Amnesty International doesn’t believe Israel adhering to ICJ order to temper Gaza hostilities
The human rights watchdog argued that Israel was not even doing the bare minimum to comply with the court’s order to prevent a genocide from happening in Gaza.
This picture taken from Rafah shows smoke billowing following Israeli bombardment over Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on 15 February 2024, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Hamas militant group. Picture: AFP
CAPE TOWN - Amnesty International says it doesn't believe Israel is adhering to an order by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to temper its hostilities in Gaza.
The human rights watchdog said Israel is failing to comply by not allowing sufficient humanitarian aid to enter the occupied territory.
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Thousands of Palestinians have been living in dire conditions since Israel launched raids in retaliation for the killing of over 1,000 Israelis by the Palestinian militant group Hamas in October.
Almost 30,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israel's planned strikes, which have lasted for at least four months.
Israel was due to hand over a report on Monday to the ICJ to show measures it took to prevent genocide in Gaza as part of the directives from the court.
This was in a case in which South Africa accused it of defying the United Nations Genocide Convention.
Amnesty International said a month since the ICJ’s ruling, Israel is not even doing the bare minimum to comply.
“Not only is Israel creating one of the worst humanitarian crises in the world, but it is also displaying a callous indifference to the fate of Gaza’s population by creating conditions which the ICJ has said places them at imminent risk of genocide,” said Amnesty International’s South African spokesperson Genevieve Quintal.
Quintal said Israel is actively blocking the flow of aid into the Gaza Strip, particularly from the north, in the contempt of court ruling.
“In the three weeks following the ICJ order, the number of trucks entering Gaza decreased by about a third.”
On Monday, the ICJ concluded hearings in another matter regarding Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories, which South Africa also participated in.