The International Court of Justice (also called the World Court) has announced it will “deliver its Order on the request for the indication of provisional measures submitted by South Africa in the case South Africa v. Israel this Friday, 26 January 2024, at 1 p.m.” (7 a.m. ET).

South Africa filed its 84-page Application on Dec. 29, 2023. Oral arguments were made before the Court on Jan. 11 (South Africa invoking Genocide Convention: video, text PDF) and Jan. 12 (Israel defense: video, text PDF).

See recent statement from UN experts: “Over one hundred days into the war, Israel destroying Gaza’s food system and weaponizing food, say UN human rights experts,” which states: “Gazans now make up 80 per cent of all people facing famine or catastrophic hunger worldwide, marking an unparalleled humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip amid Israel’s continued bombardment and siege.”

Al Jazeera is now reporting: “20 killed and 150 wounded as Israeli tanks fire shells and live rounds at people in northern Gaza City who lined up to receive much-needed humanitarian supplies, health officials say.” Decensored News reports: “State Dept won’t say if ITV footage of IDF shooting unarmed civilian in Gaza is a ‘potential war crime’.”

See recent New York Times piece by Megan K. Stack: “Don’t Turn Away From the Charges of Genocide Against Israel.” The Guardian reports: “More than one-third of Americans believe Israel is committing genocide, poll shows.”

JOHN QUIGLEY, quigley.2@osu.edu
Professor emeritus of international law at Ohio State University, Quigley’s books include The Statehood of Palestine: International Law in the Middle East Conflict (Cambridge University Press) and The Ruses for War: American Interventionism Since World War II. He was featured on the recent news release “Beyond U.S. Isolation at UN, What’s Not Being Done.”

FRANCIS BOYLE, fboyle@illinois.edu
Boyle is professor of international law at the University of Illinois College of Law.  Boyle’s books include The Bosnian People Charge Genocide (1996) Palestine, Palestinians and International Law (2009) and World Politics, Human Rights and International Law (2021). He was featured on the news release “On Israel: Lawyer Who Applied Genocide Convention for Bosnia Recommends it Now for Palestinians.” See his recent interview with “Democracy Now.”

MICHAEL LYNK, mslynk@uwo.ca, @MichaelLynk5
Lynk served as the United Nations Special Rapporteur for human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory, from 2016 to 2022. He is a non-resident fellow at Democracy for the Arab World Now. See his interview on the case on the Electronic Intifada.