World News | Israel's President Says the UN World Court Misrepresented His Comments in Its Genocide Ruling

Jerusalem, Jan 29 (AP) Israel's president on Sunday accused the UN world court of misrepresenting his words in a ruling that ordered Israel to take steps to protect Palestinians and prevent a genocide in the Gaza Strip.

The court's ruling on Friday cited a series of statements made by Israeli leaders as evidence of incitement and dehumanizing language against Palestinians. They included comments by President Isaac Herzog made just days after the October 7 Hamas cross-border attack that triggered Israel's war against the Islamic militant group.

Also Read | Drone Attack on US Base: Three American Soldiers Killed, 25 Injured in Drone Strike by Iran-Backed Military Groups in Jordan.

Hamas militants killed around 1,200 people in that attack and took about 250 others hostage. The Israeli offensive has left more than 26,000 Palestinians dead, displaced more than 80 per cent of Gaza's inhabitants and led to a humanitarian crisis in the territory.

Talking about Gaza's Palestinians at an October 12 news conference, Herzog said that “an entire nation” was responsible for the massacre, the report by the International Court of Justice noted.

Also Read | Israel-Hamas Conflict: CIA, Mossad, Qatar PM Mohammed Al-Thani Lead High-Stakes Talks in Paris on Gaza Hostage Release and Ceasefire.

But Herzog said that it ignored other comments in the same news conference in which he said “there is no excuse” for killing innocent civilians, and that Israel would respect international laws of war.

“I was disgusted by the way they twisted my words, using very, very partial and fragmented quotes, with the intention of supporting an unfounded legal contention,” Herzog said Sunday.

In its ruling, the court stopped short of ordering ordering an end to the Israeli military offensive. But it ordered Israel to do all it can to prevent death, destruction and any acts of genocide in Gaza and issued a series of orders to Israel that include an end to incitement and submitting a progress report to the court within one month. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)