The address of the opening session of Presiding judge Joan Donoghue is broadcast in the media room at the International Court of Justice, or World Court, in The Hague, Netherlands, Jan 26, 2024. (PHOTO / AP)

THE HAGUE/GAZA – The International Court of Justice on Friday ordered Israel to take measures to prevent acts of genocide against the Palestinians and do more to help civilians in the Gaza Strip.

By a large majority of the 17 judges, the court ordered Israel to take all measures within its power to prevent genocide acts, to ensure that its military does not commit genocide, to halt incitement against Palestinians as a group, to preserve evidence and to take immediate measures to ensure humanitarian aid.

"The court is aware of the human tragedy in the region," Judge Joan E. Donoghue, president of the court, said. 

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"The plight of children is particularly heartbreaking. An entire generation of children in Gaza is traumatized. Their future is in jeopardy."

The court did not order Israel to suspend its military operations in Gaza, one of the main requests submitted by South Africa

In addition, the ICJ asked Israel to report on the measures regarding the orders within one month. The orders are, according to the court, legally binding.

The court did not order Israel to suspend its military operations in Gaza, one of the main requests submitted by South Africa. 

It called on Hamas to release all Israeli hostages.

Judge Donoghue said that an indication of provisional measures was justified as at least some alleged acts and omissions by Israel in Gaza fall under the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Therefore, the court rejected Israel's wish to drop the case.

On Dec 29, 2023, South Africa filed an application to the ICJ for proceedings against Israel, concerning alleged violations by Israel of its obligations under the Convention of Genocide related to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. It accused Israel of state-led genocide in its offensive, begun after Hamas militants stormed into Israel killing 1,200 and kidnapping more than 240. Israel sought to have the case thrown out.

In this application, South Africa also requested the court to indicate provisional measures in order to "protect against further, severe and irreparable harm to the rights of the Palestinian people under the Genocide Convention," and "to ensure Israel's compliance with its obligations under the Genocide Convention not to engage in genocide, and to prevent and to punish genocide."

Judge Donoghue said that a definite ruling on committing genocide by Israel is not possible yet. 

Observers say that such a ruling could take years.

Two groups of several dozen demonstrators, pro-Palestinian and pro-Israeli, waited outside the Peace Palace for the court ruling. Both groups were significantly smaller than those on the two previous public hearing days on Jan 11-12, 2024.

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As the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, the ICJ was established by the UN Charter in 1945. It has the power "to indicate, if it considers that circumstances so require, any provisional measures," while resolving legal disputes between countries. 

Its judgment is final and without appeal.

Palestinians try to extinguish a fire at a building of an UNRWA vocational training center which displaced people use as a shelter, after being targeted by Israeli tank shill in Khan Younis, southern Gaza Strip, Jan 24, 2024. (PHOTO / AP)

Israel mounts attack

Israeli tanks are targeting Al-Amal hospital in the southern Gaza Strip city of Khan Younis, resulting in several injuries, the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) said in a statement on Friday.

"The hospital has been besieged with heavy gunfire. Our teams are unable to reach the injured people," added the statement.

Khan Younis has witnessed during the past days the intensification of Israeli attacks, the fiercest since the Hamas-Israel conflict started last October.

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Residents said gunbattles raged overnight, with Israeli forces blowing up buildings and houses in the western part of the city in what has become one of its biggest offensives so far, waged among hundreds of thousands of displaced civilians.

Gaza officials said the death toll from the campaign, now in its fourth month, has risen to 26,083, with 183 killed in the past 24 hours and many more feared trapped under flattened buildings.