The government of South Africa on Friday instituted proceedings at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against the State of Israel for committing ‘genocidal acts’ in Gaza.
In the 84-page document submitted to the court, South Africa said, “The acts and omissions by Israel … are genocidal in character because they are intended to bring about the destruction of a substantial part of the Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group, that being part of the Palestinian group in the Gaza Strip.”
It noted that these acts are committed through Israeli State organs, state agents, and other persons and entities acting on its instructions concerning Palestinians in Gaza which violates its obligations under the Genocide Convention.
Both Israel and South Africa are state parties to the Genocide Convention of 1948. “South Africa is under a treaty obligation to prevent genocide from occurring,” the country said, hence the reason for instituting the proceeding.
In a separate statement signed by its Department of International Relation and Cooperation, the Southern African country said it is gravely concerned with the plight of civilians caught in the ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip due to the indiscriminate use of force and forcible removal of inhabitants.
Whereas it condemns violations of international law by all parties, including the direct targeting of Israeli civilians and other nationals and hostage-taking by Hamas, “no armed attack on a State’s territory no matter how serious — even an attack involving atrocity crimes — can, however, provide any possible justification for, or defence to, breaches of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, whether as a matter of law or morality.”
South Africa requested the ICJ, also known as World Court, to as a matter of extreme urgency, pending the Court’s determination of this case on the merits, to ask Israel to immediately suspend its military operations in and against Gaza amongst other provisional measures outlined in the document.
Responding to South Africa’s application, Lior Haiat, spokesperson of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs accused South Africa of cooperating with a terrorist organisation that is calling for the destruction of the State of Israel.
“Israel rejects with disgust the blood libel spread by South Africa in its application to the International Court of Justice (ICJ),” the press statement he shared on X said.
Mr Haiat said South Africa’s claim lacked both a factual and a legal basis and constituted a despicable and contemptuous exploitation of the Court.
According to him, Hamas is responsible for the suffering of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip by using them as human shields and stealing humanitarian aid from them.
Reiterating that Israel is committed to international law and acts by it, he called on the ICJ and the international community to “completely reject South Africa’s baseless claims.”
The ongoing war in Gaza which has seen the death of over 20,000 people including journalists and aid workers started on 7 October after Hamas launched what has been described as the biggest attack against Israel in years.
After the 7 October attack, that led to the death of 1,200 Israelis, Israel promised to wipe out Hamas. This has led to a relentless attack on Gaza, killing thousands of people, the majority of them women and children, and displacing about 90 per cent of the over two million Gaza residents.
At least 150 UN staff have been killed in the ongoing war.
Several attempts at a ceasefire have failed. The closest parties have come is a humanitarian pause to allow for aid to reach civilian populations caught in the war.
AFP
