South Africa Accuses Israel of Showing 'Intent' to Commit Genocide in Gaza on Day 1 of ICJ Hearing

Hague - Amid the ongoing Israel-Hamas war, South Africa accused Israel of showing “chilling” and incontrovertible" intent to commit Genocide in Gaza. The proclamations from the South African side came when the International Court of Justice heard the Genocide case filed against Israel last month. While the African nations accused Israel of being in “full knowledge” of how many civilians are being killed in Gaza, the Jewish nation has described the case and the accusation as “baseless”. On the first morning of the two-day hearing, South Africa alleged “grave violence and genocidal acts” by Israel while giving its stance on the matter at the international court in The Hague, The Guardian reported. 

The South African side went on to urge the international court to order an immediate ceasefire calling the ongoing conflict “devastating”. During the hearing, South Africa put forward the case by showcasing photos of Palestinian mass graves, Israeli flags adorning wreckage in Gaza and what it claimed were videos of Netanyahu expressing support for genocide, The Guardian reported. “Genocides are never declared in advance but this court has the benefit of the past 13 weeks of evidence that shows incontrovertibly, a pattern of conduct and related intention that justifies a plausible claim of genocidal acts,” the South African lawyer Adila Hassim told the court.

“There had been reiteration and repetition of genocidal speech throughout every sphere of state in Israel such that the evidence of genocidal intent is not only chilling, it is also overwhelming and incontrovertible,” Hassim's colleague Tembeka Ngcukaitobi averred. On the first day, Hassim said Israel had dropped 6,000 bombs a week in the first three weeks after 7 October and had used 900kg of bombs in the war. “Israel has killed an unparalleled and unprecedented number of civilians,” she said. “With the full knowledge of how many civilian lives each bomb will take. More than 1,800 Palestinian families in Gaza have lost multiple family members and hundreds of multi-generational families have been wiped out with no remaining survivors … This killing is nothing short of destruction of Palestinian life," she added. 

Israel to take the floor today

Israel which has vehemently denied the accusation hurled by South Africa will give their side of the story to the court on Friday, i.e. day 2 of the hearing. Amid the war, the Jewish nation has maintained that it is waging an attack against Palestinian militants and not Palestinian civilians. Following the first day of hearing in the international court, the Israeli foreign ministry gave its take on the matter. “The fact that Hamas terrorists infiltrated Israel, murdered, executed, massacred, raped and kidnapped Israeli citizens, just because they were Israelis, in an attempt to carry out genocide,” the foreign ministry remarked. 

Meanwhile, The Arab League has voiced its support for the South African case a day before the hearing commenced. Among the individuals in the court who backed the South African cause were the three-time French presidential candidate, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, and the former leader of the UK Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, The Guardian reported. “Nothing can ever justify genocide no matter what some individuals within the group of Palestinians in Gaza may have done, no matter how great a threat to Israeli citizens might be, genocidal attacks on the whole of Gaza and the whole of its population with the intent of destroying them cannot be justified," Vaughan Lowe KC, part of the South African legal team averred.