Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (S. Afr. v. Isr.); Request for the Indication of Provisional Measures (I.C.J.)

Genocide is the denial of the right of existence of a human group committed by intentional killing, destruction, or extermination of the group. Prohibited under international law as a jus cogens norm, it cannot be derogated from by international agreement or national legislation and imposes obligations erga omnes . Genocide is also an international crime, whether committed in time of peace or in time of war. On January 26, 2024, the ICJ delivered a provisional measures order (First PMO) requiring Israel to comply with its obligations under the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Genocide Convention) in relation to its military operations in the Gaza Strip. The Court found a plausible risk of Israel committing and/or inciting acts of genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and demanded, inter alia , that it prevent all such acts, in particular killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; and imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.