South Africa’s case against Israel will be heard today in the International Court of Justice in The Hague in the Netherlands.
South Africa has accused Israel of committing genocide in its war with the Palestinian militant group Hamas.
The Justice Minister Ronald Lamola is leading the South African legal team in the case.
He says the court is the right platform to challenge Israel’s alleged atrocities in Gaza.
“This is an important platform for the international community to reassert an international rule based on the rule of law…Israel to stop the unfolding genocide.”
Lamola also asserts that South Africa is presenting a robust and principled case against Israel.
“The South African legal team will be requesting from the ICJ, to issue an injunction that will enable them to stop the state of Israel to continue with the genocide, and the substantive matters will then be dealt with at a later stage. The urgent one is to stop the genocide, which is a principled position; and it’s also to ensure that we restore the respect for the rule of law.”
We are confident that in terms of substance, and also in terms of the technicalities related to the court, the country has got a good leg to stand on, and a case to take to the court,” adds Lamola.
South Africa and Israel are both parties to the Genocide Convention, which obliges them not to commit genocide and also to prevent and punish it. The treaty defines genocide as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”.
The country has asked the court to order a series of emergency measures including a suspension of military action in Gaza while the court hears the case on the merits, which can take years.
Israeli forces launched their offensive after fighters from Hamas-ruled Gaza carried out an October 7 cross-border rampage in which Israel says 1 200 people were killed and 240 abducted.
Since then, the offensive has laid much of the densely populated Gaza Strip to waste, and nearly all of its 2.3 million people have been driven from their homes at least once, causing a humanitarian catastrophe.
-Additional reporting by Reuters
