Israel must comply with ICJ's ruling: Swiss lawyer

By Muhammet Ikbal Arslan

GENEVA (AA) - Israel must comply with the provisional measures ordered by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the genocide case, according to an expert in international criminal law.

In an interview with Anadolu, Philippe Currat said that it is "particularly important" to have a proceeding at the ICJ, recalling that the ICJ doesn't have the means to impose a solution.

“So it is the responsibility of all the parties involved to organize their respective behaviors in a way that is consistent with the decision of the ICJ.”

The Geneva-based lawyer noted that this is a political decision of each state to decide "how they behave and if they want to do this or to do that."

"So that means that all the parties in the world bear that responsibility to prevent any form of genocide."

He reminded that the definition of genocide is the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group.

However, Currat added that a party can be the "direct perpetrator of these acts, or you can be an accomplice.

“For instance, to finance the perpetrators, or to provide them with weapons, arms, ammunition, or maybe other facilities that can be used to commit the crime.”

Reiterating that one of the forms of genocide is "deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part," he mentioned that Israeli actions on Gaza fall under genocide.

"This is the restriction of access to humanitarian aid, food, water, and medical treatment. This is also the destruction of hospitals or any other facilities in the Gaza Strip," added the expert.

Asked whether the international community has taken necessary steps to stop the ongoing killings in Gaza, he replied: "Certainly not. We didn't do enough."

"The international community didn't do enough (in Gaza). Yes, we must have done something much stronger, and much earlier," Currat said.

Flouting the International Court of Justice’s provisional ruling, Israel continues its onslaught on the Gaza Strip where at least 33,634 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and 76,214 injured since Oct. 7, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Hamas, which Tel Aviv says killed nearly 1,200 people.

The Israeli war on Gaza has pushed 85% of the territory's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.