The Israeli onslaught against Gaza has now killed more than twenty-seven thousand people. The main legal challenge to Israel’s war has come from South Africa’s case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), invoking the Genocide Convention and asking for emergency action to protect the civilian population of Gaza.

The court published its first response to the South African case on Friday, January 26, finding that the charge of genocide was plausible and allowing the case to proceed. It ordered a set of provisional measures to prevent genocide and alleviate the humanitarian catastrophe. But Israel and its Western allies responded to the ruling by launching a full-scale attack on the UN Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA), which plays an indispensable role in providing aid for the people of Gaza.

John Reynolds is a professor of law at Maynooth University and the author of Empire, Emergency and International Law. This is an edited transcript from Jacobin Radio’s Long Reads podcast. You can listen to the interview here.