ICJ’s Israel judgement seeks to restore rule of law to a brutal conflict

In its politically incendiary but legally nuanced hearing on Friday, the UN’s highest court made one thing clear: Israel’s battle with Hamas will ultimately be judged against the international norms of how war ought to be waged.

That, legal experts said, was in itself to be celebrated: the restoration of the primacy of international humanitarian law to a conflict marked by the most primal of tactics.

Since October 7, when Hamas attacked Israel in a cross border raid, the war has included the taking of hostages, the killing of innocents, the imposition of a siege and the widescale destruction of civilian infrastructure.

Each of those acts, the International Court of Justice said, was prima facie evidence to let the trial continue, placing Israel in the docket for genocide, the gravest of crimes against humanity, while demanding Hamas release its hostages unconditionally.

Its interim rulings — the final verdict will take years — left both sides with little moral victory. On one hand, the court did not call for Israel to halt its campaign against Hamas, tacitly acknowledging the dangers still posed by the Palestinian militant group, a fact that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised immediately.

But, by agreeing to continue hearing South Africa’s claim that Israel was perpetrating a genocide in Gaza, it put the Jewish state on notice that its actions were being monitored for the gravest crime a nation can commit.

For now, the court’s 17-judge panel has presented Israel with both legal peril and an opportunity, said David Kaye, who was the US state department’s top legal adviser on the laws of war after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Kaye said Israel could seize the moment to “to show the world that it is acting in compliance with international law”.

“For Israel the court’s order presents it with a dilemma — and the dilemma is how does it convey to the world that it is acting consistently with international law?” he said.

“Any approach that…