Israel’s legal team at the International Court of Justice, ICJ, yesterday defended the action of Israel in Gaza to eliminate Hamas terrorists, describing South Africa’s case against Israel as an “obscene exploitation” of the genocide convention.
Israel claimed that South Africa was not interested to protect Palestinian civilians but to defend Hamas militants.
Recall the on Thursday South Africa had accused Israel of genocide in Gaza and pleaded with ICJ to halt Israel Rafah offensive actions.
Israel’s representatives told the court their country was fighting a war of self-defence it “did not want and did not start”. They said Israel had made “extraordinary” efforts to protect civilians, and had complied with orders from the court to let more aid into Gaza.
“There is a tragic conflict going on, but no genocide,” Israel’s justice ministry official, Gilad Noam, told the court. He asked judges to throw out South Africa’s request that the court order a halt to the military offensive in Rafah and impose a ceasefire across Gaza.
The hearing in The Hague came as all G7 countries apart from the US sent a joint letter urging Israel to comply with international law in Gaza and address the devastating humanitarian crisis there, Reuters reported. Australia, South Korea, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Denmark, Sweden and Finland also signed.
The US has warned that Gaza faces an “imminent famine”, and the secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said this week he had not seen a credible plan to protect civilians in Rafah before a planned Israeli attack.
South Africa had presented its case to the court on Thursday, saying Palestinians had nowhere safe to flee because intense bombing and ground campaigns had reduced the rest of Gaza to a famine-stricken wasteland without shelter or services.
Noam said the attack on Rafah was essential because battalions of Hamas fighters were hiding there. Israel has vowed to destroy the group after its cross-border attacks on 7 October, which killed about 1,200 people, mostly civilians, with 254 people taken hostage. Hamas leaders have said they want to repeat that attack.
“Israel is acutely aware of the large number of civilians that are concentrated in Rafah. It is also acutely aware of Hamas’ efforts to use these civilians as a shield,” he said. He added that Israel had ordered evacuations to protect civilians, and accused South Africa of exploiting civilian suffering to protect militants.
“South Africa … has a clear ulterior motive when it asks you to order Israel to stay away from Rafah and to withdraw all its troops from Gaza,” Noam told the court. “It does so in order to obtain military advantage for its ally, Hamas.”
The ICJ only hears cases between states, so it has no jurisdiction over Hamas. That means any ceasefire order would bind only one party, depriving Israel of the right to self-defence, its lawyers said.
In January the court found in an interim judgment that there was a risk of violation of the rights of the Palestinian people to protection from genocide.
It ordered Israel to “take all measures within its power” to desist from killing Palestinians in contravention of the genocide convention, to prevent and punish the incitement of genocide, and to facilitate provision of “urgent basic services”, but stopped short of imposing a ceasefire.
In March, a panel of judges ordered Israel to allow unimpeded access of food aid into Gaza, in a unanimous decision that warned famine was setting in.
Tamar Kaplan-Tourgeman, one of Israel’s legal team, said Israel had complied with those orders. She detailed measures to protect civilians, including dropping leaflets ordering evacuations, and listed steps to expand aid, including new entry points in northern Gaza.
At the end of the hearing, Judge Nolte asked Israel to provide more information about conditions in designated evacuation zones, provision of food and shelter, and how it would ensure safe passage for evacuees.
