Israel will respond on Friday to South Africa’s accusations in a UN court that its military operation in Gaza is a state-sponsored genocidal campaign aimed at destroying the Palestinian population.
South Africa filed the lawsuit at the UN International Court of Justice (ICJ) in December. On Thursday, South Africa asked the judges to impose emergency measures ordering Israel to immediately halt the offensive.
The lawsuit says Israel’s air and ground offensive, which has destroyed much of the narrow coastal enclave and killed more than 23,000 people, according to Gaza health authorities, is aimed at “destroying the population” of Gaza.
Israel said that South Africa was acting as a mouthpiece for Hamas, which it considered a terrorist organisation seeking the destruction of the Jewish State. Israel rejected all accusations of genocide as baseless, stressing that its army was striking Hamas militants, not Palestinian civilians.
Israel launched an all-out war in Gaza after Hamas militants launched a cross-border attack on 7 October in which Israeli officials said 1,200 people, mostly civilians, were killed and 240 were taken hostage and returned to Gaza.
Heavy fighting was reported in the southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Younis on Tuesday, a day after Israel said it was withdrawing thousands of troops from other areas to abandon the massive air and ground operations that have devastated the Hamas-run enclave.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to continue the war until Hamas is defeated and more than 100 hostages still held by militants in Gaza are freed, saying that could take several more months.
The 1948 Genocide Convention, adopted after the mass murder of Jews in the Nazi Holocaust, defines genocide as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.”
Since Israeli forces launched their offensive, almost the entire 2.3 million population of Gaza has been driven from their homes, resulting in a humanitarian disaster.
South Africa, a survivor of apartheid, has long supported the Palestinians. The relationship began when the African National Congress’ struggle against white minority rule was supported by Yasser Arafat’s Palestine Liberation Organisation.
The court is expected to rule on possible extraordinary measures later this month, but will not rule on genocide charges – proceedings could take years. Judgements of the International Court of Justice are final and not subject to appeal, but the court has no ability to enforce them.
