The International Court of Justice (ICJ) began hearing a case brought by South Africa against Israel on Thursday. South Africa claims that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
The ICJ said that South Africa is seeking immunity for civilians in Gaza and an immediate ceasefire.
South Africa’s representative to the ICJ said that “Israeli occupation has torn apart the Palestinian people and robbed them of their right to self-determination.” He added that Israel has intensified its violations in Gaza and the rest of the Palestinian territories.
He also said that Israel has been committing genocide for decades, has imposed a blockade on Gaza, and has imposed an apartheid system on the Palestinian people. He said that the future of the Palestinians depends on the decision of the ICJ.
South Africa’s Minister of Justice, Ronald Lamola, said that the case is a rejection of genocide against the Palestinian people. He noted that the violence in Palestine did not start on October 7, 2023. He also said that Israel controls the crossing points between the West Bank and Gaza.
Lamola said that Israel’s response to the October 7 attack exceeded all limits and that it is imposing a strict blockade on Gaza. He also said that the international community has failed to prevent Israel from committing genocide.
South Africa’s legal team said that Israel has bombed safe passages used by refugees, committed mass killings of Palestinians, and that hundreds of families in Gaza have been wiped out by Israeli airstrikes.
Palestinians, who have lost more than 23,000 people in Gaza in three months, are awaiting the first hearing of the ICJ case in The Hague, Netherlands.
The case was filed by South Africa, and experts say it is based on statements by senior Israeli officials, including Israeli Minister of Culture and Sport Miri Regev, who called in November 2023 for Gaza to be bombed with a nuclear bomb.
Israel has formed a defense team to help it fight the charges, arguing that those statements “do not reflect the government’s views.” Experts say that the hearing will not last long.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu pre-empted the start of the court hearings by saying that Israel does not want to occupy Gaza and does not want to displace its civilian population.
Netanyahu, in a statement posted on his Facebook account, said that Israel is fighting Hamas, not the Palestinian people, and that it is doing so “in full compliance with international law.”
However, international law expert Majid Bouden said that South Africa, the plaintiff in the case, has a strong position with the evidence it has of genocide in Gaza.
Bouden told the Arab News Agency from Paris: “The ICJ is the highest judicial authority in the world and is authorized to issue orders, not requests, to Israel to provide protection to the Palestinian people and stop all violations.”
