Will the ICJ ruling change anything for Gaza?

In November, South Africa approached the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza and to consider whether Israel is committing genocide.

All eyes were on the Hague last month as the ICJ made its interim ruling, calling for Israel to "take all measures within its powers" to prevent civilian deaths in Gaza. But it stopped short of ordering a ceasefire.

The court also ruled that aid must be allowed into Gaza. But since then, allegations from Israel that some employees of UNRWA – Gaza's biggest aid agency – were involved in the 7 October Hamas attacks has resulted in 16 donor countries suspending UNRWA funding.

In this episode, legal, humanitarian and foreign policy experts take stock of these events and dissect what the ICJ ruling really means for Israel, Gaza and wider geopolitical relations.

Speakers

• Sara Pantuliano (host), Chief Executive, ODI
• Kate Mackintosh, Executive Director, UCLA Law Promise Institute Europe
• Raz Segal, Associate Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies, Stockton University
• Ronak Gopaldas, Director, Signal Risk
• Sorcha O’Callaghan, Director of Programme, Humanitarian Policy Group

Related resources

• South Africa’s ICJ case has already altered its foreign policy space (Institute for Security Studies)
• Humanitarian hypocrisy, double standards and the law in Gaza (ODI insight)
• Gaza | The politics of narrative (ODI event)
• Israel/OPT crisis - what's needed to stop the bloodshed? (ODI podcast)
• Palestine and Israel - How can justice prevail? (ODI podcast)