Israel continues its attacks in Rafah despite “explicit warnings”
Hague:
South Africa has urged the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to order Israel to halt its attack on Rafah as part of its case accusing Israel of genocide against Palestinians, Al Jazeera reported on Thursday.
South Africa, which presented its case in January over Israel’s war in Gaza, is seeking additional emergency measures due to its offensive on Rafah, a city in the southern Gaza Strip where more than a million Palestinians have been displaced. sought shelter from Israeli attacks in other parts of the Gaza Strip. the enclave.
He told the Hague court on Thursday that the Palestinian people face “continuous annihilation” and that the attack on Rafah was “part of the end game in which Gaza is totally destroyed”.
Israel continues to pursue its attacks in Rafah despite “explicit warnings” that they could have “genocidal” consequences, said South African lawyer Tembeka Ngcukaitobi.
Israel, which has rejected South Africa’s claim that it is violating the 1949 Genocide Convention as unfounded, will respond on Friday, Al Jazeera reported.
Minutes before the court hearings began, Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said the widely criticized Rafah operation “will continue as additional forces enter” the area.
Rafah is a small, overcrowded city where hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have sheltered in tents and face rapidly spreading disease and a severe lack of food and clean water. The region’s only hospital was closed, leaving only a small facility overwhelmed, Al Jazeera reported.
ICJ judges have already issued provisional measures, ordering Israel to take steps to limit humanitarian suffering in Gaza.
Among these provisions was Israel’s obligation to ensure that supplies of basic food reached without delay the Palestinians in Gaza, all of whom suffer from severe hunger – some have even faced starvation – as a result of Israel’s total siege.
This month, the Israeli army captured and closed the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt, a vital entry point for humanitarian aid. Humanitarian agencies warned that the closure had significantly hampered their operations.
Because it is Gaza’s main humanitarian aid hub, “if Rafah falls, Gaza will fall too,” South Africa said in a written submission to the court.
“The frustration of humanitarian aid cannot be seen as anything other than the deliberate extermination of Palestinian lives. Hunger to the point of starvation,” said lawyer Adila Hassim.
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