The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has ordered Israel to prevent acts of genocide against the Palestinians and do more to help civilians in Gaza.

The ICJ, on Friday, January 26, 2024, however, stopped short of ordering a ceasefire as requested by the plaintiff, South Africa.

While the ruling denied Palestinian hopes of a binding order to halt the war in Gaza, the World Court 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 there was a case to be heard about whether Palestinian rights were being denied in a war it said was causing grievous humanitarian harm.

It also called for Palestinian armed groups to release hostages captured in the October 7 attacks on Israel that precipitated the conflict.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said the decision was a welcome reminder “no state is above the law”.

Senior Hamas official, Sami Abu Zuhri, said the decision would contribute to “isolating the occupation and exposing its crimes in Gaza”.

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Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, said 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,” he told Reuters.

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

Israel had sought to have the case thrown out when it was brought to the ICJ earlier this month. South Africa accused Israel of state-led genocide in its offensive, begun after Hamas militants stormed into Israel killing 1,200 and kidnapping more than 240.

It asked the court to grant emergency measures to halt the fighting, which has killed more than 26,000 Palestinians and displaced the majority of the population in a more than three-month campaign of intensive bombardment.

The ICJ judges ordered Israel to take all measures within its power to prevent its troops from committing genocide, punish acts of incitement, take steps to improve the humanitarian situation, and report back on its progress in a month.

It did not decide the merits of the genocide allegations, which could take years. Although the ruling cannot be appealed, the court has no mechanism to enforce its decision.

The Star