South Africa files genocide case against Israel at ICJ over Gaza conflict
South Africa has submitted an application to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) seeking to initiate legal proceedings against Israel over allegations of genocide during its military operation in Gaza.
The ICJ confirmed the submission, which accuses Israel of violating its obligations under the Genocide Convention and argues that its actions in Gaza are genocidal in nature.
Over 21,507 people have been killed in Gaza since October 7, according to the enclave’s Hamas-controlled Health Ministry. Among the dead are at least 308 people who were sheltering in United Nations shelters, according to the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees.
Israel’s aerial bombardment and ground invasion of Gaza, in response to Hamas’ deadly terror attacks and kidnapping rampage on October 7, have caused widespread devastation in the densely-inhabited coastal strip, prompting outcry from the UN and the international community.
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Israel has rejected the claims, stating that South Africa is calling for its destruction and that its application lacks a factual and legal basis.
“Israel is committed to international law and acts in accordance with it, and directs its military efforts only against the Hamas terrorist organization and the other terrorist organizations cooperating with Hamas,” its statement said, adding that it has made “every effort to limit harm to the non-involved and to allow humanitarian aid to enter the Gaza Strip.”
The US President, Joe Biden, has previously criticized Israel’s “indiscriminate bombing” in Gaza, while intelligence assessments suggest that nearly half of the air-to-ground munitions used by Israel in Gaza have been unguided.
South Africa’s application came as Israel’s military said Friday that it is expanding its operations in southern Gaza, where civilians were previously told to seek refuge. It also claimed to have destroyed a network of tunnels and one of the “hideout apartments” belonging to Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar. CNN cannot independently verify the IDF’s claims.
“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,” a statement released by South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation said on Friday.
“Furthermore, there are ongoing reports of international crimes, such as crimes against humanity and war crimes, being committed as well as reports that acts meeting the threshold of genocide or related crimes as defined in the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide, have been and may still be committed in the context of the ongoing massacres in Gaza,” it said.
“As a State Party to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, South Africa is under a treaty obligation to prevent genocide from occurring.”
South Africa and Israel are both parties to the Genocide Convention, according to the ICJ, which is also known as the World Court and is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations.
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