Top UN court to rule on Germany/Nicaragua Gaza genocide case

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The top UN court said it will rule Tuesday on charges by Nicaragua that Germany is breaching the 1948 Genocide Convention by supplying weapons to Israel for the Gaza war.

Nicaragua has hauled Germany before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to demand judges impose emergency measures to stop Berlin from providing Israel with weapons and other assistance.

The ICJ said Friday it would hand down its order at 3:00 pm (1300 GMT) on April 30, with presiding judge Nawaf Salam reading out the ruling.

Top lawyers from the two countries clashed earlier this month at the court, with Nicaragua saying Germany was "pathetic" to be both providing weapons to Israel and aid to Gazans.

Berlin retorted that Israel's security was at the "core" of its foreign policy and argued that Nicaragua had "grossly distorted" Germany's supply of military aid to Israel.

"The moment we look closely, Nicaragua's accusations fall apart," Christian Tams, a representative for Germany, told the court.

Nicaragua requested five emergency measures, including that Germany "immediately suspend its aid to Israel, in particular its military assistance including military equipment."

The war began with an unprecedented Hamas attack that resulted in the deaths of about 1,170 people in Israel, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures.

Israel vowed to destroy Hamas, with a retaliatory offensive that has killed at least 34,356 people in Gaza, mostly women and children, according to the Hamas-run territory's health ministry.