The Israeli delegation on Friday started defending in the two-day hearing at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) upon the request of South Africa’s urgent appeal.
The second day of the new hearing in The Hague began earlier with opening remarks, delivered by Israeli representative Gilad Noam.
He said the notification of the hearing “came as a great surprise,” adding that although Israel asked that the hearing be rescheduled to next week, it was rejected.
Claiming that Israel has worked “diligently to enable the protection of civilians,” Noam said it is Israel’s “right and obligation to defend” its citizens.
South Africa on Thursday requested an order to end Israel’s Gaza offensive at the ICJ as the country seeks additional provisional measures against Israel.
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The South African delegation pointed to “willful breaches” by Israel against the court’s binding orders. The delegation said South Africa was compelled to return to the court due to the “continuing annihilation of the Palestinian people.”
South Africa filed an “urgent request” last Friday with the ICJ for additional measures amid Israel’s attacks on Gaza, particularly in the city of Rafah, where more than 1.4 million Palestinians are taking shelter.
“In its new request, South Africa states that the provisional measures previously indicated by the Court are not capable of ‘fully address(ing)’ the changed circumstances and new facts on which (its) Request is founded,” the ICJ said in a statement.
South Africa took Israel to the ICJ in late 2023, accusing it of genocide in Gaza.
An interim ruling in January said it is “plausible” that Tel Aviv is committing genocide in the coastal enclave, and ordered Tel Aviv to stop such acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians.
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According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 35,303 Palestinians have been killed, and 79,261 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7.
Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
(Anadolu, PC)
” Claiming that Israel has worked “diligently to enable the protection of civilians,” Noam said it is Israel’s “right and obligation to defend” its citizens. ”
what a piece of shit.