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World Court to Rule on Gaza Emergency Measures in Israel Genocide Case on Jan 26

South Africa's Minister of Justice Ronald Lamola addresses the media near the International Court of Justice (ICJ), on the day judges hear a request for emergency measures by South Africa to order Israel to stop its military actions in Gaza, in The Hague, Netherlands January 12, 2024. (Reuters)
South Africa's Minister of Justice Ronald Lamola addresses the media near the International Court of Justice (ICJ), on the day judges hear a request for emergency measures by South Africa to order Israel to stop its military actions in Gaza, in The Hague, Netherlands January 12, 2024. (Reuters)
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World Court to Rule on Gaza Emergency Measures in Israel Genocide Case on Jan 26

South Africa's Minister of Justice Ronald Lamola addresses the media near the International Court of Justice (ICJ), on the day judges hear a request for emergency measures by South Africa to order Israel to stop its military actions in Gaza, in The Hague, Netherlands January 12, 2024. (Reuters)
South Africa's Minister of Justice Ronald Lamola addresses the media near the International Court of Justice (ICJ), on the day judges hear a request for emergency measures by South Africa to order Israel to stop its military actions in Gaza, in The Hague, Netherlands January 12, 2024. (Reuters)

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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Aid Group: More than 10,000 Migrants Died this Year Trying to Reach Spain by Sea

FILE - Migrants crowd a wooden boat as they sail to the port in La Restinga on the Canary island of El Hierro, Spain, Monday, Aug. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Maria Ximena, File)
FILE - Migrants crowd a wooden boat as they sail to the port in La Restinga on the Canary island of El Hierro, Spain, Monday, Aug. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Maria Ximena, File)
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Aid Group: More than 10,000 Migrants Died this Year Trying to Reach Spain by Sea

FILE - Migrants crowd a wooden boat as they sail to the port in La Restinga on the Canary island of El Hierro, Spain, Monday, Aug. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Maria Ximena, File)
FILE - Migrants crowd a wooden boat as they sail to the port in La Restinga on the Canary island of El Hierro, Spain, Monday, Aug. 19, 2024. (AP Photo/Maria Ximena, File)

More than 10,000 migrants died while trying to reach Spain by sea this year, a report released by a Spanish migration rights group said on Thursday.
On average, that means 30 migrants died every day this year attempting to reach the country by boat, Caminando Fronteras (Walking Borders) said. Overall deaths rose 58% compared to last year, the report added, according to The Associated Press.
Tens of thousands of migrants left West Africa in 2024 for the Canary Islands, a Spanish archipelago close to the African coast that has increasingly been used as a stepping stone to continental Europe.
Caminando Fronteras said most of the 10,457 deaths recorded up until Dec. 15. took place along that crossing, the so-called Atlantic route — considered one of the world's most dangerous.
The organization compiles its figures from families of migrants and official statistics of those rescued. It included 1,538 children and 421 women among the dead. April and May were the deadliest months, the report said.
Caminando Fronteras also noted a “sharp increase” in 2024 in boats leaving from Mauritania, which it said became the main departure point on the route to the Canary Islands.
In February, Spain pledged 210 million euros (around $218 million) in aid to Mauritania to help it crack down on human smugglers and prevent boats from taking off.
Spain’s interior ministry says more than 57, 700 migrants reached Spain by boat until Dec. 15 this year, a roughly 12% increase from the same period last year. The vast majority of them came through the Atlantic route.