InternationalLawBlog

A blog with fresh perspectives on international law

[InternationalLawBlog @IntlLawBlog]

New Post: 'The Demise of USAID and the US Administration’s New Form of Providing Assistance Abroad: The Case of the Bilateral Health Agreements with African States'
By Professor Konstantinos D. Magliveras
https://t.co/VqekDbYy1W via @InternationalLawBlog

[Gaza Great Minds @GazaGreatMinds]

Two tent schools with hundreds of children but with only one mission:
Free education for the children of Gaza.
Gaza Great Minds has been running since more than 2 years ago under fire, in displacement camps, under tent roofs, on sand floors.
Most people never heard of it.
Now you have. Share it.🩶
#Wewillreadagain

[Daniel Steinmetz-Jenkins @daniel_dsj2110]

The Guardian: “Faculty who support Palestinian rights are applying for compensation, claiming they faced harassment as Jews for their positions.”: https://t.co/7j71V8G5xL

[Drop Site @DropSiteNews]

⭕️ The number of Palestinian women held in Israeli prisons has risen to 89 after four female students were arrested in the occupied West Bank, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club.

Among the detainees are three children, three pregnant women, 19 administrative detainees held without charge or trial, and two women with cancer.

The group says female prisoners face starvation, denial of medical care, overcrowding, isolation, physical assaults, and humiliating searches. More than 760 women have been arrested since the start of the war, according to the organization.

360 children, including 90 under administrative detention are also currently in Israeli jails.

[The Presidency 🇿🇦 @PresidencyZA]

On 21 May 2026, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) issued an Order setting a deadline of 22 November 2027 for South Africa to file its Reply to Israel’s written pleading – submitted in March 2026 – in the case of Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel).

Israel will then have until 22 May 2029 to submit a Rejoinder. The ICJ’s Order follows a meeting of the representatives of the parties and the President of the Court in The Hague on 29 April 2026, called by the President of the Court to discuss the next procedural steps in the case.

A second round of written pleadings is common in ICJ cases; in fact, in all previous cases brought under the Genocide Convention, parties have submitted a Reply and a Rejoinder. Moreover, as Israel has now objected to the jurisdiction of the Court in its Counter-Memorial, submitted in March 2026 – and not, as contemplated in the Rules of Court, “as soon as possible, and not later than three months after the delivery of the Memorial” (i.e. January 2025) – South Africa will now have to address these objections to the Court’s jurisdiction in its Reply.

In terms of the Rules of Court, the written pleadings remain confidential until the Court determines otherwise. At the time of filing its Counter-Memorial Israel’s counsel publicly declared that “its Counter-Memorial [proves] its legitimate objectives in the war have always been to eliminate the military and governing capabilities of Hamas and other terrorist organizations”.

Whether or not Israel’s war on Gaza is authorised by, or has complied with, the international law regarding self-defence, as claimed by Israel’s counsel, South Africa’s response is a simple one: self-defence is not a defence to genocide, there is none.

What is more, Israel remains bound by the three provisional measures Orders issued by the ICJ – at the request of South Africa – that seek to ensure the protection of the rights of Palestinians in Gaza, which the Court has determined are under “real and imminent risk of irreparable prejudice”.

These Orders oblige Israel, amongst other things, to ensure that its military does not commit any genocidal acts in Gaza, to ensure “without delay, in full co-operation with the United Nations, the unhindered provision…of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance”, ensure the “unimpeded access” of UN commissions of inquiry, fact-finding mission and other investigative bodies to the Gaza Strip.

ISSUED BY THE PRESIDENCY OF THE REPUBLIC OF SOUTH AFRICA

[Waleed Shahid 🪬 @_waleedshahid]

At the 2024 DNC, Uncommitted delegates requested to have American doctors who served in Gaza address delegates at the convention about their experiences. The DNC and campaign officials said no. Now a doctor who served in Gaza is headed to Congress.

[InternationalLawBlog @IntlLawBlog]

New Post: 'The Demise of USAID and the US Administration’s New Form of Providing Assistance Abroad: The Case of the Bilateral Health Agreements with African States'
By Professor Konstantinos D. Magliveras
https://t.co/VqekDbYy1W via @InternationalLawBlog

[Martin Konečný @MartinKonecny]

🧵One more thread on EU trade with Israel's illegal settlements.

Lot of people ask - would an EU ban on such trade require unanimity or qualified majority (QMV) of EU states?

Together with @CIDSE @DorienVdb50 we asked this question to experts on EU constitutional law.

[Jonathan Cook @Jonathan_K_Cook]

Israeli journalist Gideon Levy:

"Now that [Gaza] has been destroyed almost completely, Israel is advancing confidently toward the next phase: making the entire population permanently disabled, injured, sick, hungry, homeless and unemployed."

