On Friday, South Africa requested an urgent order from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) stating that Israel had violated the 1948 Genocide Convention by using excessive force against the Palestinian organisation Hamas in Gaza.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ), also referred to as the World Court, is the United Nations forum for state-to-state dispute resolution. In response, Israel’s foreign ministry called the lawsuit “baseless.”
In its filing, South Africa claimed that Israel was failing to uphold its end of the treaty, which was drafted in the wake of the Holocaust and makes it illegal to try to wipe out a people, in whole or in part.
Israel’s foreign ministry initially responded to South Africa’s lawsuit by accusing Hamas of stealing humanitarian aid from Palestinians and using them as human shields, claims that Hamas refutes.
Palestine, whose statehood is under dispute but which the court regards as an “observer state,” expressed its approval of South Africa’s lawsuit.
The court application is the most recent action taken by South Africa, a country that opposes Israel’s war, to increase pressure following a vote by its lawmakers last month to close the Israeli embassy in Pretoria and halt diplomatic ties. According to the government, the application was submitted on Friday against Israel.
