The International Court of Justice has ruled against issuing emergency measures over German arms sales to Israel as requested by Nicaragua, which had argued that there was a serious risk of genocide in Gaza amid Israel’s assault on the Palestinian territory, Ednews reports via Al Jazeera.
Nicaragua also demanded that Germany resume funding to the UN aid agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, after Israel alleged that some of its employees were involved in the October 7 attacks that triggered the continuing fighting.
The ICJ ruled against the request in a 15-1 vote. “The circumstances are not such as to require the exercise of its power under article 41 of the statute to indicate provisional measures,” presiding Judge Nawaf Salam said on Tuesday.
However, the judges did not grant the German request to throw out the case altogether. The court will still hear arguments from both sides on the merits of Nicaragua’s case, which will likely take months.
Salam said that the court “remains deeply concerned about the catastrophic living conditions of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, in particular in view of the prolonged and widespread deprivation of food and other basic necessities to which they have been subjected.”
He added that the court “considers it particularly important to remind all states of their international obligations relating to the transfer of arms to parties to an armed conflict, in order to avoid the risk that such arms might be used” to violate international law.
In a two-day hearing in April, Nicaragua brought its case against Germany for allegedly facilitating genocide by being one of Israel’s biggest military suppliers.