South Africa asks UN court to intervene to prevent ‘genocidal famine’ in Gaza
South Africa has asked the United Nations’ highest court to issue emergency orders to Israel to end what it called the “genocidal starvation” of the Palestinian people, citing UN warnings that Gaza risks was under threat of famine.
The request made Wednesday to the International Court of Justice in The Hague was part of a case filed by South Africa in December accusing Israel of genocide against the Palestinians in Gaza. Israel has strongly denied the accusation of genocide and on Thursday the Foreign Ministry called on the court to reject South Africa’s latest request.
“South Africa continues to act as the legal arm of Hamas in an attempt to undermine Israel’s inherent right to defend itself and its citizens and to release all hostages,” said Lior Haiat, a spokesman for Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. said on social media.
It was not immediately clear when the court would respond to the request. In January, in an initial ruling in the broader genocide case, the court ordered Israel to act to prevent its forces from committing genocide in Gaza and to increase the amount of humanitarian aid reaching the territory’s citizens.
Last month, South Africa asked the court to issue an emergency injunction to stop Israel from sending troops to the southern Gaza city of Rafah. The court did not do this, but said Israel must adhere to its original order to prevent genocide.
The judges of the World Court, as it is also known, have not ruled on the core question of whether a genocide is taking place in Gaza, a complex charge that will likely take them months or years to decide. For now, they have ordered a series of measures, amounting to temporary orders, aimed at protecting Palestinian civilians, as they found the dangers of genocide “plausible.”
The genocide case has thrust the usually slow-moving court into the global spotlight, turning it into a platform for tense arguments and disputes over Israel’s war in Gaza. Despite the symbolic weight of the charges before it, the court, which settles disputes between UN member states, does not have any means to force Israel to follow its orders.
In its request on Wednesday, South Africa accused Israel of causing widespread hunger and near-famine throughout Gaza. Health authorities there say children are dying every day from malnutrition and dehydration, and aid groups say people are hungry enough to resort to food leaves, donkey food and food scraps.
“Palestinian children are dying of hunger as a direct result of Israel’s deliberate acts and omissions – in violation of the Genocide Convention and the court’s order,” lawyers for South Africa wrote in the filing.
For months, international observers and aid agencies have warned that Gaza’s 2.2 million citizens are facing famine, amid acute shortages of food and water. Distributing limited supplies within the territory has become more challenging, amid the destruction of infrastructure and increasing lawlessness as desperate people loot aid convoys.
In asking the court to intervene, South Africa pointed to last week’s deadly aid delivery in northern Gaza and Israel’s attempts to block UNRWA, the main UN agency providing aid to Palestinians. refugees, to discredit. South Africa said the humanitarian situation in Gaza had deteriorated rapidly in the weeks since the court refused to issue an emergency order to stop a possible Israeli advance on Rafah. At the time, the court said the “dangerous situation” throughout Gaza required Israel to comply with its order to prevent genocide.
“The situation that was ‘dangerous’ then is now so terrifying as to be unspeakable,” South Africa said in the dossier.
Adam Sella reporting contributed.