THE HAGUE/ GAZA: A top UN court opened hearings on Thursday in a case in which South Africa demands an emergency suspension of Israel’s military campaign in Gaza, where it says Israel is committing genocide against Palestinians.
It is expected to rule on the emergency measures later this month. The court will not rule at that time on the genocide allegations – those proceedings could take years.
“Our opposition to the ongoing slaughter of the people of Gaza has driven us as a country to approach the ICJ,” South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has said of the genocide accusations, rejected by Israel and its top backer, the United States.
With the politically charged case attracting global attention, supporters of both sides of the case planned marches and rallies in The Hague.
Thousands of pro-Israel protesters marched in freezing temperatures in the city centre early on Thursday, carrying Israeli and Dutch flags and posters with images of people taken hostage by Hamas.
The court’s decisions are final and without appeal but the court has no way to enforce them.
Israel claims allegations baseless
Israel has rejected the accusations of genocide as baseless and accused Pretoria of playing “advocate of the devil” for Hamas, the Palestinian resistance group it is waging war against in Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on social media platform X: “I want to make a few points absolutely clear: Israel has no intention of permanently occupying Gaza or displacing its civilian population.”
South Africa and Israel are both parties to the 1948 Genocide Convention, which obliges them to not commit genocide and also to prevent and punish it.
The treaty defines genocide as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”.
The Israeli offensive has laid much of the densely populated Gaza Strip to waste, and nearly all its 2.3 million people have been driven from their homes at least once, causing a humanitarian catastrophe.
Post-apartheid South Africa has long defended the Palestinian cause, a relationship forged when the African National Congress’ struggle against white minority rule was cheered on by Yasser Arafat’s Palestine Liberation Organisation.
In its court filings, South Africa cites Israel’s failure to provide food, water, medicine and other essential humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian enclave.
It also points to the sustained bombing campaign which has killed over 23,000 people according to Gaza health authorities.
Fighting in Gaza continues
Jordan and Egypt warned on Wednesday against any Israeli re-occupation of the Gaza Strip and appealed for uprooted residents to be allowed to return home.
In Gaza, Israeli strikes intensified despite Israel’s pledge to pull out some troops and shift to a more targeted campaign.
Israel’s chief military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told a briefing the military was focussing its operations on Khan Younis and the refugee camps in the centre of the Strip.
In the latest sign of the three-month-old war spreading, US and British warships in the Red Sea fended off the biggest attack yet from Yemen’s Houthi movement, which is acting to support Gaza.
Washington and London said they shot down 21 drones and missiles aimed at shipping lanes. No one was hurt.
The UN Security Council approved a resolution demanding that the Houthis immediately cease the shipping attacks.
The World Health Organization cancelled a planned medical aid mission to Gaza due to security concerns, the sixth such cancellation in two weeks.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said four of its staffers were killed by an Israeli strike near Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, while Palestinian health officials said four children were killed in an Israeli air strike on a house in Rafah.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, on his fourth trip to the region during the war, met Palestinian leaders in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
The State Department said Blinken expressed support for a Palestinian state and discussed efforts to protect and aid civilians in Gaza. The Palestinian Authority said Abbas told Blinken no Palestinians should be displaced from Gaza or the West Bank.
Senior White House adviser Amos Hochstein is expected to visit Beirut on Thursday, a US official said, as part of US efforts to ease tension along the Israel-Lebanon border.
