On 26 January 2024, the ICJ delivered its Order on the request for provisional measures submitted by South Africa via the Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel). This case was brought to the ICJ by South Africa, who alleges that Israel has during this most recent assault on the Gaza Strip, precipitated by the 7 October 2023 Hamas incursion and terror attacks into Israel proper, violated the principles of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
Since the ICJ’s Orders on the provisional measures, which the state of Israel is required by international law to implement while the Court deliberates over the merits of the case, there are significant doubts over Israel’s commitment to implement the Orders of the Court (and to follow international law as a whole). This GGI Briefing will examine Israel’s compliance with the preliminary measures ordered by the ICJ on 26 January 2024 and outlines what states can do to encourage Israel’s compliance with international law. In addition, it will place the Israeli government’s contempt for international law within the wider context of the repeated undermining of core principles of international law by states and non-state actors and the increasing danger of ‘disillusionment’ with the legitimacy of the present ‘rules-based order’.
