The World Court has ordered Israel to prevent acts of genocide against the Palestinians and do more to help civilians but stopped short of ordering a ceasefire as requested by the plaintiff South Africa.

While the ruling denied Palestinian hopes of a binding order to halt the war in Gaza, it also represented a legal setback for Israel, which had hoped to throw out a case brought under the genocide convention established in the ashes of the Holocaust.

The court found that there was a case to be heard about whether Palestinian rights were being denied in a war it said was causing grievous humanitarian harm.

It also called for Palestinian armed groups to release hostages captured in the October 7 attacks on Israel that precipitated the conflict.

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The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said the decision was a welcome reminder “no state is above the law”.

Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters the decision would contribute to “isolating the occupation and exposing its crimes in Gaza”.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the court had “justly rejected the outrageous demand” to deprive Israel of what he called the “basic right to defend itself”, by ordering it to halt fighting.

“But the mere claim that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians is not only false, it’s outrageous, and the willingness of the court to even discuss this is a disgrace that will not be erased for generations,” he said.

Israeli Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir mocked the ruling in a two-word social media post with a Yiddish-style putdown: “Hague shmague”.

Israel had sought to have the case thrown out when it was brought to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) earlier this month. South Africa accused Israel of state-led genocide in its offensive, begun after Hamas militants stormed into Israel killing 1200 and kidnapping more than 240.

It asked the court to grant emergency measures to halt the fighting, which has killed more than 26,000 Palestinians and displaced the majority of the population in a more than three-month campaign of intensive bombardment.

The ICJ judges ordered Israel to take all measures within its power to prevent its troops from committing genocide, punish acts of incitement, take steps to improve the humanitarian situation and report back on its progress in a month.

It did not decide the merits of the genocide allegations, which could take years. Although the ruling cannot be appealed, the court has no mechanism to enforce its decision.

Israel called South Africa’s allegations false and “grossly distorted”. It says it has acted in Gaza in self defence against a foe that attacked first, and blames Hamas for harm to civilians for operating among them, which the fighters deny.

The South African government, allowed to make the case under the legal principle that genocide is such a grave crime that all countries are duty-bound to prevent it, hailed the court order as a “decisive victory” for international rule of law.

The European Union echoed South Africa in saying it expected Israel to implement the court’s orders immediately and in full.

On the ground in Gaza, the war has entered a particularly destructive phase, with the heaviest fighting in weeks now taking place in crowded areas jammed with hundreds of thousands of people who fled from earlier fighting elsewhere.

UN agency probes staff over Oct 7 attacks

The United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) says it has opened an investigation into several employees suspected of involvement in the October 7 attacks in Israel by Hamas and that it had severed ties with those staff members.

“The Israeli authorities have provided UNRWA with information about the alleged involvement of several UNRWA employees in the horrific attacks on Israel on October 7,” said Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General, on Friday.

“To protect the agency’s ability to deliver humanitarian assistance, I have taken the decision to immediately terminate the contracts of these staff members and launch an investigation in order to establish the truth without delay.”

Lazzarini did not disclose the number of employees allegedly involved in the attacks, nor the nature of their alleged involvement. He said, however, that “any UNRWA employee who was involved in acts of terror” would be held accountable, including through criminal prosecution.

Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy accused UNRWA of announcing the news while the world’s attention was focused on the World Court ordering Israel to prevent acts of genocide against Palestinians and do more to help civilians in Gaza.

“Any other day, this would have been a major headline: Israel submits evidence of UN employees’ complicity with Hamas,” Levy wrote on X.

Antonio Guterres, Secretary-General of the United Nations, has been briefed about the allegations, his spokesperson said.

“The Secretary-General is horrified by this news,” said spokesperson Stéphane Dujarric.

Dujarric added that the UN chief had asked Lazzarini to conduct a probe to ensure that any UNRWA employee shown to have participated or abetted the October 7 attacks be terminated immediately and referred for potential criminal prosecution.

“An urgent and comprehensive independent review of UNRWA will be conducted,” Dujarric added.

UNRWA, whose biggest donors in 2022 included the United States, Germany and the European Union, has repeatedly said its capacity to render humanitarian assistance to people in Gaza is on the verge of collapse.

The US State Department said it was extremely troubled by the allegations, which it said pertained to 12 UNRWA employees. It said it would provide no additional funding to the agency until the allegations were addressed.

“The Department of State has temporarily paused additional funding for UNRWA while we review these allegations and the steps the United Nations is taking to address them,” spokesperson Matthew Miller said.

Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant said the US decision was an important step toward holding UNRWA accountable.

“Major changes need to take place so that international efforts, funds, and humanitarian initiatives don’t fuel Hamas terrorism and the murder of Israelis,” he wrote on X.

Major changes need to take place so that international efforts, funds, and humanitarian initiatives don’t fuel Hamas terrorism and the murder of Israelis.

The US State Department had recently praised UNRWA’s work, and the administration of Joe Biden restored funding that was halted during Donald Trump’s tenure.

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said it would “assess further steps and draw lessons based on the result of the full and comprehensive investigation”.

UNRWA, established in 1949 following the first Arab-Israeli war, provides services including schooling, primary healthcare and humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon.

Israeli authorities, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, have accused the agency of fuelling anti-Israeli incitement, allegations it denies.

—AAP