THE HAGUE (Reuters) – The International Court of Justice on Friday said it would hold hearings on April 8 and 9 in Nicaragua’s case against Germany for giving military aid to Israel and defunding the U.N. Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA).
Nicaragua asked the ICJ, also known as the World Court, earlier this month to issue emergency measures requiring Berlin to stop military aid to Israel and reverse its decision to stop funding UNRWA.
According to Nicaragua, Germany is violating the 1948 Genocide Convention and the 1949 Geneva Conventions on the laws of war in the occupied Palestinian territories.
German government spokesperson Wolfgang Buechner said Germany would present its position in court but added that Berlin believes the case is unjustified.
Major donors to UNRWA, including the United States and Germany, suspended funding after allegations that around 12 of its tens of thousands of Palestinian employees were suspected of involvement in the Oct. 7 attacks in Israel by Hamas militants.
Canada and Sweden have since announced they would resume funding and the head of the agency hopes some other donors will also reverse their decisions.
The ICJ’s emergency measures hearings can result in preliminary injunctions to ensure a dispute does not get worse in the time it takes for a final conclusion, which can be years.
(Reporting by Stephanie van den Berg, additional reporting by Riham Alkousaa in Berlin, editing by Andrew Cawthorne)
