First verdict expected in genocide case against Israel: what you need to know

The International Court of Justice will rule on Friday on South Africa's demand that Israel immediately suspend its military offensive in Gaza. The ruling is a first step in a broader case over whether Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians in the enclave.

Rulings by the court, the highest judicial body of the United Nations, are binding, but the court has few enforcement resources. Still, a ruling against Israel would increase international pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government over the war.

Here's what you need to know about the pronunciation.

What is the case?

This month, the South African government accused Israel in court in The Hague of “acts and omissions” that are “genocidal in nature” against the Palestinians in Gaza. South African lawyers told a panel of 17 judges that Israeli leaders and lawmakers had communicated in public statements their intention to commit genocide, which would violate the constitution. UN Genocide Conventionto which Israel is a party.

South Africa offered as evidence the words of Israeli officials, including Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, who said in October that Israel would lay siege to the area entirely because it was fighting “human animals.” A South African lawyer showed the court a video of Israeli troops dancing and chanting that “there are no uninvolved civilians,” arguing that it showed the soldiers had understood “the inflammatory words” of their leaders.

What is Israel's defense?

Israel has categorically denied the accusation. Lawyers for the country told the court that the Israeli army had worked to save civilian lives, giving non-combatants two weeks to leave northern Gaza before invading in late October. They also say that after freezing aid deliveries to Gaza at the start of the war, they have since made it possible to deliver them daily.

Israeli lawyers say some inflammatory statements by Israeli leaders were made by people without executive authority over the military campaign, or were taken out of context. Israel has released more than 30 secret orders issued by government and military leaders that it says demonstrate Israeli efforts to limit harm to civilians.

What is the significance of the matter?

At one level, the case is a legal reckoning for the war in Gaza, which began when Hamas led an attack on Oct. 7 that Israeli officials say killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, while taking about 240 others hostage. Israel has retaliated with airstrikes and a ground invasion that health authorities there say have killed more than 25,000 people in Gaza. The United Nations says about 70 percent of the dead are women or children.

Many Israelis see the case as part of a decades-long effort to turn the country into a pariah and subject it to a higher level of scrutiny than other countries. Israeli leaders have called the case absurd, arguing that Israel, which was founded after a genocide of Jews, is fighting a genocidal enemy in Hamas, which has called for Israel's destruction.

Many Palestinians, however, see the case as a rare opportunity to subject Israel to scrutiny. They claim that the United States and other powerful allies have shielded Israel from liability, including at the UN Security Council.

What can a statement mean?

It is expected that the court will not rule on the genocide charges in the coming years. The decision, expected Friday, will address whether to order “interim measures” that would ask Israel to take proactive steps to ensure that genocide does not occur in the future while the case is pending, and to “ further serious and irreparable damage” to Israel. the Palestinian people.

Because Israel defended itself in court, legal experts argue that it could be more difficult for Israel to reject court orders. But Israel has previously ignored the court's findings: In 2004, the court issued a non-binding opinion that an Israeli security barrier in the occupied West Bank was illegal and should be dismantled; twenty years later the system of walls and fences is still standing.