20 July 2024

Israel’s occupation "does not qualify as an act of self-defence"

“In my view, three dimensions of Israel’s policies and practices illustrate that the maintenance by Israel of its occupation does not qualify as an act of self-defence: their intensity, their territorial scope and their temporal scope.” The policies and practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, some of which are discussed in the Advisory Opinion of the International Court of Justice, also give rise to forms of multiple and intersectional discrimination that disproportionately affect women and girls, writes Hilary Charlesworth.

2 April 2024

ICJ order requires Israel to suspend its military operations in the Gaza Strip

The catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza is unremitting and in fact rapidly deteriorating. Given that the Palestinian population in the Gaza Strip is now on the brink of famine, South Africa has requested the Court to indicate further provisional measures and/or to modify the measures indicated on 26 January 2024. Starvation, and the resulting loss of life in overwhelming numbers, clearly poses a threat to the right of existence of the Palestinians as a group, a right protected by the Genocide Convention, writes Judge Hilary Charlesworth.