South Africa urged the UN’s top court
Tuesday to place more legal pressure on Israel to halt a threatened offensive
against the densely crowded Gaza city of Rafah.
Pretoria has already made a complaint against Israel in the International
Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, alleging that its assault on Gaza
amounts to a breach of the Genocide Convention.
The court has yet to rule on the underlying issue, but on January 26 it
ordered Israel to ensure in the interim that it takes action to protect
Palestinian civilians from further harm and to allow in humanitarian aid.
Israel’s campaign has continued, however, and its forces are preparing an
operation against Rafah, where more than half of Gaza’s 2.4 million people
have sought shelter from the bombardment.
For South Africa, this is enough to ask the ICJ to revisit its provisional
measures and issue a sterner order.
“There has since been a significant development in the situation in Gaza
requiring the Court’s urgent attention,” South Africa said in its updated
request.
It said it was “gravely concerned that the unprecedented military offensive
against Rafah, as announced by the State of Israel, has already led to and
will result in further large scale killing, harm and destruction.”
“This would be in serious and irreparable breach both of the Genocide
Convention and of the Court’s Order of 26 January 2024,” the South African
presidency argued.
“South Africa trusts this matter will receive the necessary urgency in light
of the daily death toll in Gaza.”
The court late Tuesday posted South Africa’s request for updated measures on
its account on X, formerly Twitter, with officials confirming it had been
received.
Set up after World War II to rule in disputes between countries, the ICJ
could make another ruling on emergency measures based on its own findings.
It was now up to the ICJ judges’ discretion to take action in the light of
the request — based on the circumstances and the emergency nature of the
situation, law officials said.
Israel — in response to the bloodiest attack in its history carried out by
Hamas militants on October 7 — has reduced large parts of the Gaza Strip to
rubble with its bombing campaign.
The Hamas attack resulted in the deaths of around 1,160 people, most of them
civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Israel’s military campaign has killed more than 28,473, according to the
Hamas-run Gaza health ministry.
The ICJ is to also open a new round of hearings Monday following a separate
UN General Assembly request for a non-binding advisory opinion on the legal
consequences of Israel’s policies in the Palestinian Territories including
East Jerusalem. (BSS/AFP)
