A ruling by the UN’s top court that orders Israel to prevent acts of genocide against Palestinians has been welcomed by Irish campaign groups and charities.

The International Court of Justice stopped short of ordering a ceasefire in Gaza in a genocide case filed by South Africa.

But it demanded that Israel tries to contain death and damage in its military offensive.

Trocaire, an aid agency of the Irish Catholic Church, welcomed the decision – particularly the measures Israel has been ordered to take to ensure humanitarian access.

Trocaire’s CEO, Caoimhe de Barra, said: “While we would like to have seen an order for a full and immediate ceasefire, we welcome the provisional measures which we hope will serve to protect the people of Gaza.

“Trocaire is now calling on the Irish government to ensure that Israel complies with all of the provisional measures imposed by the ICJ and that Ireland engages with its partners in the EU and USA to in particular to achieve this.

“We’re asking the Irish government to join the substantive case with South Africa as soon as possible and we continue to call for full ceasefire and a political resolution that respects the legitimate rights of Palestinians and which achieves a just peace for Israelis and Palestinians.”

More than 26,000 Palestinians have been killed, the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run enclave said on Friday.

A spokesperson for Ireland-Palestine Solidarity Campaign said the only way to implement the ICJ ruling is by imposing an immediate and permanent ceasefire.

While we would like to have seen an order for a full and immediate ceasefire we welcome the provisional measures which we hope will serve to protect the people of Gaza.

“Chief among these measures is the demand that Israel acts to prevent acts of genocide in the Gaza Strip,” the spokesperson said.

“This is an implicit recognition that Israel’s attack on Gaza, which has killed more than 1% of population in just four months, is indeed plausibly an act of genocide.

“The measures also call for the immediate opening up for Gaza to humanitarian aid, and for the prevention and punishment of incitement to genocide by Israeli officials.

“Lastly, it is now an undisputed fact that Israel is now on trial for the crime of genocide. This should put all of Israel’s international backers on notice, because complicity with genocide is also a crime.

“This is an historic defeat for the genocidal apartheid state of Israel, and its backers, in both the world court and the court of public opinion.”

The group backed calls for Ireland to intervene at the ICJ on the side of South Africa.

A march in support of Palestinians will take place in Dublin on Saturday.