Israel faces legal reckoning at the ICC and ICJ over Gaza genocide

I'm at the detention center of the International Criminal Court in The Hague, where Israels Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would be held if he gets detained on the arrest warrant issued by this court against him. But his room remains empty. Six African rebel leaders and former president Rodrigo Duterte of the Philippines are being detained here. One convicted and the others awaiting trials and appeals. Mohammed Irzala has little hope Netanyahu will soon be joining them. The 21-year-old student left Gaza in July. He tells us Israel killed some family and friends in the genocide. If he actually gets arrested, maybe it's like Gazans that are going to start to feel optimistic again and they're going to start believing in justice. But till now, it's just hard to believe. The Hague, often called the city of peace, is home to the most prominent international courts, but they have not been able to stop Israel's genocidal war on Gaza. When South Africa filed its case here at the International Court of Justice against Israel in December 2023 for violations of the Genocide Convention, victims in Gaza were offered hope that the international legal system could not only bring justice, but could stop also the atrocities. But Israel has rejected legally binding orders to prevent genocidal acts, and the court has no power to enforce them. Meanwhile, at the other court, the International Criminal Court, on November 21st, 2024, arrest warrants were issued against Netanyahu, his former defense minister Yoav Gallant, and three Hamas leaders who have since been killed. But while the Israeli prime minister has managed to avoid arrest, the ICC has come under enormous pressure, with prosecutors and judges under U.S. sanctions. And in six months, sanctions against the entire court will take effect. So the question arises, has Gaza become the graveyard of international justice? I put this question to genocide survivor and researcher Alma Mustafic. Her father was among more than 8,000 men and boys killed by Bosnian Serbs in Srebrenica in 1995. I think we are in a very critical moment in the history right now. I want to believe that we are in this critical moment where we will realize that human rights are human rights for all. and international law is international law for all of us and not only in the cases that it benefits us and by us I mean Western powers. The Srebrenica massacre is so far the only formally designated genocide by the International Court of Justice. Although it took more than two decades, Serbian leaders were convicted and jailed for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. Even we couldn't believe that something like that would ever be possible. So what seems impossible could be possible. After a few years, with right political will, everything is possible. Offering a glimmer of hope to Mohammed Irzala and other Palestinians from Gaza who say international law has so far failed them. Stefan Sen, Al Jazeera, The Hague.