Killing of journalists as war crime in Gaza

Yesterday the International Court of Justice, the United Nations’ highest tribunal that adjudicates cases between nations, was expected to issue an interim ruling or provisional measures on the genocide claim filed last month by South Africa against Israel in its war in the Gaza Strip.

On Jan. 11 and 12, in The Hague, the ICJ separately heard the two parties argue their cases.

If it grants South Africa’s request for provisional measures in order to “protect against further severe and irreparable harm to the rights of the Palestinian people under the Genocide Convention,” the ICJ may order Israel to stop its war, now ongoing for over three months. Thus far, 25,700 Palestinian civilians have been killed, mostly women and children.

The ICJ judges were to convene at 1 p.m. (European time) at the Palace of Peace in The Hague, during which Judge Joan E. Donoghue, the court’s president, would read the ICJ interim order. As this column was written and submitted for publication, news about the content of the order was not yet available.

ICJ rulings are binding and cannot be appealed against. However, the court has no power to enforce them. And a definitive ruling on the genocide claim could take years.

On Thursday, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met with his key advisers to prepare for potential scenarios ensuing from the ICJ ruling.

Recall that Israel invaded Gaza on Oct. 7, in retaliation to a surprise attack on Israeli territory that very day by Hamas, the militant Palestinian armed movement holding sway in Gaza, killing almost 2,500 Israelis. Israel has since carried out daily aerial bombings and artillery attacks, along with ground military operations, vowing to demolish Hamas. The sustained bombings have devastated a major part of Gaza and displaced about 85 percent of Palestinian residents.

Meantime, also in The Hague, other important issues are being looked into: the nongovernmental Permanent People’s Tribunal (PPT), for instance, recently concluded its sessions on the impunity of the murder of journalists and media workers.

Such impunity constitutes what the PPT has called one of the most notorious crimes in international law by “eliminating the