On Friday, South Africa filed a case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Israel for what it said were “genocidal” acts in Gaza, with Israel rejecting the case “with disgust.”
The Hague application relates to alleged violations the Genocide Convention by Israel adding that “Israel has engaged in, is engaging in and risks further engaging in genocidal acts against the Palestinian people in Gaza.”
South Africa also asserts that Israel has been acting “with the requisite specific intent… to destroy Palestinians in Gaza as part of the broader Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group.”
Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Lior Haiat posted on X, formerly Twitter: “Israel rejects with disgust the blood libel spread by South Africa and its application” to the ICJ.
The war has entered its twelfth week, with swaths of northern Gaza in ruins while Israeli air strikes continue to pound central and southern districts.
According to Israeli figures, Hamas gunmen’s attack on October 7 left about 1,140 people dead.
The Palestinian fighters also took about 250 people hostages, most of whom remain held inside the war zone, some of them released, others dead.
Israel’s shelling has killed more than 21,500 people, mostly women and children, according to the health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza.
South Africa is seeking the ICJ to “protect against further, severe and irreparable harm to the rights of the Palestinian people”.
South Africa has remained one of the most vocal supporters of the Palestinian cause, with the ruling African National Congress (ANC) party often linking it to its own struggle against apartheid.
Pretoria has strongly condemned Israel’s response to the Hamas attacks and has recalled all its diplomats from the country. Israel in turn has called back its ambassador in South Africa.
While decisions by the ICJ, which judges disputes between states, are final, it has no mechanism to enforce its verdicts.
It can, however, order emergency measures pending the full resolution of cases, which may take several years.
In November five countries, ICC chief prosecutor Karim Khan said South Africa, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Comoros and Djibouti called for an International Criminal Court investigation into the Israel-Hamas war.