press briefing on Thursday, Gallant said the Israeli military operation in Khan Younis, launched last week, had been a success, paving the way for his forces to now advance on Rafah, on the southern border of the enclave with Egypt.
“We are carrying out our missions in Khan Younis, and we will also reach Rafah and eliminate the terrorist elements that threaten us,” Gallant said.
Rafah is full of internally displaced Palestinians, who lack places to go in the Gaza Strip. “Thousands of Palestinians continued to flee to the south, which is already home to more than half of the population of some 2.3 million,” Jens Laerke, OCHA spokesperson, said on Friday. “Rafah is a pressure cooker of despair, and we fear for what comes next. »
It is unclear where Israel plans to move Gaza’s population if Rafah becomes the new epicenter of its attacks.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military also confirmed this week that it was pumping seawater into Hamas’s tunnel network. But experts say it could destroy Gaza’s groundwater and soil, leaving the strip’s already desperate population with even less access to clean water and agricultural opportunities. The Genocide Convention covers intentional actions aimed at bringing about the physical destruction, in whole or in part, of a distinct ethnic group such as the Palestinians.
Has Israel punished anyone for making genocidal statements?
There has yet been no public announcement on what action Israel plans to take against Israeli ministers and officials who have made statements inciting genocide.
Genocidal rhetoric is an integral part of South Africa’s case against Israel at the World Court.
Citing Scripture, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu himself said in a televised speech in late October: “You must remember what Amalek did to you. » The Amalekites were persecutors of the biblical Israelites, and in Scripture God commands their destruction.
Two days after Hamas’ attacks on Israel on October 7, Gallant declared that Israel was “fighting human animals” when he announced a full siege of Gaza.
Deputy Knesset Speaker Nissim Vaturi of Netanyahu’s Likud party wrote on X that Israelis had a common goal: “to wipe the Gaza Strip from the face of the Earth.”
Israeli Heritage Minister Amichay Eliyahu, of the far-right Jewish Power party, suggested that Israel would drop a nuclear bomb on Gaza and said there were “no uninvolved civilians” in the territory.
Rights groups and activists said such comments went unchecked, dehumanizing Palestinians and inciting violence. The statements remain unanswered.
In fact, many government ministers, including National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, both from the far-right parties in the ruling coalition, attended a conference last Sunday on settlers in Jerusalem, calling on Israel to rebuild settlements in Gaza and establish settlements. more in the occupied West Bank. Such a position has been criticized as calling for the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians.
Has Israel taken steps to ensure that humanitarian aid reaches Gaza?
Since the beginning of December, aid and fuel trucks have been stuck outside the Gaza Strip, prevented from entering because of the Israeli siege and bombing of the enclave. Because the bombings have not stopped, the flow of aid continues to be hampered, aid groups said.
On the same day that the ICJ ordered Israel to take interim measures to ensure that basic services and humanitarian aid could reach civilians, Israel alleged that 12 employees of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine refugees (UNRWA) had been directly involved in the Hamas attack. on Israel on October 7.
Following this, the US, UK, Germany and other major donors suspended funding to UNRWA, which is the main humanitarian agency in Gaza providing food, shelter and supplies medical.
UNRWA and other UN agencies have warned that this could lead UNRWA to no longer be able to provide humanitarian services to Gaza starting this month, plunging the enclave into famine . No other humanitarian agency can replace UNRWA or match its services in Gaza.
Can Israel be sanctioned for non-compliance with ICJ orders?
The court’s decision is legally binding on Israel. If it is found not to have complied with the ICJ’s orders, any UN Security Council member state can refer the matter to the UN’s highest decision-making body, which will then vote on whether to demand that Israel respect the interim measures.
If it still refuses to do so, Israel could face UN sanctions, which could include economic or trade sanctions, arms embargoes and travel bans. The United Nations Charter also allows the Security Council to go further and intervene by force.
However, any sanctions could be vetoed by the United States, Israel’s close ally. He has repeatedly vetoed resolutions on Israel.
Neve Gordon, professor of international law at Queen Mary University of London, told Tel Aviv Tribune that a resolution drafted by a Security Council member state could carry different weight than a decision taken by the highest court of the world. If the United States vetoes a Security Council resolution based on the ICJ decision, “it will expose the duplicity of the United States like no other veto before,” Gordon said.
Israel continues to claim it is targeting Hamas and acting in self-defense after the October 7 attacks. The Gaza Health Ministry’s casualty count does not distinguish between fighters and civilians, but it indicates that the majority of the dead are women and children.
