South Africa Sues Israeli Regime for Genocide in Gaza at World Court
In an application to the court on Friday, South Africa described Israel’s actions in Gaza as “genocidal in character because they are intended to bring about the destruction of a substantial part of the Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group”.
“The acts in question include killing Palestinians in Gaza, causing them serious bodily and mental harm, and inflicting on them conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction,” the application said.
The lawsuit comes after nearly three months of Israeli air and ground assault on the besieged territory, which has killed more than 21,500 people and caused massive devastation.
The regime has refused to stop the war until it destroys Hamas, the Palestinian group that launched Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on October 7 in response to decades of Israeli crimes against Palestinians.
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South Africa, which compares Israel’s policies in Gaza and the occupied West Bank to its former apartheid regime, said Israel’s conduct violates the UN’s Genocide Convention. It asked the court for an urgent hearing and provisional measures to protect the rights of the Palestinian people under the Convention.
The ICJ, also known as the World Court, settles disputes between countries. Both South Africa and Israel, as members of the UN, are bound by the court. The court is different from the International Criminal Court (ICC), which prosecutes individuals for war crimes.
Several human rights organisations have also said that Israeli policies towards Palestinians amount to apartheid.
The Palestinian ministry of foreign affairs welcomed South Africa’s move, and urged the ICJ to take immediate action to prevent further harm to the Palestinian people.
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“Israel’s stated policy, acts and omissions are genocidal in character are committed with the requisite specific intent to the destruction of the Palestinian people under its colonial occupation and apartheid regime in violation of its obligations under the Genocide Convention,” a statement by the ministry said.
The lawsuit is the latest development in Israel’s war on Gaza, which has forced tens of thousands of newly displaced Palestinians to flee further south as Israel expanded its offensive in the centre of the enclave. The regime has faced global condemnation for the mounting toll and destruction and is accused of imposing collective punishment on the Palestinian people.
Source: Agencies
