JOHANNESBURG: South Africa has filed “evidence” of a “genocide” committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip with the International Court of Justice, the office of President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Monday.
The document “contains evidence which shows how the government of Israel has violated the genocide convention by promoting the destruction of Palestinians living in Gaza,” the presidency said in a statement, amid claims vehemently denied by Israel.
An official for the Hague-based court on Monday confirmed it had received the document, but declined to give further detail.
“The evidence will show that undergirding Israel’s genocidal acts is the special intent to commit genocide, a failure by Israel to prevent incitement to genocide, to prevent genocide itself and its failure to punish those inciting and committing acts of genocide,” said the presidency.
The “memorial” — the name of the document detailing South Africa’s case against Israel before the ICJ — cannot be made public but laid out evidence in “over 750 pages of text, supported by exhibits and annexes of over 4,000 pages,” it added.
South Africa in December brought a case before the ICJ, arguing the war in Gaza breached the 1948 United Nations Genocide Convention, an accusation Israel has strongly denied.
Several nations have added their weight to South Africa’s proceedings against Israel, including Spain, Bolivia, Colombia, Mexico, Turkiye, Chile and Libya.
While ICJ rulings are legally binding, the court has no concrete means to enforce them.
Israel’s Gaza campaign has killed at least 43,020 Palestinians, the majority of them civilians, according to figures from the Hamas-ruled territory’s health ministry, which the UN considers reliable.
The offensive was prompted by Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack which resulted in the deaths of 1,206 people in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on Israeli official figures that include hostages killed in captivity.
Out of 251 hostages seized by during the attack, 97 are still held in Gaza, including 34 whom the Israeli military says are dead.
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South Africa files ‘evidence’ of ‘genocide’ by Israel in ICJ case
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South Africa files ‘evidence’ of ‘genocide’ by Israel in ICJ case
- Several nations have added their weight to South Africa’s proceedings against Israel, including Spain, Bolivia, Colombia, Mexico, Turkiye, Chile and Libya
UN official: 100,000 Lebanese in shelters after ‘unprecedented’ Israeli warnings
- More than a million people were uprooted in Lebanon during a war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2024, 75%-80% of whom were not in shelters
BEIRUT: About 100,000 people have fled to shelters in Lebanon and the number of displaced is expected to rapidly increase following “unprecedented” Israeli warnings ordering people out of large parts of the country, a senior UN official said on Friday.
With war raging between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, the Israeli military on Thursday ordered residents out of Beirut’s southern suburbs, including areas controlled by the Iran-backed group, as well as parts of the eastern Bekaa Valley, after ordering people out of a swathe of south Lebanon on Wednesday.
“What we saw in the last couple of days is, I would say … unprecedented in terms of the scale here in Lebanon of the warnings, the displacement orders, and the reaction, the panic also, that this has all created,” Imran Riza, UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Lebanon, told Reuters.
“At the moment, there are about 100,000 people that are, as of this morning, in some 477 collective shelters. There are some 57 shelters that still have some space, but basically the capacity is being reached very, very quickly,” Riza said.
Noting the panic and gridlock caused by the Israeli displacement orders, Riza said: “We had people moving all over the place and not knowing where to go to. So yes, I think we’re going to have an increased number quite quickly,” he said.
He noted that more than a million people were uprooted in Lebanon during a war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2024, 75-80 percent of whom were not in shelters. “This time again, the majority will not be in shelters probably,” he said.
With war raging between Israel and Lebanon’s Hezbollah, the Israeli military on Thursday ordered residents out of Beirut’s southern suburbs, including areas controlled by the Iran-backed group, as well as parts of the eastern Bekaa Valley, after ordering people out of a swathe of south Lebanon on Wednesday.
“What we saw in the last couple of days is, I would say … unprecedented in terms of the scale here in Lebanon of the warnings, the displacement orders, and the reaction, the panic also, that this has all created,” Imran Riza, UN Humanitarian Coordinator in Lebanon, told Reuters.
“At the moment, there are about 100,000 people that are, as of this morning, in some 477 collective shelters. There are some 57 shelters that still have some space, but basically the capacity is being reached very, very quickly,” Riza said.
Noting the panic and gridlock caused by the Israeli displacement orders, Riza said: “We had people moving all over the place and not knowing where to go to. So yes, I think we’re going to have an increased number quite quickly,” he said.
He noted that more than a million people were uprooted in Lebanon during a war between Hezbollah and Israel in 2024, 75-80 percent of whom were not in shelters. “This time again, the majority will not be in shelters probably,” he said.
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