WORLD : The International Criminal Court (ICJ) rejected on 30 April a request by Nicaragua to issue a preliminary ruling to halt German military aid to Israel and renew funding to UNRWA, but did agree to allow the case to be heard moving forward.
Nicaragua alleges that Germany is enabling genocide by sending arms and other support to Israel while cutting off funding to UNRWA, the UN agency responsible for providing humanitarian aid to Palestinian refugees.
Israel’s bombing of Gaza has killed over 34,000 Palestinians, while Israel’s blockade of the enclave has brought it to the brink of famine.
The ICJ judges’ ruling in the case said Nicaragua’s request for a preliminary halt to German aid to Israel did not meet the legal conditions required. The 16-member panel of judges voted against Nicaragua’s request 15-1.
“Based on the factual information and legal arguments presented by the parties, the court concludes that, as present, the circumstances are not such as to require the exercise of its power … to indicate provisional measures,” Nawaf Salam, the court’s president, stated.
However, the judges only rejected issuing a preliminary order. The court will still consider Nicaragua’s case alleging Germany’s support for Israel’s genocide over the coming months.
Salam said that the court “remains deeply concerned about the catastrophic living conditions of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, in particular in view of the prolonged and widespread deprivation of food and other basic necessities to which they have been subjected.”
He added that the court “considers it particularly important to remind all states of their international obligations relating to the transfer of arms to parties to an armed conflict, to avoid the risk that such arms might be used” to violate international law.
The German Foreign Office welcomed the decision, writing on social media site X, “Germany is not a party to the conflict in the Middle East — on the contrary: we are working day and night for a two-state solution.”
Germany is a staunch supporter of Israel. In 2023, Germany accounted for some 30 percent of Israel’s military equipment purchases, totaling $326.5 million, a tenfold increase from 2022.
The ICJ decision came just days after Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, an influential member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition, called for the “complete destruction” of Gaza while criticizing truce talks between the government and Hamas.
Writing on X, Smotrich said Israel should launch an attack on Rafah in southern Gaza “as fast and as strongly as possible, and then continue with the strip until its complete destruction.”
In January, South Africa brought a case against Israel at the ICJ. The court issued a preliminary order to Israel to do all it can to prevent death, destruction, and acts of genocide in Gaza.
In March, the court issued new provisional orders that Israel to take measures to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza, where a famine is imminent due to Israel’s blockade and siege.
BY News Desk
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