The evidence is detailed in over 750 pages of text, supported by exhibits and annexes of over 4,000 pages.
South Africa has filed its memorial to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) which it says contains evidence that Israel has violated the Genocide Convention in its ongoing military offensive in the Gaza Strip which has killed over 43,000 Palestinians.
“The filing of this memorial takes place at a time when Israel is intensifying the killing of civilians in Gaza and now seems intent to follow a similar path of destruction in Lebanon,” the country’s Presidency said in a statement on Monday.
The case was first brought by South Africa against Israel in December last year and culminated in the filing of the memorial at the UN’s highest court in The Hague.
South Africa has filed its Memorial to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) today, 28 October 2024, in its case on the Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel). https://t.co/Xedm9ZW6LQ
— The Presidency 🇿🇦 (@PresidencyZA) October 28, 2024
The statement said the memorial “contains evidence which shows how the government of Israel has violated the genocide convention by promoting the destruction of Palestinians living in Gaza.”
This occurred through “physically killing them with an assortment of destructive weapons, depriving them access to humanitarian assistance, causing conditions of life which are aimed at their physical destruction and ignoring and defying several provisional measures of the International Court of Justice,” the Presidency said; as well as “using starvation as a weapon of war and to further Israel’s aims to depopulate Gaza through mass death and forced displacement of Palestinians.”
‘Failure to Prevent Incitement’
“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,” the statement said.
The evidence is detailed in over 750 pages of text, supported by exhibits and annexes of over 4,000 pages.
South Africa’s Ambassador to the Netherlands Vusi Madonsela delivering South Africa's Memorial to the International Court of Justice.
The boxes contain 62 copies of the Memorial.
Each set contains the Memorial, the Annexes and the complete documents folder.
South Africa has… pic.twitter.com/5AXcgBPbSw
— The Presidency 🇿🇦 (@PresidencyZA) October 28, 2024
The action taken by South Africa and joined by other states is primarily “to stop a genocide in Palestine peacefully, through holding Israel accountable in the institutions set up for this very purpose” by the United Nations.
“Israel has been granted unprecedented impunity to breach international law and norms for as long as the UN Charter has been in existence,” the statement stressed, adding that “Israel’s continued shredding of international law has imperilled the institutions of global governance that were established to hold all states accountable.”
‘Glaring Genocide’
“The glaring genocide in Gaza is there for all who are not blinded by prejudice to see,” the statement said.
“The international community cannot stand idly by while innocent civilians – including women, children, hospital workers, humanitarian aid workers and journalists, are killed for simply being. That is a world we cannot accept,” the Presidency stressed.
At least 13 countries have joined South Africa’s case at the ICJ, including Columbia, Bolivia, Spain, Turkiye and Ireland.
Palestinians Subjected to ‘More than Half a Century of Apartheid’ – Cyril Ramaphosa Tells UNGA
In his address to the UN General Assembly earlier this year, President Ramaphosa emphasized that South Africa’s action through the ICJ was an attempt to ensure that the same global solidarity that helped end apartheid in South Africa should be mobilized to end the apartheid that Palestinians are experiencing, including an end to the genocide of Palestinians.
Israel will have until July 2025 to file its counter-memorial.
Staggering Death Toll
Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 43,020 Palestinians have been killed, and 101,110 wounded in the ongoing genocidal assault.
Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
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’.
Millions Displaced
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
‘Catastrophic Situation’ – Chile Joins South Africa in Genocide Case Against Israel at ICJ
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.
Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
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