THE HAGUE: Belgium on Tuesday joined South Africa in a case brought before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which accuses Israel of committing genocide in the Gaza Strip.
The UN’s highest court, based in The Hague, said in a statement that Brussels had filed a declaration of intervention.
Several countries including Brazil, Colombia, Ireland, Mexico, Spain and Turkiye have already joined the case.
In December 2023, South Africa brought a case to the United Nations’ highest court in The Hague, alleging Israel’s Gaza offensive breached the 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
Israel denies the accusation.
In rulings in January, March and May 2024, the ICJ told Israel to do everything possible to prevent acts of genocide in Gaza, including by providing urgently needed humanitarian aid to prevent famine.
These orders are legally binding, but the court has no concrete means to enforce them.
Israel has criticized the proceedings and rejected the accusations.
Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack resulted in the deaths of 1,221 people on the Israeli side, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
The Israeli military’s retaliatory campaign has since killed 70,369 Palestinians, also mostly civilians, according to Gaza’s health ministry, whose figures are considered reliable by the UN. The campaign has also displaced the majority of the 2.2 million people in the Palestinian territory.
Belgium was among a string of countries to recognize the State of Palestine in September, a status acknowledged by nearly 80 precent of UN members.
Belgium joins S.Africa’s genocide case against Israel
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Belgium joins S.Africa’s genocide case against Israel
- Several countries including Brazil, Colombia, Ireland, Mexico, Spain and Turkiye have already joined the case
- Belgium was among a string of countries to recognize the State of Palestine in September
Italy scouts gas supplies from US, Africa and Azerbaijan after Qatar force majeure, minister says
- QatarEnergy declared force majeure this week
- Rome is not alarmed about securing replacement volumes
ROME: Italy is looking at alternative sources of natural gas, including US liquefied natural gas (LNG) and pipeline supplies from Africa and Azerbaijan, to make up for loss of deliveries from Qatar due to the conflict in the Middle East, Energy Minister Gilberto Pichetto Fratin told a newspaper on Friday.
QatarEnergy declared force majeure this week and informed Italian utility Edison on Thursday that it would not be able to fulfil its contractual obligations concerning five liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargo deliveries scheduled to arrive in early April.
Rome is not alarmed about securing replacement volumes, since Qatar supplies only about 9 percent of Italy’s annual gas consumption, Pichetto Fratin told Il Messaggero pointing to several options, such as US LNG, “if it is available.”
Pipeline gas from Libya is another option, although “technical conditions must be created,” he said.
Additional flows could come from Mozambique or Algeria, and from Azerbaijan through the TAP pipeline, Pichetto Fratin added.
