THE HAGUE, Netherlands: Belgium on Tuesday joined South Africa in a case brought before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which accuses Israel of committing genocide in the Gaza Strip.
The UN’s highest court, based in The Hague, said in a statement that Brussels had filed a declaration of intervention.
Several countries including Brazil, Colombia, Ireland, Mexico, Spain and Turkiye have already joined the case.
In December 2023, South Africa brought a case to the United Nations’ highest court in The Hague, alleging Israel’s Gaza offensive breached the 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Israel denies the accusation.
In rulings in January, March and May 2024, the ICJ told Israel to do everything possible to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza, including by providing urgently needed humanitarian aid to prevent famine.
These orders are legally binding, but the court has no concrete means to enforce them. Israel has criticised the proceedings and continued blocking humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza.
Since October 2023, Israel has launched a bombardment campaign in Gaza, killing over 70,369 Palestinians, mostly women and children, according to Gaza’s health ministry, whose figures are considered reliable by the UN.
The Israeli military campaign has also displaced the majority of the 2.2 million people in the Palestinian territory.
Belgium was among a string of countries to recognise the State of Palestine in September, a status acknowledged by nearly 80 precent of UN members.
The ICJ’s final verdict could still take several years to come, but the court issued an interim order in January 2024 that obliged Israel to take action to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza and allow for unimpeded access to humanitarian aid.
The court also ruled that Israel’s presence in the occupied Palestinian territory is unlawful, and that its policies amount to annexation.
Ignoring those rulings, as well as mounting international condemnation of its conduct, Israel has since then destroyed far more of Gaza and the occupied West Bank.
Earlier, the International Criminal Court (ICC) had issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.
