Judges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) are slated to give a ruling on whether to order Israel to suspend its military campaign.
It will be response to a case brought to the UN’s highest court by South Africa accusing Israel of state-led genocide in Gaza.
The court will issue its ruling at 2pm in the occupied Palestinian territories and Israel (12pm GMT), with the hearing expected to last an hour.
The court will not rule on whether Israel has committed acts of genocide – a process that could take three to four years – but whether to issue an order compelling Israel to suspend its operations, along with other “emergency measures.”
South Africa has requested several emergency measures, including for Israel to suspend military operations in Gaza, to not escalate military operations any further, and to allow adequate humanitarian aid to enter the Palestinian territory.
Some experts believe one likely scenario is that the court will fall short of ordering a full ceasefire, but could instead order Israel to allow adequate humanitarian relief to enter the besieged enclave.
While the ICJ’s decision is final and lacks an appeal process, it has no way of enforcing its ruling.
Hamas has said that it will abide by any ceasefire orders from the ICJ if Israel reciprocates.
Israel, on the other hand, has argued that the global court does not have jurisdiction over the case, and it has previously dismissed South Africa’s genocide allegations as “grossly distorted” and “blood libel.”
The ICJ could also decide it does not have jurisdiction over the case and choose not to order any interim measures.
Parties involved could still pursue the overall case for genocide through other channels such as the UN Security Council.
CAIR Urges Biden To Denounce Israeli Attacks
The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) said that US President Joe Biden should denounce the Israeli attack on people lining up to receive aid in Gaza City, which killed at least 20 people.
“As the key supporter of the far-right Israeli government’s genocidal war on the people of Gaza, President Biden should personally use his own voice to condemn this latest massacre of Palestinian civilians,” CAIR Director, Nihad Awad said in a statement.
He added, “President Biden can no longer ignore the fact that his administration is directly complicit in all of the war crimes Benjamin Netanyahu’s government carries out on a daily basis with US military, financial and political support.”
Meanwhile, Lloyd Austin spoke with Yoav Gallant about ‘uninterrupted’ aid to Gaza.
According to a U.S Department of Defense statement, the U.S Defence Secretary reiterated the U.S’s “support for Israel’s right to defend itself” when speaking with the Israeli Defence Minister, but also raised the “importance of ensuring uninterrupted delivery of humanitarian assistance to Gaza.”
“Secretary Austin reaffirmed the US commitment to the pursuit of diplomacy to resolve tensions along the Israel-Lebanon border and the shared goal of avoiding regional escalation,” the statement added.
Currently, there are rumours of growing friction between Washington and Tel Aviv over rising civilian casualties in Gaza and Israel’s demolition of hundreds of homes on the border to create a “buffer zone.”
Satellite imagery shows that the Israeli military has demolished hundreds of buildings in Gaza that sit within 1km (0.6 miles) of the border since October 7, as Israel attempts to create “a buffer zone” between itself and the besieged enclave.
The U.S has opposed the creation of any buffer zone and insists that there should be no permanent reductions made to Gaza’s territory.
Separately, US State Department deputy spokesman Vedant Patel said that Qatar has been an “integral, irreplaceable, key regional partner” for the U.S since the current conflict between Israel and Hamas erupted.
Patel’s comments came in response to questions about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu allegedly labelling Qatar’s mediation efforts to secure the release of captives from Gaza as “problematic.”
