South Africa Has Sued Israel Again At The ICJ For Committing Genocide Against Palestinians By Invading Rafah
South Africa said it returned to the court to stop Israel’s military campaign on Rafah and to "do what it can to stop the genocide."
South Africa has asked the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague to order Israel to immediately withdraw from Rafah.
In hearings on May 16 and 17, South Africa and Israel each had two hours to make their case on the new request for emergency measures over Israel’s war on Gaza
South Africa said it returned to the court to stop Israel’s military campaign on Rafah and to “do what it can to stop the genocide”, which had almost “knocked Gaza off the map” and “shocked the conscience of humanity”.
It has filed three new facts to the court:
The first, If Rafah falls, Gaza will also fall, as Rafah is now the last place of refuge for more than 1.4 million Palestinians in Gaza.
Secondly, by Israel occupying the border crossings from Rafah, no humanitarian aid and medical supplies can go in.
Thirdly, the evacuation zones that Israel has ordered the people to go to are extermination zones.
South Africa also asked the court to order that Israel allow unimpeded access to Gaza for UN officials, organizations providing humanitarian aid and journalists and investigators.
This is the latest request brought by South Africa to the ICJ and is part of its broader ongoing case that accuses Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians.
The 84-page initial filing, brought by South Africa in December, says that Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians by killing Palestinians in Gaza, causing them serious mental and bodily harm and creating conditions on life "calculated to bring about their physical destruction".
The ICJ ruled in January that there was a plausible case of genocide and ordered Israel to take all measures to prevent genocide against Palestinians in Gaza but did not order an immediate ceasefire.
During the latest proceedings, Adila Hassim, one of South Africa’s lawyers, presented evidence accusing Israel of violating the previous provisional measures imposed by the court to prevent genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.
The evidence include Israel forcibly displacing Palestinians multiple times, besieging and targeting of Gaza’s hospitals, leading the medical system to collapse, as well as the revelation of multiple mass graves, Israel blocking humanitarian aid including water, food and fuel from entering and causing famine, and intensifying its operation in Rafah “leaving displaced Palestinians nowhere safe to go.”
Kassy Cho
Isha Jain
Kassy Cho
