World Court won’t issue provisional measures against Germany over arms sales to Israel

The International Court of Justice decides not to issue provisional measures against Germany for its arms sales to Israel as demanded by Nicaragua against the background of Israel’s ongoing war against Hamas in Gaza.

The court rules, however, that it will not dismiss the case from its docket, saying it could only do so if there were a manifest lack of jurisdiction which it says is not the case in Nicaragua’s application.

Nicaragua filed an application to the ICJ against Germany in February accusing Berlin of violating the Genocide Convention for selling weapons to Israel and for its suspension of funds for the Palestinian humanitarian agency UNRWA over concerns of its involvement in terrorist activity against Israel.

“Based on the factual information and legal arguments presented by the parties the court concludes that at present the circumstances are not such as to require the exercise of its power under article 41 of the statue to indicate provisional measures,” ICJ court president Nawaf Salam reads from the order.

Salam says, however, that the court remains “deeply concerned about the catastrophic living conditions of Palestinians in Gaza Strip, in particular in view of the prolonged and widespread deprivation of food and other basic necessities to which they are being subjected.”