The UN’s highest court has ordered Israel to prevent acts of genocide against Palestinians, but stopped short of calling for a ceasefire.
The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is due to meet next week over the world’s top court’s decision calling on Israel to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza.
The meeting scheduled for Wednesday was convened by Algeria, whose foreign ministry said it would give “binding effect to the declaration of the International Court of Justice on the provisional measures imposed on the Israeli occupation.”
The ICJ said Friday that Israel must prevent acts of genocide in its war against Hamas and allow aid to Gaza, but stopped short of calling for an end to the fighting.
The decision “gives a clear message that to do everything they are asking for, there needs to be a ceasefire for that to happen,” said Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian ambassador to the UN.
Algeria, the Arab representative on the council, requested the meeting Friday evening after a closed-door discussion by the 22-member Arab group at the U.N.
“So fasten your seat belts,” Mansour said, implying that the Arab group would press for the fighting to stop.
Tel Aviv Tribune’s Gabriel Elizondo, reporting from the United Nations in New York, said diplomatic sources indicated Algeria’s proposal would likely call for an immediate truce.
“All eyes are now on the Security Council,” he said, adding that this decision by the country is eagerly awaited.
American veto
The UN Security Council, long divided on the Israeli-Palestinian issue, has accepted only two resolutions since the October 7 Hamas attacks that led to Israel’s massive offensive on the Gaza Strip.
In December, he demanded “large-scale” aid deliveries to Gaza’s besieged population, while Israel’s ally the United States maintained its calls for a ceasefire despite the international pressure.
The Hamas attacks on October 7 killed around 1,140 people in Israel, according to authorities.
Palestinian fighters have also captured around 250 people and Israel says 132 remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 28 of them.
Israel vowed to crush Hamas and launched a military offensive that, according to Gaza’s health ministry, killed at least 26,257 people, about 70 percent of them women and children.
The Hague-based ICJ, while refraining from ordering an immediate end to the nearly four-month-old war, said Israel must do everything to “prevent the commission of all acts within the scope of application” of the 1948 United Nations Genocide Convention.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rejected the ICJ ruling and said his country would continue to defend itself and its citizens while adhering to international law.
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