South Africa accuses Israel at World Court of genocidal acts in Gaza
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[January 11, 2024]
By Stephanie van den Berg, Anthony Deutsch and Toby
Sterling
THE HAGUE (Reuters) -South Africa accused Israel on Thursday of
subjecting Palestinians to genocidal acts at the opening of hearings at
the top U.N. court on a case brought against the devastating Israeli
military campaign in Gaza.
In hearings at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), also known as
the World Court, South Africa demanded an emergency suspension of
Israel's aerial and ground offensive in the Palestinian enclave, which
it said was aimed at bringing about "the destruction of the population"
of Gaza.
"Israel has a genocidal intent against the Palestinians in Gaza,"
Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, advocate of the High Court of South Africa, told
the court.
"That is evident from the way in which this military attack is being
conducted," he said, adding: "The intent to destroy Gaza has been
nurtured at the highest level of state."
Israel has rejected the accusations of genocide as baseless and accused
Pretoria of playing "advocate of the devil" for Hamas, the Palestinian
Islamist militant group Israel is waging war against in Gaza.
The 1948 Genocide Convention defines genocide as "acts committed with
intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or
religious group".
South Africa points to Israel's sustained bombing campaign that has
killed over 23,000 people in the small, densely populated Gaza Strip,
according to health authorities in the Hamas-rum territory.
"Every day, there is mounting, irreparable loss of life, property,
dignity, and humanity for the Palestinian people," said Adila Hassim,
advocate of South Africa's high court.
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"Nothing will stop the suffering, except an order from this court."
South Africa has demanded that the ICJ order Israel to suspend its
military campaign.
Israel launched all-out war after a cross-border rampage on Oct. 7 by
Hamas militants in which Israeli officials said 1,200 people were killed
and 240 taken hostage back to Gaza.
Justice Minister Ronald Lamola said South Africa condemned Hamas' Oct. 7
assault, but added that any attack, even one involving atrocious crimes,
was not a justification for violations of the Genocide Convention.
Post-apartheid South Africa has long defended the Palestinian cause, a
relationship forged when the African National Congress' struggle against
white-minority rule was cheered on by Yasser Arafat's Palestine
Liberation Organisation.
EMERGENCY RULING
The ICJ is hearing South Africa's arguments on Thursday and Israel's
response to the allegations on Friday.
It is expected to rule on possible emergency measures later this month.
The court will not rule at that time on the genocide allegations - those
proceedings could take years.
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People sit inside the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on the
day of the trial to hear a request for emergency measures by South
Africa, who asked the court to order Israel to stop its military
actions in Gaza and to desist from what South Africa says are
genocidal acts committed against Palestinians during the war with
Hamas in Gaza, in The Hague, Netherlands, January 11, 2024. REUTERS/Thilo
Schmuelgen
![](http://archives.lincolndailynews.com/2024/Jan/11/images/ads/current/atlantabank_lda_LUAL_2023.png)
The ICJ's decisions are final and without appeal - but the court has
no way to enforce them.
With the politically charged case attracting global attention,
supporters of both sides of the case planned marches and rallies in
The Hague.
Thousands of pro-Israel protesters marched in freezing temperatures
in the city centre early on Thursday, carrying Israeli and Dutch
flags and posters with images of people taken hostage by Hamas.
Heavy police presence made sure the pro-Israel march and a
pro-Palestinian march, with red-and-green coloured smoke symbolising
the Palestinian flag, were kept separate.
Gabi Patlis, a native of Tel Aviv who now lives in the Netherlands,
said it was painful to hear Israel accused of genocide. "Especially
after 7 October - we were the ones that were attacked," he told
Reuters at the rally.
ISRAEL SAYS ALLEGATIONS BASELESS
Israeli forces launched their offensive after Hamas fighters carried
out a lightning attack across the border in what became the
deadliest day in Israel's 75-year history.
Since then, the offensive has laid much of the heavily built-up
territory, and nearly all its 2.3 million people have been driven
from their homes at least once, causing a humanitarian catastrophe.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on social media
platform X: "I want to make a few points absolutely clear: Israel
has no intention of permanently occupying Gaza or displacing its
civilian population."
Israel has said it is waging war against Palestinian militants, not
the Palestinian people.
In its court filings, South Africa cites Israel's failure to provide
food, water, medicine and other essential assistance to Gaza, where
Hamas seized power in 2007, two years after Israel ended a 38-year
occupation of the enclave.
Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters that the group was
following the World Court proceedings with great interest.
"Justice is going to be tested today," he said. "We urge the court
to reject all pressure and take a decision to criminalise the
Israeli occupation and stop the aggression on Gaza."
(Additional reporting by Bart Meijer in Amsterdam, Olivia Kumwenda
in Johannesburg, Nidal al-Mughrabi in Doha and Dan Wiliams in
Jerusalem; writing by Stephanie van den Berg and Ingrid Melander;
editing by William Maclean, Sharon Singleton and Mark Heinrich)
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