World Court elects Judge Yuji Iwasawa as new president

The International Court of Justice, also known as the World Court, said on Monday that Judge Yuji Iwasawa had been elected as its new president to complete former president Nawaf Salam's term that ends on Feb 5, 2027.

Salam resigned in January to become Lebanon's prime minister.

Iwasawa, who is Japanese, has been a member of the World Court since 2018 and before that was a professor of international law at the University of Tokyo and chairperson of the United Nations Human Rights Committee.

The ICJ, the UN's highest court and based in The Hague, was established in 1945 to resolve disputes between states.

It recently gained global attention in the ongoing case surrounding genocide accusations against Israel - which it has denied - in the Gaza war.

In July, the ICJ ruled that Israel's occupation since the 1967 Middle East war of Palestinian territories and its settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem were illegal and that it must withdraw as soon as possible.

For Palestinians and most of the international community, the settlements are considered illegal. Israel disputes this, citing the Jewish people's historical, biblical and political links to the area as well as security considerations.