South Africa accuses Israel of 'pattern of genocidal conduct' in Gaza; Netanyahu denied it

South Africa's legal team began this Thursday to present its legal arguments before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the highest UN court, to demand urgent precautionary measures against Israel, which it accuses of having “a genocidal intention” in its war in Gaza and demands an end to the bombings on the Strip.

(In context: The two cases for which Israel is under the scrutiny of the International Court of Justice)

The team of legal experts and academics appointed by Pretoria is headed by John Dugard, the South African professor of international law and former UN rapporteur on human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

South Africa on Thursday accused Israel of maintaining a “pattern of genocidal conduct” in the Gaza Strip with “mass murders”, “forced displacement” and “serious physical or mental harm” of Palestinian civilians, an accusation made during a hearing before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), in The Hague.

Palestinians are at “immediate risk of dying from hunger, dehydration and disease due to the siege, the destruction of Palestinian cities, the insufficient access of aid allowed to the Palestinian population and the inability to distribute that limited aid while the bombs fall,” he warned. the South African lawyer Adila Hassim.

Furthermore, he assured that Israel “has killed an incomparable and unprecedented number of civilians with full knowledge of how many civilian lives each bomb will claim” and demanded that the ICJ impose urgent precautionary measures on Tel Aviv to protect the Palestinians in Gaza.

What Netanyahu said

Before the hearing, the Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahuassured that Israel does not intend to displace civilians from Gaza.

“Israel has no intention of permanently occupying Gaza or displacing its civilian population”Netanyahu declared last night, after controversy over statements by some of the ministers of his government coalition, such as the far-right Itamar Ben Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich, who have urged the resettlement of Gazans and the Jewish recolonization of the Palestinian enclave.

(Also: US reiterates to Israel the need to ensure lasting peace for the Middle East)

Netanyahu assured that during their military offensive, Israeli forces “are doing everything possible to minimize civilian casualties, while Hamas is doing everything possible to maximize them by using Palestinian civilians as human shields.”

“The Israeli Army urges Palestinian civilians to leave war zones by distributing leaflets, making phone calls and providing corridors of safe passage,” the Israeli prime minister added.

The context of the case

On December 29, South Africa requested urgent precautionary measures to “protect against further, serious and irreparable harm the rights of the Palestinian people” in the offensive against Gaza, which has claimed the lives of some 22,000 Palestiniansand which followed the attack by the Islamist group Hamas on October 7 against Israel, which left 1,200 dead.

“Israel's acts and omissions are of a genocidal nature because they aim to bring about the destruction of a substantial part of the Palestinian national, racial and ethnic group: the part of the Palestinian group in the Gaza Strip,” Johannesburg explained.

Furthermore, he stressed that “all these acts are attributable to Israel, which has not prevented the genocide and is committing it in clear violation” of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, approved in 1948 and with the Nazi crimes and the Jewish Holocaust as a backdrop. It is in force in 152 countries, including Israel.

(Read: Colombia supports South Africa's lawsuit against Israel in The Hague for 'acts of genocide')

South Africa asked the ICJ for measures to “ensure Israel's compliance with its obligations under the Convention”something that Tel Aviv called “absurd defamation” and promised to defend itself against the accusations of a “devil's defender” and “criminal accomplice” of Hamas, in the words of Eylon Levy, spokesperson for the Israeli Government.

The upcoming hearings will only focus on precautionary measures, not whether Israel is violating the Convention, and given the periods defined by the ICJ statutes, the case could take years to reach a verdict that, despite being legally binding, the The court has no tools to enforce it and depends on Israel's willingness to respect the ruling.

EFE