THE top United Nations court today rejected a Nicaraguan request for it to order Germany to halt military and other aid to Israel and renew funding of the UN aid agency in Gaza.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) said that legal conditions for making such an order had not been met and ruled against the request in a 15 to one vote.

“Based on the factual information and legal arguments presented by the parties, the court concludes that, at present, the circumstances are not such as to require the exercise of its power to indicate provisional measures,” said court president Nawaf Salam.

However, the 16-judge panel declined to throw out the case altogether. 

The ICJ will still hear arguments from both sides on the merits of Nicaragua’s case, which alleges that Germany failed to prevent genocide in Gaza. That is likely to take months.

Mr Salam said that the court “remains deeply concerned about the catastrophic living conditions of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, in particular in view of the prolonged and widespread deprivation of food and other basic necessities to which they have been subjected.”

The ICJ “considers it particularly important to remind all states of their international obligations relating to the transfer of arms to parties to an armed conflict, in order to avoid the risk that such arms might be used” to violate international law.

In response, the German Foreign Office wrote on the X social media platform that “no-one is above the law. This guides our actions. We welcome today’s decision by the International Court of Justice.

“Germany is not a party to the conflict in the Middle East. On the contrary, we are working day and night for a two-state solution,” the ministry added.

“We are the largest donor of humanitarian aid to the Palestinians. We are working to ensure that aid reaches the people in Gaza.”

Nicaragua alleges that Germany is enabling genocide by sending arms and other support to Israel, but the German government claimed that it had barely exported any weapons to Israel since the Gaza offensive started last October.

Israel, which isn’t a party to the case, strongly denies that its assault on Gaza amounts to a campaign of genocide, insisting that it is acting in self-defence.

Late last year, South Africa accused Israel at the court of committing genocide.

The cases come as Israel’s allies face growing calls to stop supplying it with weapons and as some, including Germany, have grown more critical of the war.