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THE HAGUE: Israel has asked the (ICJ) not to issue emergency orders for it to step up humanitarian aid to Gaza to address a looming famine, dismissing South Africa’s request to do so as “morally repugnant”. In a legal filing to the United Nations’ top court, made public on Monday, Israel said it “has real concern for the humanitarian situation and innocent lives, as demonstrated by the actions it has and is taking” in Gaza during the war. Lawyers for Israel denied allegations of deliberately causing humanitarian suffering in the enclave, where thousands have died and hunger is rising, and said South Africa’s repeated requests for additional measures were an abuse of procedures. The filing said South Africa’s accusations in its request for new measures, filed March 6, are “wholly unfounded in fact and law, morally repugnant, and represent an abuse both of the Genocide Convention and of the court itself”. The new exchange between the parties is part of South Africa’s ongoing case accusing Israel of state-led genocide in Gaza after the Oct. 7 Hamas militant attacks on Israel. In January the ICJ, also known as the World Court, ordered Israel to refrain from any acts that could fall under the Genocide Convention and to ensure its troops commit no genocidal acts against Palestinians in Gaza. Israel denies targeting Palestinian civilians, saying its sole interest is to annihilate Hamas, but relief agencies say aid is being severely restricted to the Gaza’s 2.3 million people. ICJ emergency measures serve as temporary injunctions meant to keep a situation from deteriorating before the court can hear the full case, a process that usually takes several years.
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