Norway says ICJ’s advisory opinion on Israeli occupation of Palestine ‘crystal clear’

By Leila Nezirevic

LONDON (AA) - Norway on Saturday said that the International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) advisory opinion on Israeli occupation of Palestine is “crystal clear” and that Tel Aviv’s violation of international law “must come to an end.”

“Israeli policies and practices are to be considered annexation of large parts of the Occupied Palestinian Territory. This is in violation of international law and must come to an end,” the Foreign Ministry wrote on X.

The ICJ ruling is "an unequivocal message to Israel, which we expect them to comply with immediately," Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said in a separate message on X.

In a historic move, the UN court has ordered Israel to end its occupation of the Palestinian territories “as rapidly as possible” while also calling on Tel Aviv to make full reparations for its “internationally wrongful acts.”

The court found multiple breaches of international law by Israel including activities that amounted to apartheid.

“The court considers that the violations by Israel of the prohibition of the acquisition of territory by force and of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination have a direct impact on the legality of the continued presence of Israel, as an occupying power, in the occupied Palestinian territory,” Nawaf Salam, the president of the ICJ, said while reading the court’s opinion on Friday.

“The sustained abuse by Israel of its position as an occupying power, through annexation and an assertion of permanent control over the occupied Palestinian territory and continued frustration of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, violates fundamental principles of international law and renders Israel’s presence in the occupied Palestinian territory unlawful,” Salam continued.

Since Tel Aviv launched its brutal war on Oct. 7, over 38,900 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, while more than 89,600 others are injured, according to Gaza’s local health authorities.

More than nine months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, which in its latest ruling has ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on 6 May.