Nicaragua urges ICJ to reject Germany’s bid to throw out Gaza genocide case

What the report says

Nicaragua has asked the International Court of Justice to keep its case against Germany alive, arguing that German arms exports to Israel helped enable alleged genocide in Gaza and breached the 1948 Genocide Convention as well as humanitarian law. The request was made during public hearings in The Hague on Germany’s preliminary objections to the case, with Germany saying the complaint was filed improperly and should be dismissed.

According to Al Jazeera’s report, Nicaragua’s lawyers said they had already tried to raise concerns with German authorities and rejected Berlin’s claim that the issue was brought to court too quickly. Germany’s legal team countered that Nicaragua did not properly seek to resolve the dispute before suing. The article notes that Nicaragua filed the case about two years ago and that Germany is one of Israel’s major arms suppliers, after the United States.

Nicaragua’s argument is part of a broader legal fight linked to the war in Gaza and to South Africa’s separate genocide case against Israel. The report says the ICJ has already found it plausible that some rights under the Genocide Convention may have been violated in that proceeding. A ruling on Germany’s jurisdictional challenge is expected later this year. If the court allows the case to continue, a final judgment could take several more years.