Maldives welcomes World Court order on preventing Gaza genocide

Maldives has welcomed and urged parties to respect and follow a World Court order on Friday to prevent acts of genocide against Palestinians and do more to help civilians.

The World Court ordered Israel on Friday to prevent acts of genocide against Palestinians and do more to help civilians, although it stopped short of ordering a ceasefire as requested by the plaintiff South Africa.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) found there was a case to be heard about whether Palestinian rights were being denied in a war it said was causing grievous humanitarian harm. It also called for Palestinian armed groups to release hostages captured in the Oct. 7 attacks on Israel that precipitated the conflict.

In a post on X welcoming the ICJ order, Maldivian President Mohamed Muizzu said Maldives believes that Israel needs to stop the killing in Gaza and implement an immediate ceasefire. Every human life has value, which needs to be protected. Bombings, displacement and apartheid will not bring peace, he added.

"True and lasting peace can only be attained by establishing an independent Palestinian State based on pre-1967 borders," the post read.

In a separate post on X, Maldivian foreign minister Moosa Zameer said the ruling demonstrates the power of international law.

"We hope that all parties involved in this ruling abide by it. While we remain hopeful of the situation, we renew our call for an immediate ceasefire to the ongoing conflict," it read.

"We believe true and lasting peace can be attained through an independent Palestine State based on pre-1967 borders."

While the ICJ ruling denied Palestinian hopes of a binding order to halt the war in Gaza, it represented a legal setback for Israel, which had hoped to throw out a case brought under the genocide convention established in the ashes of the World War Two Holocaust that targeted European Jews.

Israel had sought to have the case thrown out when South Africa brought it to the ICJ, also known as the World Court, this month under the legal principle that genocide is such a grave crime that all countries are duty-bound to prevent it.

Pretoria accused Israel of state-led genocide in its offensive, begun after Hamas militants stormed into Israel killing 1,200 and kidnapping more than 240.

It asked the court to grant emergency measures to halt the fighting, which Palestinian officials say has killed more than 26,000 Palestinians and displaced the majority of the population in a more than three-month campaign of intensive bombardment.

The ICJ judges ordered Israel to take all measures within its power to prevent its troops from committing genocide, punish acts of incitement, take steps to improve the humanitarian situation and report back on its progress in a month.

It did not decide the merits of the genocide allegations, which could take years. Although the ruling cannot be appealed, the court has no mechanism to enforce its decision.

In reading out the decision, ICJ President Judge Joan Donoghue described the plight of Palestinians in Gaza, singling out harm to children and quoting detailed descriptions of the humanitarian emergency from U.N. officials.

This, she said, justified the court's decision to take emergency action to prevent irreparable harm. She also read out calls from Israeli officials for a harsh campaign, which she said justified the court's order to Israel to punish people guilty of incitement.

Israel called South Africa's allegations false and "grossly distorted". It says it has acted in self defence against a foe that attacked first, and goes to great lengths to protect civilians, blaming Hamas for operating among them, which the fighters deny.