The UN Security Council has scheduled a meeting on Wednesday to follow up on the ruling by the UN’s top court ordering Israel to do all it can to prevent death, destruction and any acts of genocide in Gaza.
Algeria, the Arab representative on the council, requested the meeting late Friday. The request followed a closed-door meeting of the UN’s 22-member Arab group, which supported a council meeting.
France’s UN Mission, which holds the council presidency this month, said the meeting will take place Jan. 31 at 11 a.m. EST.
The International Court of Justice stopped short of calling for a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war which followed the militant group’s attacks on southern Israel on Oct. 7. But it offered little other consolation to Israel in the case brought by South Africa under the Genocide Convention.
Riyad Mansour, the Palestinian UN ambassador, told reporters as he headed into Friday’s meeting that the International Court of Justice’s ruling was “historic.”
He said the Palestinians, Algeria and South Africa are analyzing the ruling in order to take “appropriate steps” in the Security Council.
“If one is to look at the provisional measures separately and collectively, it gives the clear message that in order to do all the things that they are asking for, you need a ceasefire for it to happen,” Mansour said.
The council has adopted resolutions endorsing humanitarian pauses, but the United States, a veto-wielding council member, opposes a ceasefire and has blocked attempts to have the council call for a halt to hostilities.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres stressed that ICJ rulings are legally binding, trusting that Israel will comply with its orders, including “to take all measures within its power” to prevent acts that would bring about the destruction of the Palestinian people.
The UN chief took note of the provisional measures the ICJ ordered, and took special note of its order to Israel to ensure the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to address the conditions in Gaza, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said Friday.
Guterres also noted the court’s emphasis that “all parties to the conflict in the Gaza Strip are bound by international humanitarian law,” and that it calls for the immediate release of all hostages abducted by Hamas and other armed groups during the Oct. 7, he said.
Dujarric said the secretary-general respects the independence of the UN court and did not want to be a commentator on its rulings.
But he said Guterres has repeatedly called for a humanitarian ceasefire in Gaza, stepped up humanitarian assistance for most of the 2.3 million people there, and the immediate release of the hostages.
