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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Politics
Julian Borger Senior international correspondent

‘Really cautious’: why the ICJ is delaying a Gaza genocide verdict

A woman sits and looks into the camera holding her starving child
Israel has almost entirely ignored the ICJ’s provisional measures and rejected the genocide accusation as ‘outrageous and false’. Photograph: Abdel Kareem Hana/AP

While Palestinians in Gaza die in ever-increasing numbers from starvation each day and a growing number of legal scholars, aid officials and politicians have begun describing Israel’s actions as genocide, a definitive ruling on the question by the world’s top court will be a long time coming.

Experts on the International Court of Justice (ICJ) said a judgment on whether Israel is committing genocide in Gaza is unlikely before the end of 2027 at the earliest, amid warnings that the international community should not use the court’s glacial proceedings as an excuse to put off action to stop the killing.

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