Israel Urging ICJ to Reject South African Request on Gaza Orders
TEHRAN (Tasnim) – The Israeli regime on Thursday urged the UN’s highest court to reject an urgent South African request to consider whether Israel’s military operations targeting the southern Gaza city of Rafah breach provisional orders the court handed down last month in a genocide case.
South Africa asked the International Court of Justice to decide whether Israel’s strikes on Rafah, and its intention to launch a ground offensive on the city where 1.4 million Palestinians are sheltering, breaches both the UN Genocide Convention and preliminary orders handed down by the court last month in a case accusing the Zionist regime of genocide.
In a three-page submission released Thursday by the court, Israel labeled the new South African request “ highly peculiar and improper.”
The Israeli regime’s assault has wrought destruction in Gaza, with more than 28,000 people killed, over 70% of them women, children and young teens, according to local health officials. Around 80% of the population has been displaced and the UN says more than a quarter of Palestinians in Gaza are being pushed toward starvation.
In a statement Tuesday, South Africa’s government called Rafah “the last refuge for surviving people in Gaza.” It asked the top UN court to consider using its powers to issue additional preliminary orders telling Israel to halt the deaths and destruction there.
South Africa already alleged the Israeli regime is committing genocide against the Palestinian people in its war against Hamas in Gaza and filed a case with the world court in December. A ruling on the genocide allegation could take years, the AP reported.