SA submits ‘urgent request’ to ICJ
JOHANNESBURG. – South Africa has asked the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to consider whether Israel’s plan to extend its offensive in Gaza into the city of Rafah requires additional emergency measures to protect the rights of Palestinians.
In a statement yesteday, the South African presidency said it had submitted an “urgent request” to the ICJ on Monday, adding that the government was “gravely concerned that the unprecedented military offensive against Rafah, as announced by the State of Israel, has already led to and will result in further large scale killing, harm and destruction.
Last month, the World Court ordered Israel to take all measures to prevent its troops from committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, following a case brought by South Africa.
Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor said South Africa would “look at proposing other measures to the global community” in a bid to stop Israel killing civilians during its war in Gaza against Hamas militants, but didn’t go into details.
South Africa alleges Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people in its war against the Hamas militant group in the Gaza Strip and lodged a case with the world court. The court handed down a preliminary ruling last month.
“The South African government said it was gravely concerned that the unprecedented military offensive against Rafah, as announced by the State of Israel, has already led to and will result in further large scale killing, harm and destruction,” the statement said “This would be in serious and irreparable breach both of the Genocide Convention and of the Court’s Order of 26 January 2024.”
South Africa said it was asking the court that the matter be dealt with urgently “in light of the daily death toll in Gaza.”
Israel plans to expand its campaign into Rafah where 1 million Palestinians have sought refuge after fleeing the rest of the Gaza Strip, much of it destroyed by Israeli military operations since October 7.
Speaking following a meeting with member states at the United Nations in Geneva on Tuesday, the head of the UN Palestinian refugee agency (UNRWA), Philippe Lazzarini, said the situation in Rafah is “deeply concerning”.
“If this military operation is taking place the question is, where will the civilian go?” Lazzarini said. “There is absolutely no safe place in Rafah anymore. And the fear is that the number of people killed and injured might begin to significantly increase in the conflict where I reminded [member states] that already more than 100,000 people have been either killed, either injured or are missing.”
The ICJ has so far declined to comment on the request.
Israel is planning to expand its ground assault into the city of Rafah, where over 1 million Palestinians have sought refuge from the Israel offensive that has laid waste to much of the Gaza Strip since Hamas militants attacked Israel on October 7.
Israeli air strikes have in recent days started hitting Rafah, which is in the south of the Gaza Strip and abuts the Egyptian border.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has described Rafah as the “last bastion” of Hamas, with four battalions of gunmen, and that Israel cannot achieve its goal of eliminating the group while they remain there.
Israel has sought to wipe out Hamas since it led the October 7 attack which killed around 1 200 people and resulted in another 253 being abducted into Gaza, according to Israeli tallies.
The Israeli military has already swept through most of Gaza, in a campaign that has killed more than 28 000 people, according to health authorities in the Hamas-run Gaza Strip.
UNRWA says there are nearly 1.5 million people in Rafah, six times the population compared to before Oct. 7. Many of them are camped on the streets, in empty lots, on the beach and on the sandy strip of territory next to the border wall with Egypt. Others are jammed into filthy, overcrowded shelters.