Nicaragua has accused Germany of aiding and abetting ‘genocide’ in the Gaza Strip.
Nicaragua made the accusation before the International Court of Justice in The Hague on Monday.
By supplying arms to Israel, Germany is facilitating genocide and violating international law, Nicaragua’s legal representatives told the UN’s highest court.
Germany, however, denied the accusation.
Meanwhile, Israel firmly rejected any violation of the Genocide Convention, and invoked its right to self-defence following the massacres by the Islamist Hamas and other extremist Palestinian organisations on Oct. 7, 2023.
Nicaragua initially wanted to use summary proceedings to ensure that Germany would stop supplying arms to Israel.
In addition, it wanted the judges to order Germany to resume support for the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) in the Gaza Strip.
Nicaragua argued that by providing political, financial and military support to Israel and suspending funding for UNRWA, Germany was enabling genocide and not fulfilling its duty to prevent it.
German representatives would not officially address the court until Tuesday.
The hearings are scheduled to last two days and a decision is expected in about two weeks.
The court’s decisions are binding.
Although neither Germany nor Nicaragua are directly involved in the war, both states have signed the UN Genocide Convention, including an undertaking to prevent acts of genocide.
This is the second genocide complaint before the UN court in connection with the war in the Gaza Strip.
South Africa accused Israel of genocide against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip at the end of 2023, and called for a ceasefire in summary proceedings.
In the meantime, the German Armed Forces have sent an A400M transport aircraft to the Middle East to drop food over the Gaza Strip.
The aircraft departed the Wunstorf airbase in northern Germany on Monday morning, an air force spokesman said.
The A400M is to be deployed over the Palestinian territory for the first time on Wednesday.
The operation was planned to last several weeks while a jetty to receive aid on Gaza’s coast is being built.
Jordan, which is coordinating the air supply operation, is planning a particularly large drop of relief supplies for Tuesday, at the end of the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan.
The Luftwaffe began dropping aid supplies for the suffering population in the embattled Gaza Strip in mid-March.
Other nations such as the U.S. are also taking part. Each of the German aircraft deployed so far can transport up to 18 tonnes cargo. (dpa/NAN)
