South Africa’s response to Israel’s alleged genocide against Palestinians: “It is the law as a state of God’s law, after all”
The court is aware of the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, but not of Hamas’ practice of stealing and hoarding aid, or Israeli efforts to mitigate civilian harm.
Israeli lawyer Tal Becker said during the opening arguments of the court on Friday that Israel is “singularly aware” of why the convention was enacted, referring to the murder of 6 million Jews in the Holocaust.
Netanyahu responded swiftly to South Africa’s testimony. “The hypocrisy of South Africa knows no bounds,” he said in a video statement immediately following the first day of testimony in The Hague. “The state of Israel is accused of genocide at a time when it is fighting genocide.”
“This refers to the biblical command by God to Saul of the retaliatory destruction of an entire group of people,” said South African legal scholar Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, who said Netanyahu’s reference was meant to justify genocide.
South Africa’s delegation stated that genocidal intent is shown by the way in which Israel has launched its military campaign and by comments from Prime Minister Netanyahu. In late October in an address to Israeli forces, Netanyahu invoked the story of Amalek, a figure in the Hebrew Bible who tried to destroy the Jewish people.
Hassim said that more than 20,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces in the last three months, at least 70% of them are women and children.
Hassim said the Israeli military dropped 6,000 bombs a week on Gaza in the first three weeks of its campaign and dropped 2,000-pound bombs onto areas declared safe by Israel, including refugee camps.
A ruling may take a long time. On Thursday, South Africa devoted much of its three-hour testimony to persuading the court to issue a provisional ruling, similar to an emergency injunction, whereby the court could direct Israel to stop its military campaign in Gaza and allow more aid to reach Palestinians. Any such provisional ruling could come within weeks, but it’s unclear whether Israel would follow any such ruling.
A hearing on Friday concluded two-days of arguments in a case brought by South Africa, a longtime critic of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, against Israel for the alleged crime of genocide against Palestinians. The case is being heard before the United Nations’ International Court of Justice in The Hague, Netherlands. The judges of the court are from South Africa and Israel.
In research of International Court of Justice provisional rulings over the years, legal scholar Matei Alexianu has found that states comply with rulings in just half of all provisional rulings. There are indirect effects, that’s what Alexianu points out.
“They declare certain values of the international order,” said Alexianu, “It is valuable for other states and for the world community in general to have those values and those obligations reaffirmed in the long term.”
Gaza’s crisis in the 100th day and the impact of the UN UN High-Energy Force on the Dialogue between Gaza and Yemen
The war in Gaza is in its 100th day and only a small number of hospitals are still fully functional, according to the OCHA. The Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in the city of Deir al-Balah went dark on Friday after running out of fuel. The staff were able to keep some of the equipment running with solar charging batteries during the day, and got a small emergency shipment of fuel late Friday. Fuel was expected to run out again on Saturday unless the WHO is able to deliver a promised shipment, hospital officials said. Aid deliveries were being disrupted by a renewed drop in telecommunications connectivity in much of Gaza, which began late Friday. In its Oct. 7 attack that sparked the war, Hamas and other militants killed some 1,200 people in Israel, mostly civilians. About 250 more were taken hostage, and while some have been released or confirmed dead, more than half are believed to still be in captivity. 186 Israeli soldiers have been killed and 1,099 injured in Gaza since the start of the ground operation late October, according to the military. More than 85% of Gaza’s population of 2.3 million has been displaced as a result of Israel’s air and ground offensive, and vast swaths of the territory have been leveled. The war in Yemen is threatening to spiral into a regional conflict as a result of recent developments, including the U.S. and British military strikes. The strikes were in response to the attacks on the ships in the Red Sea by the Houthis. The daily report by OCHA states that Israel’s severe constraints on humanitarian missions and denials had increased since the start of the year. The agency said only 21% of planned deliveries of food, medicine, water and other supplies have been successfully reaching northern Gaza. The agency said that denials prevent humanitarian partners from responding meaningfully, consistently and at scale to widespread humanitarian needs. American and other international efforts pushing Israel to do more to alleviate the suffering of Palestinian civilians have met with little success. The main hospital in Gaza City, which had been closed since late November, began partially functioning again, the WHO said Friday. Tedros Ghebleyesus said his organization delivered a large amount of fuel to ShiFA so the 60-person medical team could begin treating more than 1000 patients. South Africa’s case at the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of genocide is based on the lack of adequate humanitarian aid for civilians in Gaza. In its complaint, South Africa argues Israel has failed to ensure that the medical needs of Palestinians are met, and accuses Israel of ” directly attacking Palestinian hospitals, ambulances and other healthcare facilities in Gaza. South Africa asked the court to immediately order Israel to stop its offensive and to provide access to adequate fuel, shelter, clothes, hygiene and sanitization as well as medical supplies and assistance when the case opened on Thursday. Israel’s legal team accused Hamas of using hospitals and other civilian facilities to launch attacks and shelter their fighters. Israel has argued that it is doing everything possible to protect civilians and that is has been working with hospitals to provide assistance. Israel called for a dismissal of South Africa’s case. It was not immediately clear when a decision would be reached.