Israel Asks ICJ Not to Order New Measures in Gaza Over Aid

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Facts

  • Amid conditions that have been described as famine, Israel's legal team on Monday wrote to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), asking it not to impose additional measures on Israel to expand humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip.1
  • Israel's response came after South Africa, which accuses Israel of violating the Genocide Convention in Gaza in an ongoing case that could take years, sent an application to the court.2
  • In the meantime, having already been successful in persuading the court to impose provisional measures in January — which included ordering Israel not to take any further acts that could be construed as genocide — South Africa has since written to the court on three occasions alleging that Israel is deliberately causing the suffering of Palestinians by withholding aid to Gaza.2
  • Israel's 21-page letter to the court responded to South Africa's latest filing on Mar. 6. Israel's legal team said: "Not only is this fresh request highly unusual in its timing, so close to the earlier requests, but it is also unusual in its bellicose and offensive tone. The accusations made therein are outrageous and categorically denied."3
  • Israel "has real concern for the humanitarian situation and innocent lives, as demonstrated by the actions it has and is taking," the filing continued.4
  • It added that South Africa's allegations are "wholly unfounded in fact and law, morally repugnant, and represent an abuse both of the Genocide Convention and of the court itself."4

Sources: 1Al Jazeera, 2Reuters, 3The International Court of Justice and 4The Times of Israel.

Narratives

  • Pro-Israel narrative, as provided by The Times of Israel. This, like all other applications submitted by South Africa, is neither grounded in fact nor law. It's morally repugnant and is an abuse of the Genocide Convention itself. The court should not be imposing any additional measures.
  • Pro-Palestine narrative, as provided by Al Jazeera. Israel's response to the ICJ comes at a time when many are describing the conditions there as famine. Irrespective of this latest application, the court has already ordered Israel to increase the flow of aid and decrease the suffering of Palestinian civilians. That, plainly speaking, has not been the case.

Predictions