It's the prelude, says Levy, to mass expulsion.

"No society can function without teachers, doctors, social workers, engineers and clerks. And without a functioning society, it's easy to expel Gaza's residents to the four corners of the earth."

Source: https://t.co/NYY16nu06c

[Reem Alsalem UNSR Violence Against Women and Girls @UNSRVAW]

I welcome this decision by UN SG Guterres which is long overdue.

This listing could not have come soon enough.

I had in the past expressed my disappointment that Israel was not listed already, given the systematic, large-scale and horrific sexual violence perpetrated by Israel against palestinian women, men and children that have been independently documented and verified.

[Al Jazeera English @AJEnglish]

After winning an Emmy, Al Jazeera’s @joshrushing dedicated the award to colleagues and journalists killed by Israel in an emotional speech.

@AJFaultLines documentary on Kids Under Fire won ‘Outstanding War or Violence Conflict Coverage’ at the 2026 News Emmys.

[Nathan J Robinson @NathanJRobinson]

haunted by this painting from Palestinian artist Malak Mattar, "No Words, Only Scenes of Ruin," a modern-day Guernica for the Gaza genocide

[Daniel Mayakovski @DaniMayakovski]

"Israel envió a mi casa a 2 tipos para ofrecerme un sobre con 500 dólares para que dejase de investigar sus crímenes en Palestina. Después el jefe del Mossad, Yossi Cohen, me amenazó a mi y a mi familia para que dejase de investigar a Israel"

Fatou Bensouda, ex fiscal jefe de la Corte Penal Internacional, denuncia las amenazas y el intento de soborno que "Israel" le hizo para que parase de investigar sus crímenes en Palestina.

En esta entrevista, Fatou cuenta cómo los sionistas controlan a los jueces internacionales, a través de las amenazas y los sobornos, al igual que el imperio de EEUU, que bloqueó sus cuentas bancarias y le hizo la vida imposible por intentar juzgar sus crímenes.

Así funciona el mundo capitalista, los poderosos controlan a los jueces para que no les juzguen y solo persigan a sus enemigos, todo es corrupción y mafia.

[InternationalLawBlog @IntlLawBlog]

New post: 'Reframing Transitional Justice: Innovations, Boundaries, and Refractions'
By Mark A. Drumbl and Kirsten J. Fisher
https://t.co/uWrwklwE1V via @InternationalLawBlog

[UN News @UN_News_Centre]

Dire conditions in Gaza marked by continuing violence, rodent infestations and the spread of infectious disease are being made worse by blockages of essential medical supplies, UN agencies said on Friday.

https://t.co/Vqr28LdvEe

[InternationalLawBlog @IntlLawBlog]

'Quo te tendis, Mundo Occidentali? Article 5 North Atlantic Treaty, article 42(7) Treaty on European Union and the strive for collective security'
By Professor Konstantinos D. Magliveras
https://t.co/Cszj5x5Ayw via @InternationalLawBlog

[Drop Site @DropSiteNews]

In a second video, Ben-Gvir mocks the detained activists, saying they “came here all full of pride like big heroes. Look at them now,” before calling on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to hand them over for long-term imprisonment.

“I say to Prime Minister Netanyahu, give them to me for a long, long time. Give them to us for the terrorist prisons. That’s what it should look like,” Ben-Gvir said.

[Novara Media @novaramedia]

Israel’s finance minister, Bezalel Smotrich, says the international criminal court (ICC) is seeking an arrest warrant against him – and threatened to retaliate by waging war on Palestine.

He said he had ordered the evacuation of Khan al-Ahmar, a Palestinian village in the illegally occupied West Bank – as part of measures against the Palestinian Authority, which he sees as backing the ICC case against him.

“The Palestinian Authority has started a war, and it will get a war,” he said.

Smotrich has played a major role in Israel’s genocide in Gaza, which has killed 72,000 people at a conservative estimate, with many tens of thousands more feared dead from disease and other less direct causes.

[ICRC @ICRC]

At the UN Security Council debate on the protection of civilians, over 85 states, led by Jordan, Brazil, China, France, Kazakhstan, and South Africa, along with the ICRC, issued a warning, stating that respect for international humanitarian law is eroding and demands immediate political action.

In response, a High-Level Conference on Humanity in War will take place in Jordan on 7 Dec 2026.

Learn more: https://t.co/enzPCs2wK2

[Heather Barr @heatherbarr1]

“Those of us who have spent years inside the UN system are not surprised by any of this. We have watched this film before. We know how it ends, or rather, how it is made to end.” https://t.co/lLHVpJsGHN