Israel was hit by an unprecedented rocket attack from the Gaza Strip on October 7, with Hamas movement's troops infiltrating border areas. On October 8, the Israeli government announced that it had invoked Article 40 of the Basic Law, which means the country was officially in a state of war.

South Africa Files Lawsuit Against Israel in UN Court Over Gaza Situation

09:54, 30 December 2023

CC BY 2.0 / R Boed / The International Court of Justice in The Hague

Rasina Musallimova

Writer

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In middle November, a joint referral regarding the situation in Palestine was issued to the International Criminal Court by a number of countries, including South Africa, which later expressed hope that an arrest warrant for the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu would be released by the Court by mid-December.

Sputnik

South Africa has filed a lawsuit against Israel under the Genocide Convention, adopted by the United Nations in 1948, at the International Court of Justice in The Hague over the situation in the Gaza Strip, calling on the court to take temporary measures against the Israeli authorities, the court said in a statement.

"South Africa today filed an application instituting proceedings against Israel before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, concerning alleged violations by Israel of its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (the 'Genocide Convention') in relation to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip," the statement read.

South Africa stated that "acts and omissions by Israel... are genocidal in character, as they are committed with the requisite specific intent... to destroy Palestinians in Gaza as a part of the broader Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group."

The African country also pointed out that "Israel, since 7 October 2023 in particular, has failed to prevent genocide and has failed to prosecute the direct and public incitement to genocide."

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The application also contains a request for the indication of provisional measures in accordance with article 41 of the statute of the Court and articles 73, 74 and 75 of the rules of court.

"The Applicant requests the Court to indicate provisional measures in order to 'protect against further, severe and irreparable harm to the rights of the Palestinian people under the Genocide Convention' and 'to ensure Israel’s compliance with its obligations under the Genocide Convention not to engage in genocide, and to prevent and to punish genocide," the court said.

On October 7, Israel was subjected to an unprecedented rocket attack from the Gaza Strip as part of the operation Al-Aqsa Flood, announced by the military wing of the Palestinian Hamas movement. After that, the organization's fighters infiltrated the border areas in southern Israel and also took more than 200 hostages.

In response, the Israel Defense Forces launched Operation Iron Swords against Hamas in the Gaza Strip. In a few days, the Israeli military took control of all settlements near the Gaza border and began launching airstrikes against targets, including the civilian ones. Israel also announced a complete blockade of the Gaza Strip: the supply of water, food, electricity, medicines, and fuel was stopped.

Since the latest flare-up of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on October 7, over 20,000 Palestinians were killed in the Israeli attacks on Gaza, with more than 50,000 injured, according to the Gaza Health Ministry. In Israel, according to the latest data from the authorities, about 1,200 people were killed, and it was also reported that more than 5,000 were injured.