On Tuesday, Germany will explain how its support for Israel does not enable genocide and violations of international humanitarian law.
Berlin will present a defense to the charges brought by Nicaragua before the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Nicaragua has asked the UN’s highest court, also known as the World Court, to halt the export of German military weapons to Israel and reverse its decision to stop funding the UN’s Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA.
It follows a separate case in January when the court ordered Israel to take “all possible measures” to avoid genocidal acts in its war against Palestinian militants in Gaza, after South Africa accused Israel of genocide.
Israel has denied that its Gaza operation amounts to acts of genocide, saying it is acting in self-defense after Hamas-led militants invaded southern Israel on Oct. 7 and killed more than 1,200 people, including about 800 civilians.
Nicaragua claimed on Monday that Germany was violating the 1948 United Nations Convention on Genocide.
More than 33,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, have been killed in the past six months in Gaza, according to the Hamas-led territory’s Health Ministry. Various UN and other humanitarian agencies have warned that Gaza is on the brink of starvation.
“There is no doubt that Germany […] was well aware, and is well aware, at least of the serious risk of committing genocide,” Nicaraguan ambassador Carlos Jose Arguello Gomez told the court.
Nicaragua asked the ICJ to rule on “provisional measures” to order Germany to “immediately suspend its aid to Israel, in particular its military aid including military equipment to the extent that such aid can be used to violate the Genocide Convention” and international rights.
He also wants the court to order Germany to restore UNRWA funding in Gaza, Fena news agency writes.
