South African Justice Minister Ronald Lamola, South African Ambassador to the Netherlands Vusimuzi Madonsela and the lawyers representing the case appeared in court to present Pretoria's position on the genocide case against Israel.
The ambassador spoke first, charging that Israel's acts of genocide are part of a broader pattern of illegal actions against the Palestinian people since 1948.
"The application places Israel’s genocidal acts and omissions within the broader context of Israel 75-year apartheid, 56-year occupation and 16-year siege imposed on the Gaza Strip," Vusimuzi Madonsela noted.
He was echoed by the Minister of Justice of South Africa, who noted that Palestinians "have experienced systematic oppression and violence for the past 76 years, on October 6, 2023, and every day since October 7, 2023."
"The violence and the destruction in Palestine and Israel did not begin on October 7, 2023," Ronald Lamola said. "In the Gaza Strip, at least since 2004, Israel continues to exercise control over the airspace, territorial waters, land crossings, water, electricity and civilian infrastructure, as well as key government functions."
He went on to accuse Israel of violating the UN Genocide Convention, noting that even the October 7 Hamas attack could not justify such actions.
"No armed attack on a state territory, no matter how serious, even an attack involving atrocity crimes, can provide justification for or defense to breaches to the convention whether it’s a matter of law or morality," the justice minister told the court, adding that Israel’s response "has crossed this line."
The court then turned to Adila Hassim, a lawyer representing South Africa. She accused Tel Aviv of two acts of genocide, the first being "the mass killing of Palestinians in Gaza."
"Israel deployed 6,000 bombs per week. At least 200 times, it has deployed 2,000-pound (907kg) bombs in southern Gaza, which it designated safe," she said. "No one is spared. Not even newborns. UN chiefs have described it as a graveyard for children."
With regard to the "second act of genocide," the lawyer cited Israel's infliction of serious bodily or mental harm on Palestinians in Gaza.
In addition, Hassim noted that Israel's bombing strategy is targeted on "destroying Palestinian life" and has brought Palestinians "to the brink of famine."
"Unprecedented 93% of the population in Gaza facing crisis levels of hunger. Of all people in the world suffering catastrophic hunger, more than 80% are in Gaza. [...] Israel continues to impede effective delivery of humanitarian assistance to Palestinians," she said.
Another lawyer representing South Africa, Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, argued that "genocidal intent against the Palestinians in Gaza is evident in the way in which Israel's military attack is being conducted."
"There is also a clear pattern of conducting the targeting of family homes and civilian infrastructure, laying waste to vast areas of Gaza," Ngcukaitobi said.
He added that South Africa is "not alone in drawing attention to Israel's genocidal rhetoric against Palestinians in Gaza."
John Dugard, a professor of international law who addressed the court after Ngcukaitobi, noted that South Africa watched "with horror" the Israeli attack on Gaza.
"It watched with horror as Israel responded to the terrible atrocities committed against its people on October 7 with an attack on Gaza that resulted in the indiscriminate killing of innocent Palestinian civilians, most of whom were women and children," the professor said.
Dugard added that South Africa attempted to contact the Israeli government through the embassy before filing the lawsuit, but the response "failed to address the issues raised by South Africa and neither confirmed nor denied the existence of a dispute."
South Africa has asked the court to order Israel to immediately cease its military operation in and against Gaza, as this is the only way to ensure the delivery of humanitarian aid to the area and to avoid large unnecessary casualties and destruction, the representative said during public hearings.
South Africa brought the allegation of Israel's genocidal intent in Gaza to the ICJ on December 29 in response to the soaring civilian death toll in the besieged Palestinian enclave.
A number of countries, including Turkey, Malaysia, Venezuela, Brazil and Iran, supported South Africa's case against Israel. The US Department of State, referring to the lawsuit, said it saw no evidence of genocide in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli lawyers are scheduled to speak on Friday.