[Justice, Statue, Lady Justice. Photo Credit to Pixabay]

On January 26, 2024, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to prevent its forces from committing any genocidal acts against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

The interim ruling from the Hague in the case South Africa v. Israel finds that the possibility of genocidal acts occurring against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip is plausible and that Israel should “take all measures within its power” to desist from forcing civilians out of their homes or killing Palestinians in Gaza, as well as to allow humanitarian aid to Gazan civilians.

The World Court also expressed concern about the welfare of the hostages taken during the October 7 attacks and called for Hamas to unconditionally free them.

However, it is essential to note that the ruling does not declare a ceasefire in Gaza, contrary to the request of the plaintiff in the case, South Africa.

This ruling was based on the Genocide Convention, the first human rights treaty adopted by the United Nations General Assembly.

The Genocide Convention was created in the wake of the tragedies experienced by European Jews and other marginalized groups during the Holocaust, based on the principle of “never again.”

Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, displayed mixed reactions to the rulings of the World Court.

Netanyahu was furious at any claims of genocide as anti-Semitic and initially demanded that the case be thrown out altogether, but praised the lack of demand for a ceasefire from the Court, claiming "Like every country, Israel has a basic right to defend itself ... The World Court in the Hague justly rejected the outrageous demand to deprive us of this right."

On the other side of the case, the South African government has made a press release praising the Court’s ruling, calling it “a decisive victory for the international rule of law” while hoping that Israel complies with it.

The ruling was primarily unanimous, with 15 votes in favor and two dissents from Judge Julia Sebutinde of Uganda on all measures and ad hoc Judge Aharon Barak of Israel (brought in specifically for this case) on 4 out of 6 measures.

Notably, while the International Court of Justice is a court of the United Nations, it has no real power to enforce its rulings.

The International Court of Justice has made previous rulings that have been ignored.

During the early days of the Russo-Ukrainian War, the World Court ordered in a nearly unanimous ruling that Russia was to stop any and all military operations in Ukraine.

Judging by the continued Russian military presence in Ukraine, it is safe to assume that the Kremlin has not abided by that order.

This ruling comes in the wake of mass death and tragedy in both Israel and Palestine, with Israel seeing over 1200 deaths in the Hamas invasions on October 7 and the Gaza Health Ministry reporting 26,083 deaths due to air raids in the days since.

How and when Israel’s armed forces will respond to the ruling remains to be seen.