Israeli soldiers ‘urged to commit genocide’

ISRAEL’S leadership is behind the “genocidal” military campaign in Gaza that cannot be justified by Hamas’s terrorist attacks of Oct 7, South Africa’s legal team told the UN’S top court yesterday.

Instructions to “destroy” Gaza were handed down from the “highest level of state”, including the Israeli prime minister, defence minister and president, their lawyers told the International Court of Justice (ICJ) yesterday.

During the first of two days of hearings, they claimed the operation was a breach of the UN Genocide Convention.

Adila Hassim, an acting judge in South Africa’s High Court, told the ICJ: “South Africa contends that Israel has transgressed article two of the convention, committing acts that fall within the definition of genocide,” .

“The actions show a systematic pattern of conduct from which genocide can be inferred.”

“Nothing will stop the suffering except an order from this court. Without an indication of provisional measures, the atrocities will continue, with the Israel Defence Forces indicating that it intends pursuing this course of action for at least a year,” she added.

Israel dismissed the accusations as “atrocious”, “baseless” and “preposterous”. Its lawyers vowed to present a robust defence on Friday.

ICJ rulings are legally binding on parties to the court - which includes both Israel and South Africa - but are not enforceable. It is not expected to rule for at least several weeks.

Lior Haiat, an Israeli foreign ministry spokesman, accused South Africa of acting as the “legal arm” of Hamas.

He said Pretoria’s case “utterly distorted the reality in Gaza”, saying Hamas had “infiltrated Israel, murdered, executed, massacred, raped and abducted Israeli citizens”.

“South Africa seeks to allow Hamas to return to commit the war crimes, crimes against humanity and sexual crimes they committed repeatedly on October 7,” the spokesman added. Israel is due to begin its case on Friday.

Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, a lawyer for the High Court of South Africa, said Israel’s “genocidal intent” was evident “from the way in which this military attack is being conducted”.

‘The actions of Israel show a systemic pattern of conduct from which genocide can be inferred’