So I was just cruising around on the ICJ website, seeing if there have been any updates to the v Israel cases 186, 192 and 196. (Not.) But I did find a bunch of documents that I don't recall before.
Most interestingly, in 196 (Obligations of Israel in relation to the Presence and Activities of the United Nations, Other International Organizations and Third States in and in relation to the Occupied Palestinian Territory).
list of recent documents in ICJ 196 with links etc
27 August 2025, "Explanations provided further to the Court's request of 13 August 2025" from
- State of Israel (19 pgs)
- Volume II: Annexes (406 pgs, 35mb)
- State of Palestine (88 pgs)
- Table listing sources of information (326 pgs, 3mb)
(I am unable to find the request of Aug 13? I guess it was too boring to publish.)
On 8 September 2025 there are 3 additional documents, all "Comments further to the Court's request of 13 August 2025" from:
- United Nations (6 pgs)
- State of Israel (2 pgs)
- State of Palestine (60 pgs)
And what came of it so far is "Advisory Opinion of 22 October 2025"
- Summary (24 pgs)
- TLDR: "By ten votes to one" on 6 out of 6 points ... "AGAINST: Vice-President Sebutinde"
- Full version (71 pg)
- if that's not enough for you, there are various separate/dissenting/declarations/partials of individual judges on the advisory page
- Also UN Web TV (2hrs long in English and French)
Even though the ICJ is not really able/willing to to do much immediately about the israel situation, the documents are still important because they will likely form part of the global historical understanding. They're very official, not just now but going forward. And represent their respective nations.
I haven't read any of this thoroughly but when skimming "Explanations provided by the State of Israel" (Aug 27, 25) my eye landed on this for starters:
when you submit your conspiracy theory to court
(added line breaks for easier reading)
It is recalled, in this regard, that the question put to the Court anyway inquires only as to what the obligations of Israel are, and not whether or not Israel has abided by these obligations.^7^
- To this it may be added that the Court should in any event exercise great caution in considering the information presented to it in these proceedings, particularly given that disinformation and systematic propaganda concerning the situation in the Gaza Strip have pervaded the current hostilities.
Hamas’s calculated strategy of exploiting the sympathy of all those who care for the vulnerable has manifested itself not only in the systematic use of civilians as human shields, but also in the relentless dissemination of false information about the humanitarian situation to media outlets and international bodies.
Statements regarding Palestinian casualties – predominantly derived from Hamas-controlled sources – have therefore frequently required substantial downward revision after publication, with the UN on one occasion even reducing its published estimates of civilian fatalities by half.^8^
Similar misrepresentations by the UN occurred regarding Gaza’s humanitarian situation during March 2025, when “warnings” based on incomplete data from sources within Gaza—and disregarding significant information published by Israel—were presented as independent UN assessments and subsequently quoted as established fact.^9^
- Similarly, purportedly authentic images depicting civilian suffering have often been exposed as fabrications.^10^
Particularly troubling has been the exploitation of children suffering from pre-existing and chronic illnesses, whose photos were disseminated through various news media under glaring headlines of “famine”, without disclosing these details.^11^
Senior UN officials have been compelled to retract public statements concerning the humanitarian situation after these were proven false.^12^
Furthermore, reports warning of ‘imminent’ or unfolding humanitarian catastrophes have time and again been demonstrated to be inaccurate or even manipulated.^13^
Footnotes for the above:
7 Written Statement, para. 64.
8 The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) significantly revised data concerning aid that has entered Gaza: for instance, it initially reported, in real time, that only 11,355 aid trucks entered Gaza between May and September 2024, but later increased the number by over 60% to 18,796 aid trucks now showing on its online dashboard for that same period. This figure is still a far cry from the number of aid trucks that actually went in during that timeframe, which stands at no less than 29,955 (see real-time report: Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Reported impact snapshot | Gaza Strip (9 October 2024), (9 October 2024), https://www.ochaopt.org/content/reported-impact-snapshot-gaza-strip-9-october. Online dashboard: Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Gaza crossings: movement of people and goods (Incoming supplies between 7 October 2023 and 18 January 2025), https://www.ochaopt.org/data/crossings).
