Top UN court to hold hearings in case accusing Germany of facilitating Israeli conflict in Gaza

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — Preliminary hearings begin Monday before the United Nations’ highest court in a case that seeks to end German military and other aid to Israel over the basis for claims that Berlin “facilitates” acts of genocide and human rights violations. international law in the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.

Israel strongly denies that its military campaign constitutes a violation of the Genocide Convention.

Although the case brought by Nicaragua focuses on Germany, it indirectly targets Israel’s military campaign in Gaza following the deadly October 7 attacks when Hamas-led militants stormed into southern Israel, killing some 1,200 people. More than 33,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, according to the territory’s health ministry. Its toll does not differentiate between civilians and combatants, but it indicates that women and children constitute the majority of the dead.

“We are calm and we will present our legal position in court,” German Foreign Ministry spokesman Sebastian Fischer said before the hearings.

“We reject Nicaragua’s accusations,” Fischer told reporters in Berlin on Friday. “Germany has violated neither the Genocide Convention nor international humanitarian law, and we will explain this in detail before the International Court of Justice. »

Nicaragua asked the court to issue preliminary orders known as interim measures, including that Germany “immediately suspend its aid to Israel, in particular its military assistance, including military equipment, to the extent that such aid can be used in violation of the Genocide Convention. » and international law.

It will likely take weeks for the court to issue its preliminary ruling and Nicaragua’s trial is likely to drag on for years.

Monday’s hearing at the international tribunal comes amid growing calls for allies to stop supplying weapons to Israel as its six-month campaign continues to devastate Gaza.

The offensive has displaced the vast majority of Gaza’s population. Food is scarce, the UN says famine is approaching and few Palestinians have been able to leave the besieged territory.

“The case unfolding next week in The Hague will likely further galvanize opposition to any support for Israel,” said Mary Ellen O’Connell, professor of law and international peace studies at the University of Our Lady.

The UN’s top human rights body on Friday called on countries to stop selling or shipping weapons to Israel. The United States and Germany opposed the resolution.

Separately, hundreds of British lawyers, including three retired Supreme Court judges, called on their government to suspend arms sales to Israel after three British citizens were among the charity’s seven aid workers World Central Kitchen killed in Israeli strikes. Israel said the attack on aid workers was a mistake caused by “misidentification.”

Germany has been a staunch supporter of Israel for decades. Days after the Hamas attack on October 7, Chancellor Olaf Scholz explained why: “Our own history, our responsibility arising from the Holocaust, gives us a perpetual task to defend the security of the State of Israel.” , did he declare. legislators.

However, Berlin gradually changed its tone as civilian casualties in Gaza soared, becoming increasingly critical of the humanitarian situation in Gaza and speaking out against a ground offensive in Rafah.

Nicaragua’s government, which has historic ties to Palestinian organizations dating back to its support of the 1979 Sandinista revolution, was itself accused earlier this year by U.N.-backed human rights experts of systematic violations of human rights “amounting to crimes against humanity”. The government of President Daniel Ortega has fiercely rejected the allegations.

In January, the ICJ imposed interim measures ordering Israel to do everything possible to prevent death, destruction and acts of genocide in Gaza. The orders follow a complaint filed by South Africa accusing Israel of violating the Genocide Convention.

The court last week ordered Israel to take steps to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza, including opening more land crossing points to allow food, water, fuel and other supplies to arrive. enter the war-ravaged enclave.

On Friday, Israel announced it was taking steps to increase the flow of humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip, including reopening a key border crossing into northern Gaza.

Nicaragua claims that by providing political, financial and military support to Israel and defunding the United Nations aid agency for the Palestinians, UNWRA, “Germany is facilitating the commission of genocide and, in any event, failed in its obligation to do everything possible to prevent the genocide.” commission of genocide. »

Israel strongly denies that its attack amounts to acts of genocide, saying it is acting in self-defense. Israeli legal adviser Tal Becker told court judges in January that the country is waging a “war that it did not start and did not want.”

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Associated Press writer Geir Moulson in Berlin contributed to this report.