The International Court of Justice (ICJ), on Friday, pronounced that Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem violated international law.

“The Israeli settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and the regime associated with them have been established and are being maintained in violation of international law,” the court’s president, Nawaf Salam, said at the Peace Palace in The Hague.

The court also noted that Israel’s presence in the territories should come to an end “as rapidly as possible”, saying the country was under an obligation to provide full reparation for the damage caused by its internationally wrongful acts to all legal persons.

The pronouncement from the court received heightened attention because of the ongoing war in Gaza, which started over nine months ago, and a genocide case brought in the same court by South Africa against Israel.

In January, there was an initial ruling on the genocide case where the court ordered Israel to restrain its attack in Gaza and five months later, it also asked the country to immediately halt its military offensive in Rafah, southern Gaza.

The United Nations General Assembly had in 2022 asked the court for an opinion on the legal consequences of Israel’s “prolonged occupation, settlement and annexation” of territories captured in the 1967 Middle East war.

However, Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the decision mendacious and said the country’s settlement in all areas of its land was legal.

“The Jewish people is not an occupier in its land — not in our eternal capital, Jerusalem, and not in the tracks of our forefathers in Judea and Samaria,” he said.