The UN Security Council will convene on Wednesday to discuss the ruling of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that urged Israel on Friday to refrain from any possible act of “genocide” in the Gaza Strip, according to the French presidency of the council.
The meeting, which was requested by Algeria, aims to “give binding force to the ICJ’s ruling on the temporary measures imposed on the Israeli occupation,” the Algerian Foreign Ministry said.
The ICJ, based in The Hague, called on Israel to avoid any possible act amounting to “genocide” in Gaza and to allow humanitarian aid to reach the territory, as fears grow for the fate of civilians trapped by the war between the Israeli army and Hamas.
However, the court did not ask for a ceasefire in Gaza, where the Israeli army is conducting a destructive campaign in response to the unprecedented attack by Hamas in Israel on October 7. The court said Israel, which controls all international aid crossings into Gaza under a complete blockade, must take “immediate steps” to enable the delivery of “urgently needed humanitarian assistance to the Palestinians”.
The court has no means of enforcing its decisions.
Egypt welcomed the ICJ’s decision to consider the preliminary jurisdiction of Israel to commit the crime of genocide in Gaza and to demand the implementation of several immediate interim measures to protect the Palestinians.
The most important of these is that Israel stops killing Palestinians and causing them physical or mental harm, or subjecting them to living conditions that could lead to their destruction, as well as the court’s demand that Israel ensures the immediate provision of urgent humanitarian needs in Gaza.
Egypt expressed its hope that the ICJ would call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, as it has done in similar cases, as the main guarantee for the implementation of the necessary and urgent measures approved by it to protect Palestinian civilians in the strip.
Egypt stressed the need to respect and implement the ICJ’s decisions as the main judicial organ of the United Nations.
Egypt also urged Israel to immediately implement all the measures contained in the ICJ’s ruling, which marks the beginning of the path to enforce the rules of international law and international humanitarian law on protecting the Palestinian people, and end the attacks and violations committed against them, which killed more than 26,000 innocent civilians, two thirds of whom are women and children. It reiterated its call on the Security Council and the influential international actors to take responsibility for the clear demand for a comprehensive and lasting ceasefire.
Egypt affirmed its continued efforts and contacts in cooperation with UN agencies and international and regional parties to end the crisis and prevent any measures aimed at the forced displacement of Palestinians, and to ensure access to urgent humanitarian and relief assistance to Gaza in a sufficient way to meet the needs of the Palestinian people in the strip.
