As we enter week two of the hearings of South Africa’s Genocide Case Against Israel, it is important to understand the context of all parties involved. South African lawyers sensationally claimed that Israel’s leadership was “intent on destroying the Palestinians in Gaza.” The Southern African nation is now calling for the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to order Israel to halt its military campaigns in the Gaza Strip.
South African lawyers say Israel is committing genocide in Gaza – a breach of the 1948 Genocide Convention.
Since Israel’s retaliatory attacks on Norther Gaza in response to Hamas’ murderous rampage on Israeli civilians on October 7, at least 23,000 people have been killed.
In its lengthy presentation to ICJ judges, South African lawyers, led by John Dugard, presented the harrowing plight of Palestinians in Gaza who are trapped under siege, bombarded by continuous Israeli air strikes, and enveloped by a deadly Israeli military ground invasion.
It could take years for the ICJ to reach a final judgment. But this week’s initial proceedings are focused on South Africa’s specific request for an emergency order against the continuing killings and destruction in the Gaza Strip. Experts say an interim sentence could be out in weeks.
One of the advocates representing South Africa said that the court doesn’t need to come to a final sentence on the genocide allegations now, but that it could conclude that at least some of Israel’s actions fall within the definition of the convention and require urgent intervention.
Here are 5 takeaways from South Africa’s Genocide Case Against Israel at the International Court of Justice in Geneva;
Forced displacement and food blockade
South Africa’s legal team says Israel has deliberately imposed conditions that cannot sustain life and that are calculated to bring about the destruction of Gaza through its forced displacement of most of the population. Hassim said thousands of families have been displaced multiple times, with half a million now having no homes to return to. She cited how Israel gave entire hospitals orders to evacuate within 24 hours with no assistance in moving the injured or in moving medical supplies. It did the same with large parts of northern Gaza, where more than one million people were asked to move at short notice.
The legal team says Israel has also blockaded food and water from the Gaza Strip, causing widespread hunger. It goes on to say Israel has removed the ability to distribute what is available by restricting the movement of aid workers. The South African legal team sensationally played a clip that showed hundreds of Palestinians running after a truck carrying aid into Gaza as thousands struggled to access essentials. South Africa adds that Israel has also deliberately imposed conditions denying Palestinians in Gaza adequate shelter, clothes, bedding, and other critical non-food items. The legal team says there’s no safe water to drink, clean, and cook, and that disease cases, including diarrhea, are soaring. It also says more Palestinians may die from hunger and disease.
Destruction of the healthcare system
The other claim on the Genocide Case Against Israel is a case of Israel’s military assault on Gaza’s healthcare system that renders life even more unsustainable. The South African legal team says Gaza’s healthcare was already crippled by years of attack by Israel and is simply unable to cope with the sheer number of injured people who need life-saving treatment.
Preventing Palestinian births
The South African legal team also says Israel is blocking the life-saving treatment needed to deliver babies. This, the team says, amounts to preventing births in Gaza, and is an act of genocide. The legal team also cited Reem Alsalem, UN special rapporteur on violence against women and girls, who had earlier warned that the “reproductive violence inflicted by Israel on Palestinian women, newborn babies infants and children … could be qualified as acts of genocide”.
Mass killings of Palestinians
The legal team says one of the genocidal acts is the mass killing of Palestinians in Gaza. The legal team presented pictures of mass graves where bodies were buried. The team says Israel has deployed highly destructive 2000-pound bombs in parts of Gaza that it has itself declared safe. The legal team says more than 1,800 families have lost multiple family members, while some families do not have any survivors left.
Genocide Case Against Israel: Bodily and Mental Harm
The South African legal team also says Israel is inflicting serious mental and bodily harm on the people in Gaza. Close to 60,000 people have been wounded and maimed in a place where the health system has collapsed, the legal team says. The legal team also cited the arrest of large numbers of Palestinians who were undressed and loaded onto trucks going to unknown locations. “The suffering of the Palestinian people, physical and mental, is undeniable,” the legal team says.
Chatham House says a return to a modern Palestinian national unity government is key to aiding a path forward.
“If the current crop of Palestinian leaders cannot unite to avoid an imposed solution, Palestinian civil society will need to press for a more inclusive leadership to negotiate for Palestine’s future. While Palestinian political culture and civil society have always been dynamic, unrelenting Israeli and PA repression since the late 2000s – and their shared interest in maintaining the status quo – has suppressed successive generations of young political leaders and activists. The political and social space once enjoyed by civil society has closed, and young leaders are restricted to the enervating patronage system. As a result, there is a lack of prominent young leaders in the running and the only candidates with any hope of securing support are voices from the past, who can leverage history, familial connections, and legacy relationships with external actors to their benefit,” the global Think Tank says through one of its expert commentators.
In its defense, Israel says South Africa has distorted the truth in its presentation to the ICJ.
Further, what the ICJ will deliver in the interim on the Genocide Case Against Israel allegation will only be an opinion, although it is being watched closely. A final ruling on this could take years, although the court could rule quickly on South Africa’s request for Israel to suspend its military campaign. It remains to be seen what the interim judgment turns out to be.
Meanwhile, the war in Gaza continues to affect East African economies as a big chunk of the supply chain has been disrupted.
