THE HAGUE: Israel defended the military necessity of its Gaza offensive on Friday at the International Court of Justice and asked judges to throw out a request by South Africa to order it to halt operations in Rafah and withdraw from the Palestinian territory.
Israeli Justice Ministry official Gilad Noam called South Africa’s case, which accuses Israel of violating the Genocide Convention, “completely divorced from facts and circumstances.”
“(The case) makes a mockery of the heinous charge of genocide,” Noam said. He called it “an obscene exploitation of the most sacred convention,” referring to the international treaty banning genocide, agreed after the Holocaust of European Jews in World War Two.
The convention requires all countries to act to prevent genocide, and the ICJ, also known as the World Court, which hears disputes between states, has concluded that this gives South Africa a right to make the case.
A woman who yelled “liars!” during Israel’s presentation was removed by security guards, a rare protest in the “Great Hall of Justice” courtroom in The Hague.
“There is a tragic war going on, but there is no genocide” in Gaza, Noam said.
In past rulings, the court has rejected Israel’s demands to dismiss the case and ordered Israel to prevent acts of genocide against the Palestinians, while stopping short of ordering it to halt the assault.
Ahead of Israel’s presentation, several dozen pro-Israeli protesters gathered outside, displaying photographs of hostages taken by Hamas fighters on Oct. 7 and demanding their release.
The South African legal team, which set out its case for fresh emergency measures the previous day, framed the Israeli military operation as part of a genocidal plan aimed at bringing about the destruction of the Palestinian people.
South Africa’s ambassador to the Netherlands, Vusimuzi Madonsela, requested the court to order Israel to “immediately, totally and unconditionally, withdraw the Israeli army from the entirety of the Gaza Strip.”
South Africa brought its latest request for emergency action in response to an Israeli military assault on Rafah at the southern edge of Gaza, refuge for half the territory’s 2.3 million people who fled Israel’s offensive further north.
Israel’s Noam said that Israel’s military operations were not aimed at civilians, but at Hamas terrorists using Rafah as a stronghold, who have tunnel systems which could be used to smuggle hostages and militants out of Gaza.
Examples of alleged violations by Israel raised by South Africa were “not evidence a policy of illegal behavior, let alone a policy of genocide,” he said. Ordering Israel to withdraw its troops would sentence remaining hostages in Gaza to death, Noam said.
More than 35,300 Palestinians have been killed in Israel’s seven-month-old assault on the Gaza Strip, health officials in the enclave said on Thursday. The war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and abducting 253 others.
This week’s hearings focus only on issuing emergency measures and it will likely take years before the court can rule on the underlying genocide charge. A decision on the request for emergency measures is expected next week.
Israel tells World Court South Africa case makes a mockery of genocide
https://arab.news/p78va
Israel tells World Court South Africa case makes a mockery of genocide
- “There is a tragic war going on, but there is no genocide” in Gaza, Israel’s top lawyer said
- A woman who yelled “liars!” during Israel’s presentation was removed by security guards
Halt to MSF work will be ‘catastrophic’ for people of Gaza: MSF chief
- MSF slammed the move, which takes effect on March 1, as a “pretext” to obstruct aid
- “Ceasing MSF activities is going to be catastrophic for the people of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank,” he said
GENEVA: Israel’s ban on Doctors Without Borders’ humanitarian operation in Gaza spells deeper catastrophe for the Palestinian territory’s people, the head of the medical charity told AFP on Monday.
Israel announced on Sunday that it was terminating all the activities in Gaza and the West Bank by the organization, known by its French acronym MSF, after it failed to provide a list of its Palestinian staff.
MSF slammed the move, which takes effect on March 1, as a “pretext” to obstruct aid.
“This is a decision that was made by the Israeli government to restrict humanitarian assistance into Gaza and the West Bank at the most critical time for Palestinians,” MSF secretary-general Christopher Lockyear warned in an interview with AFP at the charity’s Geneva headquarters.
“We are at a moment where Palestinian people need more humanitarian assistance, not less,” he said. “Ceasing MSF activities is going to be catastrophic for the people of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.”
MSF has been a key provider of medical and humanitarian aid in Gaza, particularly since war broke out after Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel.
The charity says it currently provides at least 20 percent of hospital beds in the territory and operates around 20 health centers.
In 2025 alone, it carried out more than 800,000 medical consultations, treated more than 100,000 trauma cases and assisted more than 10,000 infant deliveries.
It also provided more than 700 million liters of water, Lockyear pointed out.
‘Impossible choice’
Israel announced in December that it planned to prevent 37 aid organizations, including MSF, from working in Gaza for failing to submit detailed information about their Palestinian employees. The move drew widespread condemnation from NGOs and the United Nations.
It had alleged that two MSF employees had links with Palestinian militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad, which the medical charity vehemently denies.
“If Israel has any evidence of such things, then they should share that evidence,” Lockyear said, insisting that “there’s been no proof given to us.”
He decried “an orchestrated campaign to delegitimize us,” calling on other countries to defend efforts to bring desperately-needed humanitarian aid into Gaza.
“They should be speaking to Israel, pressuring Israel to ensure that there is a reverse of any banning of humanitarian organizations.”
Lockyear said MSF, which counts around 1,100 staff inside Gaza, had been trying to engage with Israeli authorities for nearly a year over the requested lists.
But it had been left with “an impossible choice,” he said.
“We’ve been forced to choose between the safety and security of our staff and being able to reach patients.”
‘Can only get worse’
The organization said it decided not to hand over staff names “because Israeli authorities failed to provide the concrete assurances required to guarantee our staff’s safety, protect their personal data, and uphold the independence of our medical operation.”
Lockyear insisted that was a “very rational” decision, pointing out that 15 MSF staff had been killed in Gaza during the war, out of more than 500 humanitarian workers and more than 1,700 medical workers killed in the Strip.
Lockyear highlighted that without independent humanitarian organizations in Gaza, an already “catastrophic” situation “can only get worse.”
“We need to increase massively the humanitarian assistance that’s going into Gaza,” he said, “not restrict it, not block it.”
