Top UN court will hold hearings in a case accusing Germany of facilitating Israel's war on Gaza

Preliminary hearings open Monday at the United Nations' top court in a case that seeks an end of German military and other aid to Israel, based on claims that Berlin is "facilitating" acts of genocide and breaches of international law in Israel's war on Gaza.

Israel strongly denies its military campaign amounts to breaches of the Genocide Convention.

While the case brought by Nicaragua centers on Germany, it indirectly takes aim at Israel's unprecedented military campaign in Gaza which has killed more than 33,000 Palestinians in six months, most of them women and children, according to the territory's health ministry.

"We are calm and we will set out our legal position in court," German Foreign Ministry spokesperson Sebastian Fischer said ahead of the hearings.

"We reject Nicaragua’s accusations," Fischer told reporters in Berlin on Friday. "Germany has breached neither the genocide convention nor international humanitarian law, and we will set this out in detail before the International Court of Justice."

Nicaragua has asked the court to hand down preliminary orders known as provisional measures, including that Germany "immediately suspend its aid to Israel, in particular its military assistance including military equipment in so far as this aid may be used in the violation of the Genocide Convention" and international law.

The court will likely take weeks to deliver its preliminary decision and Nicaragua's case will likely drag on for years.

Monday’s hearing at the world court comes amid growing calls for allies to stop supplying arms to Israel as its six-month bombardment continues to lay waste to Gaza.

The offensive has displaced the vast majority of Gaza’s population of over 2 million. Food is scarce, the U.N. says famine is approaching and few Palestinians have been able to leave the besieged territory. Some have already starved to death.

"The case next week in The Hague will likely further galvanise opposition to any support for Israel," said Mary Ellen O’Connell, a professor of law and international peace studies at the University of Notre Dame.

"This is extremely fear-inducing and fearsome, akin to the days of fascism"

Inside Germany's far-reaching anti-Palestinian crackdown: https://t.co/xRL2CLbkue

— The New Arab (@The_NewArab) November 22, 2023

On Friday, the U.N.’s top human rights body called on countries to stop selling or shipping weapons to Israel. The United States and Germany opposed the resolution.

Also, hundreds of British jurists, including three retired Supreme Court judges, have called on their government to suspend arms sales to Israel after three U.K. citizens were among seven aid workers from the charity World Central Kitchen killed in Israeli strikes. Israel said the attack on the aid workers was a mistake caused by "misidentification."

Germany has for decades been a staunch supporter of Israel. Days after the October 7 attack by Hamas, which killed about 1,170 people in southern Israel, Chancellor Olaf Scholz explained why: "Our own history, our responsibility arising from the Holocaust, makes it a perpetual task for us to stand up for the security of the state of Israel," he told lawmakers.

Berlin, however, has gradually shifted its tone as civilian casualties in Gaza have soared, becoming increasingly critical of the humanitarian situation in Gaza and spoken out against a ground offensive in Rafah.

Nicaragua's government, which has historical links with Palestinian organisations dating back to their support for the 1979 Sandinista revolution, was itself accused earlier this year by U.N.-backed human rights experts of systematic human rights abuses "tantamount to crimes against humanity." The government of President Daniel Ortega fiercely rejected the allegations.

Legal challenges in the domestic courts of Israel's Western allies have mounted since the ICJ ruling on genocide in Gaza

How the ICJ ruling paved the way to banning arms sales to Israel 👇https://t.co/M1sbBW5uFU

— The New Arab (@The_NewArab) February 23, 2024

In January, the ICJ imposed provisional measures ordering Israel to do all it can to prevent death, destruction and acts of genocide in Gaza. The orders came in a case filed by South Africa accusing Israel of breaching the Genocide Convention.

The court last week ordered Israel to take measures to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza, including opening more land crossings to allow food, water, fuel and other supplies into the war-ravaged enclave.

On Friday, Israel said it’s taking steps to increase the flow of humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip, including reopening the key Erez border crossing into northern Gaza.

Nicaragua argues that by giving Israel political, financial and military support and by defunding the United Nations aid agency for Palestinians, UNWRA, "Germany is facilitating the commission of genocide and, in any case has failed in its obligation to do everything possible to prevent the commission of genocide."

Israel strongly denies that its assault amounts to genocidal acts, saying it is acting in self defense and wants to dismantle Hamas.