ICJ throws out Nicaragua’s case demanding Germany halts aid to Israel

The top UN court rejected on Tuesday a request by Nicaragua to order Germany to halt military and other aid to Israel and renew funding to the UN aid agency in Gaza, UNRWA.

The International Court of Justice said that legal conditions for making such an order weren’t met and rejected the request in a 15-1 vote.

“Based on the factual information and legal arguments presented by the parties, the court concludes that, as present, the circumstances are not such as to require the exercise of its power… to indicate provisional measures,” said Nawaf Salam, the court’s president.

However, the 16-judge panel declined to throw out the case altogether, meaning it will continue to be heard at the court.

Salam said that the court “remains deeply concerned about the catastrophic living conditions of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, in particular in view of the prolonged and widespread deprivation of food and other basic necessities to which they have been subjected.”

The reading of the decision lasted less than 20 minutes.

Germany argued at hearings in the case that it has barely exported any weapons to Israel since the offensive against Gaza started following Hamas’ deadly incursion into southern Israel on 7 October.

Nicaragua, a longstanding ally of the Palestinians, alleges that Germany is enabling an alleged genocide by sending arms and other support to Israel. Tuesday’s ruling by the International Court of Justice is only about preliminary orders in the case that will likely take years to resolve. Germany rejects the allegations.

Israel, which isn’t a party to the case between Nicaragua and Germany, strongly denies that its assault on Gaza amounts to acts of genocide, and insists that it’s acting in self-defence.

Nicaragua’s case is the latest legal bid by a country with historic ties to the Palestinian people to stop Israel’s offensive.

Late last year, South Africa accused Israel of genocide at the same court. The cases come as Israel’s allies face growing calls to stop supplying it with weapons, and as some, including Germany, have grown more critical of the war.

On Monday, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said that Israel must still do more to increase the flow of humanitarian aid into the besieged Gaza Strip.

At hearings early this month, Nicaragua’s Ambassador to the Netherlands, Carlos José Argüello Gómez, told the 16-judge panel that “Germany is failing to honour its own obligation to prevent genocide or to ensure respect of international humanitarian law.”