Gaza war: ICJ to deliver order on S/Africa’s application today

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has scheduled Friday (today) for its order on the application filed by the Government of South Africa seeking to stop the war between Israel and Hamas in Palestine. South Africa had filed a request for the indication of provisional measures against Israel over the ongoing violent conflict in the […]

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has scheduled Friday (today) for its order on the application filed by the Government of South Africa seeking to stop the war between Israel and Hamas in Palestine.

South Africa had filed a request for the indication of provisional measures against Israel over the ongoing violent conflict in the Gaza Strip under the Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.  

A statement on the court’s website indicated that the president of the court, Judge Joan E. Donoghue, will read the order at 1 pm at the Peace Palace in The Hague on Friday.

South Africa had on December 29, 2023, filed an application instituting proceedings against Israel concerning alleged violations by Israel of its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (the “Genocide Convention”) about Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

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The site reads that, in its application, South Africa also requested the court to indicate provisional measures 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.”

The requests, which are under the Arbitration Rule 39(1), are typically for the tribunal to consider whether the provisional measures are necessary, urgent and required to avoid irreparable harm.

Following South Africa’s application, it made an oral argument on January 11 while Israel made its oral argument on January 12.

The delegation of South Africa led by the Ambassador of the Republic of South Africa to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, as Agent, Mr Vusimuzi Madonsela and Legal Counsellor, Embassy of the Republic of South Africa in the Kingdom of the Netherlands, as Co-Agent, Mr Cornelius Scholtz, contended that as a State party to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the country requests the court to as a matter of extreme urgency, pending the court’s determination of this case on the merits, to indicate provisional measures about Palestinian people as a group protected against the Genocide Convention, that Israel suspends its military operation in and against Gaza, and that Israeli military units take no steps in furtherance of the military operations.

The delegation also requested that among others “the State of Israel shall, by its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, concerning the Palestinian people as a group protected by the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, desist from the commission of any acts within the scope of Article II of the Convention, in particular: killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to the members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; and imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.

In their reply, the delegation of Israel was led by the Deputy Attorney General for International Law, Ministry of Justice of the State of Israel, Mr Gilad Noam, the Legal Adviser, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the State of Israel, Mr Tal Becker, and the Principal Deputy Legal Adviser of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the State of Israel, Ms Tamar Kaplan Tourgeman, as Co-Agents submitted that the court should remove the case from the General List.

The delegation said, “In accordance with Article 60, paragraph 2, of the Rules of Court, for the reasons given during the hearing of 12 January 2024 and any other reasons the Court might deem appropriate, the State of Israel hereby requests the Court to reject the request for the indication of provisional measures submitted by South Africa.”