9 For instance, a publication by UNICEF on 10 March 2025 reported that severe water shortage for hundreds of thousands is expected, not taking into account the information publicly published by COGAT before and after such publication. This baseless statement was relied on as a UN official assessment just two days later, and considered as a fact by various international actors. See United Nations, Gaza power cut impacts safe water access for hundreds of thousands (10 March 2025), https://news.un.org/en/story/2025/03/1160961; COGAT, @cogatonline, X (formerly Twitter) (5:52 pm, 11 March 2025), https://x.com/cogatonline/status/1899518911563067488; Hamish Falconer MP, @HFalconerMP, X (formerly Twitter) (6:12 pm, 16 March 2025), https://x.com/HFalconerMP/status/1901335854494200116.
10 Recently, there has been an orchestrated campaign of alleged starvation by Hamas and its allies. To give one example, a German newspaper, Süddeutsche Zeitung, recently showed that a photo of Gazans holding empty pots was staged, with the civilians posing in front of a photographer – not in a queue for food aid. See N. Freund, “Wie echt sind die Bilder aus Gaza?” Süddeutsche Zeitung (3 August 2025), https://www.sueddeutsche.de/politik/gaza-hunger-bilder-experten-propaganda-hamas-israel-li.3291720.
11 A recent article by the Free Press has uncovered that twelve individuals who were featured in viral photos actually suffered from serious, pre-existing health problems. In late July, the New York Times published a photo of 18-month-old boy, Mohammed Zakaria al-Mutawaq, for a story about hunger in Gaza. After details regarding al-Mutawaq’s condition came to light, the New York Times was forced to publish a correction to the story stating that he suffered from “pre-existing health problems affecting his brain and his muscle development”: see, respectively, “They Became Symbols for Gazan Starvation. But All 12 Suffer from Other Health Problems.” The Free Press, (18 August 2025), https://www.thefp.com/p/they-became-symbols-for-gazan-starvation?fireglass_rsn=true#fireglass_params=&tabid=a9deebd463e56e08&application_server_address=fgtehilacloud-14-me-west1.prod.fire.glass&popup=true&is_right_side_popup=false&start_with_session_counter=; “Gazans Are Dying of Starvation” The New York Times, (29 July 2025), https://www.nytimes.com/2025/07/24/world/middleeast/gaza-starvation.html.
12 One noteworthy example is the statement by Tom Fletcher, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, who said on live television on 20 May 2025 that “there are 14,000 babies that will die in the next 48 hours” but was compelled to withdraw that statement as baseless. See “UN aid chief admits starving Gazan baby claim was amid ’desperation’ to let aid in” The Jerusalem Post, (30 May 2025), https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-856073.
13 This has notoriously been the case, for example, with regard to reports from the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification (IPC), on which see more at para. 48 below. Mention may also be made of the baseless claims made when Israel announced its intention to eliminate Hamas forces in the Rafah area
The Palestinian "Explanations" doesn't look like there is anything that's be new to anyone here, it is a calm overview, explanation, and evidence of the well-known horrors up til that point.
And their supporting Annexes, are exactly this loony toons. They have just printed off a bunch of X posts, internal chats telling each other they're doing good, and right wing media articles. The first Item is a WSJ article and it just goes from there. Here is overview of the PDF. The whole thing is like this:
If in the second image you thought "Oh, some words without pictures, maybe it's something serious": Zoom in and it's "U.S. Embassy Jerusalem, 'Ambassador Huckabee’s Interview with CBS News', (8 August 2025)". 14 pages long, apparently 41 minutes of a reporter chasing this guy around in circles.
For comparison, here is how Palestine's likewise document "Table listing sources of information" is presented:
1.5 weeks later (Sept 8, 25) each side submitted a response to the other. Palestine's response is 60 pages detailed refutation of Israel's arguments. Israel's is a scant 2 pages... because what could they say? It is just more whining.
Thank you for the detailed informations comrade o7