UN Security Council to discuss ICJ Gaza war ruling on Wednesday
The UN Security Council will meet this week after the International Court of Justice called on Israel to prevent genocidal acts in Gaza, the council’s presidency said.
The meeting on Wednesday was called by Algeria, whose Foreign Ministry said it would give “binding effect to the pronouncement of the ICJ on the provisional measures imposed on the Israeli occupation”.
The court on Friday said Israel must prevent genocidal acts in its war with Hamas and allow aid into Gaza, but stopped short of calling for an end to the fighting.
The decision “gives the clear message that in order to do all the things that they are asking for, you need a ceasefire for it to happen,” Palestinian ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour said. “So fasten your seat belts,” he said, hinting that the Arab Group, represented on the council by Algeria, would push for one.
The UN Security Council, long divided on the Israeli-Palestinian issue, has only agreed to two resolutions since the October 7 Hamas attacks sparked the latest round of fighting.
In December, it demanded aid deliveries “at scale” to Gaza’s besieged population, while Israel’s ally and benefactor the US has opposed calls for a ceasefire despite pressure.
The fighting started with the attack by Hamas that resulted in 1,200 deaths in Israel, according to the Prime Minister’s Office.
Militants seized about 250 hostages and Israel claims that about 132 of them remain in Gaza. Israel has vowed to crush Hamas and launched an offensive that the Health Ministry in Gaza said has killed more than 26,400 people, 70 per cent of them women and children.
The ICJ, while refraining from ordering an immediate halt to the war, said Israel must do everything to “prevent the commission of all acts within the scope” of the 1948 UN Genocide Convention.