Edited by Deepali Verma
South Africa formally accused Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians and pleaded with the United Nations’ top court to issue an order for bringing an immediate break to Israeli military operations in Gaza where over 23,000 people have died, as per the Gaza Health Ministry, which is run by Hamas.
Israel, however, has vehemently denied the allegations and Israeli leaders have taken the not-so-common step of engaging with the court to protect their international reputation. Israel often boycotts international tribunals or U.N. investigations, stating that they are unfair and biased.
South African lawyers at the International Court of Justice said the latest Gaza war is part of decades of Israeli oppression of Palestinians.
The court “has the evidence of the past 13 weeks showing incontrovertibly a pattern of conduct and related intention” which amounts to “a plausible claim of genocidal acts,” South African lawyer Adila Hassim mentioned in her opening remarks at the Peace Palace in The Hague.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu denounced the case and vowed to continue fighting Hamas which happens to be the militant group whose fighters stormed through Israeli communities on Oct. 7 and killed close to 1,200 people, mainly civilians.
The case is one of the most important ones heard in an international court, and it goes to the core of one of the world’s most intractable conflicts.
Israel launched its massive air and ground assault on Gaza right after the deadly Hamas attack. After three months, the offensive nearly drove out 85% of Gaza’s population close to 2.3 million from their homes. Only a limited supply of food, water, and medicine entered through an Israeli siege, exposing a quarter of the territory’s residents to starvation. Much of northern Gaza stretching uptill Gaza City has been reduced to a moonscape.
The court’s findings, though are considered binding, the instance of Israel whether it would heed any order to halt the fighting or not, stands unclear. The risk of facing U.N. sanctions is a possibility if they don’t follow the orders of the court. Sanctions may be blocked by a U.S. veto.
Taking on X, post the hearing, Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Lior Haiat labelled South Africa’s presentation as “one of the greatest shows of hypocrisy” and called the legal team of South Africa as “Hamas’ representatives in court.” He said South African lawyers have moulded the reality in Gaza through a series of “baseless and false claims.” He gave no further elaboration.
“The mass destruction in Gaza, which targeted family homes and civilians along with children, makes the genocidal intent explicit as both understood and has been put into practice. The articulation of their intent reflects the destruction of Palestinian life,” said lawyer Tembeka Ngcukaitobi.
The case targets the core of Israeli identity and its creation as a Jewish state in the aftermath of the Nazi Holocaust, which nearly killed 6 million Jews.
The two-day hearing is scheduled till January 12 where Israel has prepared a strong legal team to make its defence. The case against Israel revolves keeps in mind the genocide convention that came into effect in 1948 following World War II. Both Israel and South Africa were signatories.
