The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has begun hearing a case accusing Germany of “facilitating genocide” in Gaza.
The two-day proceedings began at The Hague on Monday morning after Nicaragua accused Germany of violating its obligations as a signatory of the Genocide Convention through its sustained support of Israel and its war in Gaza.
Nicaraguan Ambassador to the Netherlands Carlos Jose Arguello Gomez told the UN’s top court that his government had taken the case “on behalf of the Palestinian people” who are “being subjected to one of the most destructive military actions in modern history.”
Nicaragua has been a longstanding supporter of the Palestinian cause, seeing the issue as a modern-day version of the type of colonialism it suffered under Spanish rule.
Germany has strongly refuted Nicaragua’s accusations that Berlin violated international humanitarian law. The German delegation will present its arguments to the court on Tuesday, the foreign office added in its post on X.
Israel is not a party to the case and will not appear the ICJ over the course of the next two days.