AA / London / Burak Bir
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) indicated, on Thursday, at the request of South Africa, additional precautionary measures, including in particular the unhindered delivery of aid to Gaza, as part of the criminal proceedings of genocide committed against Israel.
“The catastrophic living conditions endured by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have deteriorated further,” the ICJ decision said, referring to developments since its January 26 order.
South Africa seized the ICJ at the end of 2023, accusing Israel of failing to respect its commitments under the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. On March 6, it requested additional precautionary measures due to the evolution of the situation.
The ICJ said it was indicating new measures because the provisional measures indicated in the previous order “do not fully respond to the consequences arising from the evolution of the situation.”
Since January 26, “the catastrophic living conditions endured by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have deteriorated further, particularly given the prolonged and widespread deprivation of food and other basic necessities to which Palestinians in the Gaza Strip were subjugated,” the Court declared.
The ICJ reaffirmed previous measures and called on Israel to “take all necessary and effective measures to ensure the ‘unimpeded provision’ of basic services and humanitarian assistance urgently needed by the Palestinians, including food , water, electricity, fuel, shelter, clothing, hygiene and sanitation needs, as well as medical supplies and medical care throughout the Gaza Strip, in in particular increasing the capacities and number of land crossing points and keeping them open as long as necessary.”
It also ordered Israel to ensure, with immediate effect, that its army “does not commit acts constituting a violation of the rights of Palestinians in Gaza as a group protected by the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crime of genocide, in particular by preventing, by any action whatsoever, the delivery of urgently needed humanitarian aid”.
Israel has been carrying out a deadly military offensive against the Palestinian enclave since the cross-border attack launched on October 7 by the Palestinian resistance movement, Hamas, during which some 1,200 Israelis were killed, according to Tel authorities. Aviv.
Since then, 32,552 Palestinians have been killed and some 74,980 others injured, according to the latest report released by Palestinian health authorities.
The Israeli army also imposed a blockade on the Gaza Strip, exposing most of the population, particularly those in the north, to starvation.
Israel’s war, now in its 174th day, has driven 85 percent of Gaza’s population internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, drinking water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure was damaged or destroyed, according to the United Nations.
*Translated from English by Mourad Belhaj
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