The United Nations International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Thursday demanded that Israel provide the Palestinians in Gaza with the basic services and humanitarian assistance necessary in view of “the spread of hunger and starvation” in the Strip. UN judges have also called on Israel to ensure that its troops do not violate the rights of Gazans, considered a protected group under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (1948). The claim is part of a second round of precautionary measures that are added to those issued on January 26 at the request of South Africa so that the Jewish State avoids genocide.
The ICJ order notes that “the catastrophic living conditions of the Palestinians in Gaza have deteriorated further,” and hence new provisional measures have been issued. In particular, the court explains its decision “in view of the widespread and prolonged lack of food and other essential needs to which the inhabitants of the Strip have been subjected.”
Israel must do everything necessary “to ensure that humanitarian aid and services, including food, water, electricity, gasoline, clothing, hygiene, shelter, as well as medicines and medical assistance, arrive unimpeded throughout Gaza,” it demands. the court. To do this, Israel will have to “expand and keep open the necessary time” the border crossings in the Strip. The Government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must report to the court within a month on compliance with these new provisional measures.
South Africa request
As already happened in January, it has been South Africa that has requested the reinforcement of protection for the Palestinians. The court indicates that the new measures are necessary “because the first series does not fully address the consequences of the changes carried out on the ground.” Both precautionary series derive from the lawsuit filed by South Africa to the ICJ alleging that Israel supposedly has “genocidal intent” against the Palestinian population (more than 1% of the inhabitants of Gaza have died due to the military incursion). To this end, he invoked the Convention for the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide, of which both countries are part. Israel strongly denies that it is carrying out genocide and justifies its campaign as self-defense.
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South Africa requested the extension of protection for Gazans on March 6 to the UN Court. Israel has not appeared in the course of the decades-long sessions to the lawsuit, but it has stated in writing that it considers the South African requests “an abuse of both the Convention and the court itself.” The Israeli Government, on the other hand, assures that it does not restrict the entry of humanitarian aid into Gaza. The United Nations, however, points out that deliveries are hindered by the Israeli Army, the war itself and public order problems.
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