UN Security Council to meet after ICJ ruling on Gaza war
The United Nations Security Council has decided to convene a meeting next week to discuss the International Court of Justice’s directive for Israel to take measures to halt genocidal actions against Palestinians in Gaza.
The council’s presidency announced to hold a meeting on Wednesday, barely 24 hours after the ruling.
The Wednesday meeting was called by Algeria, whose ministry of foreign affairs said it would give “binding effect to the pronouncement of the International Court of Justice on the provisional measures imposed on the Israeli occupation.”
The ICJ earlier ruled 15-2 that there was “plausibility” to South Africa’s claims that Palestinians require protection from genocide.
However, the court did not fulfill the most anticipated action by South Africa and dreaded by Israel — issuing an immediate, one-sided ceasefire order that would have hindered the war effort and signaled the court’s belief that genocide is ongoing.
The ICJ decision “gives the clear message that in order to do all the things that they are asking for, you need a ceasefire for it to happen,” Palestinian Authority Ambassador to the UN Riyad Mansour said.
So fasten your seat belts,” he said, hinting that the Arab Group, represented on the council by Algeria, would push for one.
The Security Council, long divided on the Israeli-Palestinian issue, has only agreed to two resolutions since the October 7 Hamas attacks triggered the latest war following a mass killing spree by thousands of Palestinian terrorists that day in which 1,200 were killed and 253 taken hostage.
In December, the UN demanded aid deliveries “at scale” to Gaza. The US previously vetoed a resolution calling for a ceasefire.
