The International Court of Justice has handed down a preliminary ruling instructing Israel to prevent a genocide from happening in Gaza. Judge Donoghue, speaking at the court in The Hague, said the country must take ‘all measures within its power’ to prevent acts that breach the genocide convention and must ensure ‘with immediate effect’ that none of its soldiers are involved in any acts which contravene it.

Israel was also ordered to take immediate action to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza. The convention defines genocide as acts committed ‘with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group’. The ICJ ruling is legally binding, however there is no vehicle to ensure that Israel implements its orders; the country could simply ignore it.

Israel was also ordered to take immediate action to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza

This ruling comes after a South African legal team presented the court with a dossier of evidence that the country’s military campaign in Gaza showed clear ‘intent’ to commit a genocide. The court has, so far, only been asked to decide whether there is plausible evidence to suggest that Israel has committed a genocide in its war with Hamas. As a result of today’s ruling, Israel must provide a report to South Africa within a month on what action it is taking to uphold the order.

South Africa, in a 84-page pre-trial dossier, accused Israel of committing a genocide against Palestinians in Gaza by creating conditions of life ‘calculated to bring about their physical destruction’. The filing also said it was looking at the military action ‘in the broader context of Israel’s conduct towards Palestinians during its 75-year-long apartheid, its 56-year-long belligerent occupation of Palestinian territory and its 16-year-long blockade of Gaza’.

However, the court has stopped short of agreeing to South Africa’s demand for an immediate ceasefire. The measures announced today have been implemented to help provide some relief for Palestinians in Gaza – but the ICJ will take years before it reaches a definitive ruling on whether or not Israel’s military campaign constitutes a genocide.