South Africa, on Thursday, has accused Israel of subjecting Palestinians to acts of genocide during the commencement of proceedings on a lawsuit launched against the devastating Israeli military assault in Gaza.
South Africa contends that Israel’s military campaign in the Palestinian enclave must be immediately suspended in the lawsuit that it has launched before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), also referred to as the World Court.
The advocate for South Africa’s High Court, Adila Hassim, said to the ICJ, “South Africa contends that Israel has transgressed Article Two of the (Genocide) convention, committing acts that fall within the definition of genocide. The actions show a systematic pattern of conduct from which genocide can be inferred.”
South Africa cites Israel’s ongoing bombing assault, which, according to Gaza health officials, has killed over 23,000 Palestinians in the small but densely populated Gaza Strip.
Israel, however, has said that South Africa’s claim is unfounded.
Following a cross-border assault by militants of Hamas, the leading Palestinian Islamist party in Gaza, on October 7, Israel declared full-scale war. Israel has revealed that 1,200 people were murdered and 240 were held captive and returned to Gaza.
The arguments from South Africa will be heard by the ICJ on Thursday, and Israel’s answer to the accusations will follow on Friday.
Later this month, the court is anticipated to make a decision about potential emergency measures. The court will, however, not make a decision on the genocide accusations at that time since such processes might take years.
Although the ICJ’s rulings are final and cannot be challenged, the court is unable to implement them.
As the highly publicised case that is garnering international attention, proponents of both sides of the dispute organised marches and demonstrations in The Hague.
Carrying Israeli and Dutch flags and banners with pictures of individuals held captive by Hamas, thousands of pro-Israel demonstrators marched through the city centre early on Thursday despite the cold.
A strong police presence ensured that the pro-Palestinian and pro-Israel marches remained apart.
Ozioma Samuel-Ugwuezi
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