The International Court of Justice (ICJ) will hold public hearings in proceedings launched by South Africa against Israel over the Gaza war on Jan. 11 and 12, it said on Wednesday.
South Africa had asked the ICJ on Friday for an urgent order declaring that Israel was in breach of its obligations under the 1948 Genocide Convention in its relentless bombardment on Gaza.
Israel had said it would appear before the court to contest the accusations.
The court usually takes one or two weeks to issue a decision on emergency measures after the hearings. The court’s rulings are final but it has no authority to enforce them.
South Africa accused Israel of engaging in “genocidal acts” in Gaza and asking the court to order the Israeli government to halt its attacks.
In a press release, the Hague-based ICJ, which is UN’s highest court, confirmed the application concerning violations of Israel’s obligations under the Genocide Convention. Meanwhile, Israel has strongly rejected the allegation, calling it “baseless”.
Since a cross-border attack by Hamas on October 7, Israel’s deadly bombardments of Gaza have left at least 21,000 people dead, three-quarters of them women and children, while thousands more are feared trapped under rubble, according to the enclave’s health ministry.
The application filed “concerning alleged violations by Israel of its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in relation to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip,” the ICJ said in the press release.
“Acts and omissions by Israel … are genocidal in character, as they are committed with the requisite specific intent … to destroy Palestinians in Gaza as a part of the broader Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group,” read the statement.
It added: “The conduct of Israel – through its State organs, State agents, and other persons and entities acting on its instructions or under its direction, control or influence – in relation to Palestinians in Gaza, is in violation of its obligations under the Genocide Convention,” the statement added, citing the application.
South Africa also accused Israel of “failing to prevent genocide” and “prosecuting the direct and public incitement to genocide” in the application.
“Israel has engaged in, is engaging in and risks further engaging in genocidal acts against the Palestinian people in Gaza,” it added.
South Africa also requested the ICJ to “indicate provisional measures in order to protect against further, severe and irreparable harm to the rights of the Palestinian people under the Genocide Convention and to ensure Israel’s compliance with its obligations under the Genocide Convention not to engage in genocide, and to prevent and to punish genocide.”
The Israeli onslaught has left Gaza in ruins, with 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure damaged or destroyed, and nearly 2 million residents displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water, and medicines.
