NAIROBI, Kenya, Jan 27 — The African Union Commission chair Moussa Faki Mahamat today welcomed the UN top court’s decision that Israel should do everything it can to prevent any acts of genocide in Gaza.

"The ruling upholds the respect of international law and the need for Israel to imperatively comply with its obligations under the Genocide Convention,” Faki said in a social media statement.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague yesterday handed down its first judgement in a landmark case brought by African Union member South Africa that also ordered Israel to allow humanitarian access to the Palestinian territory.

South Africa has accused Israel of breaching the 1948 UN Genocide Convention — set up in the aftermath of World War II and the Holocaust — during its military campaign in Gaza, sparked by the October 7 attacks by Hamas.

The court did not pass judgment on whether or not Israel is actually committing genocide but handed down emergency orders while it considers the wider accusation — a process that is likely to take years.

Faki said the African Union welcomed the measures ordered by the court.

The war in Gaza started with the October 7 attack by Hamas that resulted in about 1,140 deaths in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of official Israeli figures.

Militants also seized about 250 hostages and Israel says around 132 of them remain in Gaza, including the bodies of at least 28 dead captives.

Israel has vowed to crush Hamas and launched a military offensive that Gaza’s health ministry says has killed at least 26,250 people, about 70 per cent of them women and children. — AFP