'No attack justifies genocide': South Africa accuses Israel before the ICJ

It is “a pattern of genocidal behavior.” This is how South Africa's legal team described Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip on Thursday, January 11, during the first of two days of presentation of arguments.

The African country – which with its complaint before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) demands urgent precautionary measures against Israel and an end to the bombings in the Palestinian enclave – accused the nation led by Benjamin Netanyahu of “deliberately” imposing conditions in Gaza that prevent the lives of thousands of civilians.

“Israel has a genocidal intention against the Palestinians in Gaza (…) That is evident from the way in which this military attack is being carried out. The intention to destroy Gaza has been fueled at the highest level of the State,” he explained to the ICJ Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, Advocate at the High Court of South Africa.

The accusing party assured that Israel violates the Convention for the Prevention of Genocidenoting that the surprise Hamas attack on October 7 does not justify the extermination of thousands of people.

Attacks by air, sea and land have already claimed the lives of 23,469 Palestinians –according to the latest report from the local Ministry of Health issued this January 11–, most of them civilians, and many of them children.

“No armed attack against the territory of a State, however serious, even an attack involving atrocity crimes, can provide justification or defense for violations of the convention, whether as a matter of law or morality. Israel's response The attack on October 7, 2023 crossed this line and gave rise to violations of the convention,” South African Justice Minister Ronald Lamola said in the high court.

Israel's conduct has been deliberately calculated to cause famine

In addition, Pretoria targeted Israel for using hunger as a weapon of war. And he recalled the precarious situation in which the population of 2.4 million people finds itself, most of whom are internally displaced, without food, water or places to treat their wounds, since a large part of the hospitals have been left out. functioning in the face of attacks and lack of medical supplies.

“Along with forced displacement, Israel's conduct has been deliberately calculated to cause widespread hunger, dehydration and exhaustion. Israel's campaign has brought Gazans to the brink of famine. An unprecedented 93% of Gaza's population faces critical levels of hunger,” said Adila Hassim, a lawyer representing South Africa.

Beyond the ongoing war, South Africa highlighted previous and ongoing actions by the Jewish-majority state with which it has exercised control over the Palestinian Territories and caused suffering to the population.

“We are also particularly aware of Israel's institutionalized regime of discriminatory laws, policies and practices designed and maintained to establish domination, subjecting the Palestinian people to apartheid on both sides of the green line. “Decades-long impunity for widespread and systematic violations of human rights emboldened Israel in its recurrence and intensification of international crimes in Palestine.”

What does Israel respond to the accusations?

Although the hearing on Israel's response to South Africa's arguments will be on Friday, January 12, Benjamin Netanyahu's Administration has already made its position known.

Israel calls the demand “absurd” as it insists its offensive is a response to the bloody Hamas attack. in the south of his country, where around 1,200 people died and nearly 240 were kidnapped, the deadliest assault in the 75-year history of the State of Israel.

For the authorities of the accused nation, The lawsuit is baseless and blames Pretoria for being “the devil's advocate,” in reference to Hamas.

On the eve of Thursday's hearing, the Israeli prime minister issued a video statement in which he assured that his country's military is “doing everything possible to minimize civilian casualties, while Hamas is doing everything possible to maximize them by using Palestinian civilians as human shields (…) Israel is fighting Hamas terrorists, not the Palestinian population, and we are doing so in full respect of international law.”

Netanyahu also maintained that his nation “has no intention of permanently occupying Gaza or displacing its civilian population.” However, just two months ago he had stated that After the war, his country would control Gaza “indefinitely” to guarantee the security of Israelis.

The 1948 Genocide Convention defines that crime as “acts committed with the intention of destroying, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.”

But despite the magnitude of fatalities in the blocked enclave, South Africa faces challenges in getting its claim before the ICJ successful.

“It is not simply about killing a huge number of people. There must be an intention to totally or partially destroy a group of people (classified by race or religion, for example), in a certain place (…) South Africa will have difficulties to exceed the threshold” of proving genocide, explained Juliette McIntyre, an expert in International Law at the University of South Australia, in an interview with the AP news agency.

Dozens dead in the last 24 hours in Gaza

Although Israel claims that its troops do everything possible to prevent civilian deaths, casualties are skyrocketing. The Army bombings left dozens of fatalities and injuries in the last hours. The total number of people who have lost their lives rose to 23,469, the Gaza Ministry of Health reported on January 11.

Operations once again focused on the center and south of the enclave, although no area of ​​the territory is exempt from air and ground attacks.

The official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported “continuous shelling of various parts of the Strip by land, sea and air” that left “dozens of citizens dead.”

An Israeli Army spokesman indicated that its forces carried out operations in the Al Maghazi refugee camp, in central Gaza, and in the city of Khan Younis, in the south. The military institution insists that its actions target members of Hamas.

“Israeli troops identified eight terrorist agents who were going to a school used for terrorist activities,” after which “they were eliminated by precise sniper fire,” the spokesperson said.

Blinken in Egypt: US working towards creation of Palestinian state

United States Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Egypt, where he met this Thursday with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, while concluding his tour of the region to promote a post-war plan in Gaza.

In Cairo, the diplomatic leader of Joe Biden's Government stressed that his country is working with allies in the region to create a path towards the formation of a Palestinian State. Blinken insists on this proposal as part of Washington's plan for the enclave and Israel once the ongoing hostilities end.

But this time he stressed that, in addition, this would be an effective way to isolate Iran, in reference to the influence of the Islamic Republic not only in the Middle East, but also in its support for armed groups such as Hezbollah, in Lebanon.

The top representative of United States diplomacy added that his Government is focused on ensuring that the situation in the West Bank does not get out of control. His statements come after weeks of increasing violence in the Israeli-occupied territory, where deaths of Palestinians at the hands of the Israeli Army and Jewish settlers have increased since October 7.

Egypt and Jordan warned after the talks that Israel's actions must not cause the displacement of Gazans or result in a reoccupation of that territory. Washington stressed that this is not Israel's plan.

With AFP, Reuters and AP