By Burak Bir
LONDON (AA) - Public hearings at International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Israel’s occupation of Palestine concluded on Monday after a week of oral statements by dozens of countries, including Türkiye, and three international organizations.
"The public hearings on the request for an advisory opinion in respect of the Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, concluded today," the top UN court said in a statement.
Along with Palestine, 49 other states, including Türkiye, the US, the UK, France, and the Netherlands, and three international organizations – the Arab League, Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and African Union – presented oral statements in the Hague.
"The Court will now begin its deliberation. The Court’s advisory opinion will be delivered at a public sitting, the date of which will be announced in due course," the top UN court said.
The hearings started last Monday in The Hague following the UN General Assembly's request for an advisory opinion on the legal consequences arising from policies and practices of Israel in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem.
South Africa brought a genocide case against Israel to the world court in late December and asked for emergency measures to end the bloodshed in Gaza, where nearly 30,000 Palestinians have been killed since Oct. 7.
The court in January ordered Israel to take "all measures within its power" to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza but fell short of ordering a cease-fire.
It also ordered Israel to take "immediate and effective" measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance in the Gaza Strip.
A cross-border incursion by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7 killed an estimated 1,200 people, but the ensuing Israeli offensive into 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.
Despite an international outcry, Israel now plans a ground invasion of Rafah, which holds 1.4 million refugees.
For the first time since its establishment in 1948, Israel is being tried before the ICJ, the highest judicial body in the UN, on charges of committing the crime of "genocide" against Palestinians in Gaza.