Israel and South Africa to seem earlier than International Court of Justice on Thursday over battle in Gaza | EUROtoday

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South Africa and Israel are scheduled to seem earlier than the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in a case that may have important implications for the continuing Israel-Hamas battle.

Oral proceedings are set to happen on Thursday and Friday within the Netherlands after South Africa filed a case towards Israel in late December within the ICJ.

The case accuses Israel of “genocidal acts” towards Palestinians in Gaza.

In its utility to the courtroom, South Africa described Israel’s actions in Gaza since 7 October as “genocidal in character because they are intended to bring about the destruction of a substantial part of the Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group”.

It added: “The acts in question include killing Palestinians in Gaza, causing them serious bodily and mental harm, and inflicting on them conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction.”

On Thursday, the ICJ won’t decide if Israel is committing genocide in Gaza however as an alternative will consider the power of South Africa’s case to find out if provisional measures are warranted.

These measures would “protect against further, severe and irreparable harm” to Palestinians 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 84-page utility towards Israel said.

South Africa’s president, Cyril Ramaphosa, has in contrast Israel’s therapy of Palestinians to apartheid. He recalled South Africa’s diplomats from Israel and mentioned that the world had “sat helplessly and watched as intensifying airstrikes on Gaza and the West Bank have destroyed schools, health facilities, ambulances and civilian infrastructure and supposedly safe roads travelling to the south of Gaza”.

Earlier, a press release from South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) said that “South Africa is gravely concerned with the plight of civilians caught in the present Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip due to the indiscriminate use of force and forcible removal of inhabitants”, including that the nation has “repeatedly stated that it condemns all violence and attacks against all civilians, including Israelis”.

According to well being officers in Gaza, over the previous three months, greater than 23,000 Palestinians have misplaced their lives, with a majority of the casualties being girls and kids.

Israel has repeatedly dismissed worldwide appeals for a ceasefire, asserting that the battle will persist till the Hamas militant group in Gaza is eradicated.

“There is no end in sight to the mass human suffering, devastation and destruction we are witnessing on an hourly basis in Gaza. The risk that Gaza would be transformed from the world’s biggest open-air prison to a giant graveyard has, crushingly, materialized right before our eyes,” Agnes Callamard, secretary basic of Amnesty International mentioned in a press release on 10 January.

“As the United States continues to use its veto power to block the UN Security Council from calling for a ceasefire, war crimes and crimes against humanity are rife, and the risk of genocide is real. States have a positive obligation to prevent and punish genocide and other atrocity crimes.”

It continued: “The ICJ’s examination of Israel’s conduct is a vital step for the protection of Palestinian lives, to restore trust and credibility in the universal application of international law, and to pave the way for justice and reparation for victims.”

Meanwhile, the White House has condemned South Africa’s determination to formally accuse Israel of genocide in costs filed on the ICJ, calling the allegations introduced by Pretoria “meritless”.

National Security Council spokesperson John Kirby slammed South Africa’s case as being with out benefit in response to a query at a White House press briefing earlier this month.