South Africa filed a lawsuit against Israel in the International Court of Justice (Anatolia)
The South African government said on Tuesday that it had submitted an urgent request to the International Court of Justice to use its full authority to stop the military operation that Israel plans to launch in the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip.
Last month, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to take all measures within its power to prevent its forces from committing genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, as part of a case brought by South Africa.
The South African presidency said in a statement, “The South African government, in a request submitted to the court yesterday (February 12), expressed its deep concern that the unprecedented military attack on Rafah has already led to widespread killing, harm and destruction and will lead to more.”
The statement added that the attack on Rafah would represent a serious and irreparable violation of the Genocide Convention and the court’s decision issued on January 26.
The Israeli occupation army intends to expand the scope of its ground invasion of the Gaza Strip to include the city of Rafah, where more than a million Palestinians have taken refuge to escape the Israeli aggression on the northern and central Strip.
Israel is waging a devastating war on the Gaza Strip, leaving tens of thousands of civilian victims, most of them children and women, in addition to an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe and massive infrastructure destruction, which led to Tel Aviv appearing before the International Court of Justice to be tried on charges of “genocide” for the first time in its history.
Determining whether Israel is indeed violating the Genocide Convention with its military campaign will likely take months, if not years.
Source: Al Jazeera + agencies