Judges at the International Court
of Justice (ICJ) will rule on Friday whether or not they will grant emergency
measures against Israel following accusations by South Africa that the Israeli
military operation in Gaza is a state-led genocide.
The United Nations' top court issued a statement on Wednesday
saying the 17-judge panel will hand down its ruling in court on Jan. 26 at 1200
GMT.
Earlier this month, in two days of hearings, South Africa asked
the ICJ, also known as the World Court, to order an emergency suspension of
Israel's devastating military campaign in the Palestinian enclave.
Israel dismissed the genocide allegations as "grossly distorted"
and said it had a right to defend itself and was targeting Hamas militants, not
Palestinian civilians.
In the ruling on Friday, the ICJ will not deal with the main
question if Israel is committing genocide.
The court will just look at possible emergency measures, meant
as a kind of restraining order to prevent a dispute from getting worse while
the court looks at the full case, which usually takes years.
If the ICJ does decide on issuing emergency measures it is not
bound to order exactly what South Africa asked for.
Rulings by the court are legally binding and without appeal, but
the court has no way to enforce them.
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