The Government of Israel reacted this Friday with “repudiation” of the accusation of “acts of genocide” by its forces in Gaza, presented to the International Court of Justice by South Africa, replying that this country “cooperates with a terrorist organization.”
“Israel rejects with repudiation the defamation (…) propagated by South Africa and its appeal to the International Court of Justice [ICJ, na sigla em inglês]”, reacted the spokesperson for the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Lior Haiat, through the social network X (formerly Twitter).
“South Africa’s accusations lack factual and legal foundations and constitute a despicable and contemptuous exploitation of the ICJ,” the main judicial body of the UN, in The Hague, stated the same source.
“South Africa cooperates with a terrorist organization [Hamas] which demands the destruction of the State of Israel,” Haiat added, calling on “the ICJ and the international community to completely reject South Africa’s unfounded accusations.”
In a statement, the Pretoria Government said earlier that an application to initiate proceedings against Israel in relation to alleged violations by Israel of its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Crime was made to the ICJ today. of Genocide (the “Genocide Convention”) in relation to the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
“The Executive ordered to go to the International Court of Justice in The Hague to obtain an order ordering Israel, which is also a Member State, to refrain from any act that could constitute genocide or related crimes according to the Convention,” highlighted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Foreign Affairs of South Africa (DIRCO) in a statement to which Lusa had access.
“An application to this effect was submitted to the Court on December 29, 2023, requesting the Court to urgently declare that Israel is in breach of its obligations under the Genocide Convention, must immediately cease all acts and measures in violation of these obligations and take a series of related actions,” he added.
Pretoria highlighted that South Africa “is bound by treaty to prevent the occurrence of genocide” as a signatory to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.
The government of President Cyril Ramaphosa, who is also president of the African National Congress (ANC) party, in power since 1994 and a former ally of the Palestinian Authority and the Hamas movement, stressed that Pretoria “is seriously concerned about the situation of civilians caught up in the current Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip due to the indiscriminate use of force and the forcible transfer of its inhabitants.”
“In addition, there is ongoing information on the commission of international crimes, such as crimes against humanity and war crimes, as well as on acts that meet the threshold of genocide or related crimes, as defined in the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the genocide of 1948, were committed and may continue to be committed in the context of the massacres that are taking place in Gaza,” according to the South African Government statement.
In the note, South Africa also underlines that it “has repeatedly stated that it condemns all violence and attacks against all civilians, including Israelis.”
The war in Gaza has killed more than 21,500 Palestinians, most of them women and children, according to officials from Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, and has caused a humanitarian crisis that has left a quarter of the enclave’s population dying of hunger.
The death toll, published by the Ministry of Health of the Hamas-ruled territory, does not distinguish between civilians and combatants.
Israeli officials have rejected international calls for a ceasefire, saying this would amount to a victory for Hamas, a movement considered terrorist by Western countries and which Israel has vowed to dismantle.
Tel Aviv also promised to recover the more than 100 hostages still held by Hamas since the October 7 attack on Israeli territory, which sparked the war and left some 1,200 people dead, most of them civilians.
The Israeli army confirmed that 168 soldiers have been killed since the start of the ground offensive.
Source: TSF
