Top UN court rules Israel must contain civilian deaths in Gaza, stops short of cease-fire demand

The International Court of Justice (ICJ), the top United Nations judicial body, ruled Friday that Israel must contain the civilian death toll in Gaza but did not issue an order demanding a cease-fire in the besieged strip.

The preliminary ruling comes after a plea from South Africa to order a cease-fire in Gaza and stop the displacement of the Palestinian people, among other preliminary requests in a genocide case expected to take years.

The court said Israel must take all steps necessary to protect against the killing of Palestinian civilians and the physical destruction of infrastructure but diverged from South Africa’s more immediate calls to halt all military activity.

ICJ President Joan Donoghue said Israel must take “measures in its power to prevent and punish the direct and public incitement to commit genocide” against the Palestinian people,  citing inflammatory remarks from Israeli politicians throughout the course of the war, following Hamas’s deadly Oct 7. attack on Israel.

The court also called for Israel to submit a report within one month on the measures it has implemented.

“The court considers that there is urgency in the sense that there is a real and imminent risk that irreparable prejudice will be caused to the rights found by the court can be plausible before it gives its final decision,” Donoghue said.

Additionally, the court rejected Israel’s request to throw out the genocide case against it brought by South Africa.

Donoghue said the court issued its determination on a procedural matter of whether South Africa’s complaint that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza falls within the court’s jurisdiction, pointing to Israel’s rejection of South Africa’s complaint.

“At the present stage of the proceedings, the court is not required to ascertain whether any violations of Israel’s obligations under the Genocide Convention have occurred,” Donoghue said in a statement.

The court concluded that it has jurisdiction pursuant to Article 9 of the Genocide Convention to consider the case. Donoghue said because South Africa alleges genocide against Israel, and Israel denies this, the dispute between the two parties allows the ICJ to take on the case. 

“The court concludes prima facia that South Africa has standing to submit to it the dispute with Israel concerning alleged violations of obligations under the Genocide Convention,” Donoghue said.

The court in its remarks noted the context in which South Africa’s claims of genocide are being considered; Israel launched its war against Hamas after the militant group attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing an estimated roughly 1,200 people and taking 240 others hostage, more than 100 of whom remain held in the Gaza Strip.

While Hamas is not a party to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide, the court said the armed group is bound by international law, just as Israel is held to account over its military operation in the Gaza Strip.

“The court deems it necessary to emphasize that all parties to the conflict in the Gaza Strip are bound by international humanitarian law,” Donoghue said. “It is gravely concerned about the fate of the hostages abducted during the attack in Israel on seven October 2023. And held since then, by Hamas and other armed groups, and calls for their immediate and unconditional release.”

The ICJ also ordered Israel to increase the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza, where the U.N. has warned of a severe hunger crisis and a lack of access to basic necessities, including medical care.

Although Israel took the ICJ case seriously and sent a high-level legal team to the court to defend its case, it’s not clear how the order will be interpreted and obeyed. Russia ignored an ICJ order to stop invading Ukraine.

The ICJ can appeal to the U.N. Security Council, but Israel’s main ally, the U.S., has veto power there and has already used it to protect Israel during the war.

The broader genocide case could take years, and the ICJ has never ruled an entire country has committed genocide before.

South Africa’s oral arguments earlier this month accused Israel of widespread destruction in Gaza that violates the Genocide Convention, along with a history of oppression against the Palestinian people and fringe statements from Israeli officials calling to wipe out Gaza. It argued that the deadly Oct. 7 Hamas attacks do not justify Israel’s blanket war in Gaza.

Israel argued that its war is a legitimate response to the Hamas attacks, a group it accused of committing genocide against the Israeli people.

More than 25,000 people in Gaza have killed since the war began in October. That figure, from the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry, does not distinguish between fighters and civilians.

Updated at 9:07 a.m. ET