The International Court of Justice, the United Nations' highest legal body, is scheduled to rule on Friday on whether to issue interim measures against Israel for genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
Representatives of South Africa, which filed the case against Israel earlier this month, are demanding that the International Court of Justice order a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. The International Court of Justice's ruling this week is expected to address emergency measures against Israel, but will likely not rule on the issue of genocide more generally. If the case moves forward, it could take years, according to the AP.
Genocide is the destruction of a group of people with the intent to destroy a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group – in whole or in part. Genocide can also include situations in which one party imposes on a group living conditions intended to destroy the group, according to the Genocide Convention.
Judicial bodies, including the International Court of Justice, have previously determined the events to be genocide, including the case of the killing of Bosnian Muslims in Bosnia. Srebrenica In 1995.
Israel has killed 25,700 Palestinians since it launched war on Gaza after Hamas attacked Israel in October, according to figures released Wednesday by the Hamas-run Palestinian Health Ministry.
The development of the International Court of Justice comes at a time when Israel begins a new phase of the war, as it said it intends to be more targeted with its operations on “terrorism hotspots” in Gaza. Despite claims that it intends to go after Hamas only, the Israeli army has done so It failed to limit civilian casualtiesIn some cases, it has attacked areas it had previously designated as safe for civilians.
Israel has also imposed an air, land and sea blockade on Gaza since 2007.
The Biden administration has gone to great lengths to acknowledge that Israel could do a better job of not killing innocent civilians, while also claiming that Israel's war in Gaza does not constitute genocide.
John Kirby, coordinator of the White House National Security Council, said earlier that the accusation was “baseless, counterproductive, and has absolutely no basis in reality whatsoever.”
“The accusation that Israel is committing genocide, we believe this accusation is baseless,” Vedant Patel, deputy spokesman for the State Department, told reporters earlier this week.
“Israel has a moral and strategic duty to take additional steps to ensure that impacts on civilians are minimized,” Patel added. “We have been very clear that further steps must be taken, and that the Palestinian civilian casualties and lives already lost are too many.”
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