.jpeg)
The ICJ, sometimes known as the World Court, is the United
Nations venue for resolving disputes between states. Israel's foreign ministry
said in a reaction that the suit was "baseless."
South Africa's filing alleged Israel was violating its
obligations under the treaty, drafted in the wake of the Holocaust, which makes
it a crime to attempt to destroy a people in whole or in part.
It asked the court to issue provisional, or short-term,
measures ordering Israel to stop its military campaign in Gaza, which it said
were "necessary in this case to protect against further, severe and
irreparable harm to the rights of the Palestinian people."
No date has been set for a hearing.
While the ICJ in The Hague is considered the U.N.'s highest
court, its rulings are sometimes ignored. In March 2022 the court ordered
Russia to immediately halt its military campaign in Ukraine.
ISRAEL REJECTS FILING
War began on Oct. 7 when militants of the Islamist group
Hamas killed 1,200 people in a cross-border attack on Israel and seized 240
hostages by Israel's count. Israel responded with an assault on Hamas-ruled
Gaza, killing more than 21,000 people, Palestinian health officials say.
In a first response to South Africa's suit, Israel's foreign
ministry blamed Hamas for the suffering of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip by
using them as human shields and stealing humanitarian aid from them,
accusations Hamas denies.
"Israel has made it clear that the residents of the
Gaza Strip are not the enemy, and is making every effort to limit harm to the
non-involved," the ministry statement said.
Palestine, whose statehood is contested but is seen by the
court as having "observer state" status, said it welcomed South
Africa's suit.
"The court must immediately take action to protect the
Palestinian people and call on Israel, the occupying power, to halt its
onslaught," the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The court application is the latest move by South Africa, a
critic of Israel's war, to ratchet up pressure after its lawmakers last month
voted in favour of closing down the Israeli embassy in Pretoria and suspending
diplomatic relations.
In a statement from South Africa's Department of
International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO), the government said the
application against Israel was filed on Friday.
"Israel, since 7 October 2023 in particular, has failed
to prevent genocide and has failed to prosecute the direct and public
incitement to genocide," DIRCO said in a statement.
South Africa has backed the Palestinian cause for statehood
in Israeli-occupied territories for decades, likening the plight of
Palestinians to those of the Black majority in South Africa during the
repressive apartheid era, a comparison that Israel vehemently denies.
A different court in The Hague, the International Criminal
Court (ICC), is separately investigating alleged atrocities in Gaza and the
West Bank, but has not named any suspects. Israel is not a member of the ICC
and rejects its jurisdiction.
Reuters