What we know about South Africa’s petition to the ICJ to stop the Israeli invasion of Rafah
South Africa submitted an urgent request for additional measures in the genocide case against Israel to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on May 10.
The court will rule today.
South Africa accused Israel of using forced evacuation orders in the southern Gaza city of Rafah to “endanger rather than protect civilian life.”
A South African lawyer, Professor Max du Plessis, condemned the forced evacuation of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from Rafah and the Israeli designation of “humanitarian zones” in other parts of Gaza.
These measures “endanger rather than protect the lives of civilians,” Du Plessis told an ICJ hearing in The Hague on May 16.
“The so-called ‘humanitarian zones’ are not safe, the areas are guarded by the same Israeli forces that attacked the Palestinians,” he said.
“Israel has defied this court by trapping, besieging and bombing overcrowded Rafah,” he added.
“Genocidal intent”: Israel’s “large-scale bombing” of Rafah and sealing off the entry and exit of “vital aid to an already devastated population” suggests “genocidal intent,” the lawyer argued, stating that the Israeli army’s assault on the city has “deliberately inflicted” conditions to bring about the “physical and biological destruction” of Palestinians.”
Hearing before the ICJ: Israel, which has rejected South Africa’s claim that it is violating the 1949 Genocide Convention as “baseless”, responded to the allegations with the argument of Deputy Attorney General for International Law Gilad Noam, who said that “call something genocide over and over again does not make it genocide. Repeating a lie does not make it true. Armed conflict, Noam argued, is not synonymous with genocide.
