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South Africa and Israel are scheduled to appear before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in a case that might have significant implications for the ongoing Israel-Hamas conflict.
Oral proceedings are set to take place on Thursday and Friday in the Netherlands after South Africa filed a case against Israel in late December in the ICJ.
The case accuses Israel of “genocidal acts” against Palestinians in Gaza.
In its application to the court, South Africa described Israel’s actions in Gaza since 7 October as “genocidal in character because they are intended to bring about the destruction of a substantial part of the Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group”.
It added: “The acts in question include killing Palestinians in Gaza, causing them serious bodily and mental harm, and inflicting on them conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction.”
On Thursday, the ICJ will not determine if Israel is committing genocide in Gaza but instead will evaluate the strength of South Africa’s case to determine if provisional measures are warranted.
These measures would “protect against further, severe and irreparable harm” to Palestinians and “‘to ensure Israel’s compliance with its obligations under the Genocide Convention not to engage in genocide, and to prevent and to punish genocide”, the 84-page application against Israel stated.
South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, has compared Israel’s treatment of Palestinians to apartheid. He recalled South Africa’s diplomats from Israel and said that the world had “sat helplessly and watched as intensifying airstrikes on Gaza and the West Bank have destroyed schools, health facilities, ambulances and civilian infrastructure and supposedly safe roads travelling to the south of Gaza”.
Earlier, a statement from South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) stated that “South Africa is gravely concerned with the plight of civilians caught in the present Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip due to the indiscriminate use of force and forcible removal of inhabitants”, adding that the country has “repeatedly stated that it condemns all violence and attacks against all civilians, including Israelis”.
According to health officials in Gaza, over the past three months, more than 23,000 Palestinians have lost their lives, with a majority of the casualties being women and children.
Israel has continuously dismissed international appeals for a ceasefire, asserting that the war will persist until the Hamas militant group in Gaza is eliminated.
“There is no end in sight to the mass human suffering, devastation and destruction we are witnessing on an hourly basis in Gaza. The risk that Gaza would be transformed from the world’s biggest open-air prison to a giant graveyard has, crushingly, materialized right before our eyes,” Agnes Callamard, secretary general of Amnesty International said in a statement on 10 January.
“As the United States continues to use its veto power to block the UN Security Council from calling for a ceasefire, war crimes and crimes against humanity are rife, and the risk of genocide is real. States have a positive obligation to prevent and punish genocide and other atrocity crimes.”
It continued: “The ICJ’s examination of Israel’s conduct is a vital step for the protection of Palestinian lives, to restore trust and credibility in the universal application of international law, and to pave the way for justice and reparation for victims.”
Meanwhile, the White House has condemned South Africa’s decision to formally accuse Israel of genocide in charges filed at the ICJ, calling the allegations brought by Pretoria “meritless”.
National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby slammed South Africa’s case as being without merit in response to a question at a White House press briefing earlier this month.
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