War in Gaza: South Africa files new request before ICJ against Israel

South Africa announced on Tuesday that it had filed a new appeal with the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the highest judicial body of the UN, to urgently examine Israel's announcement of an upcoming military offensive. on Rafah and opposes if necessary “

 a further violation of rights 

”.

Judges of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) deliver their verdict regarding Israel, in The Hague, Netherlands, January 26, 2024. © PIROSCHKA VAN DE WOUW / Reuters

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For South Africa, the latest developments in the

Gaza

Strip and the threat of a massive operation on Rafah are in contradiction with the provisional measures decided by the Court, and with the Genocide Convention ratified by

Israel

, points out our correspondent in Johannesburg,

Claire Bargelès

. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu recently ordered his army to prepare an offensive on Rafah, the last refuge for 1.4 million Palestinians, according to the UN, or more than half of the total population of the Gaza Strip, the most having fled the war which has been raging for four months. International pressure has since intensified for a truce agreement between Israel and the Islamist movement Hamas.

Pretoria had already filed a first complaint before the highest court of the UN, asking it to rule on possible acts of genocide. The decision may not be known for years, but the court last month demanded that Tel Aviv do everything in its power

to prevent such acts

.

Risk of intensification

of “massacres

”

Pretoria said it had filed an urgent appeal on Monday with the ICJ, which sits in The Hague. From now on, the South African presidency emphasizes the risk of seeing an intensification 

of “massacres, injuries and destruction on a large scale

 ” and hopes that the judges will take new emergency measures. According to the South African government, this “

would constitute a serious and irreparable violation of the Genocide Convention

 .” “ 

South Africa is confident that this subject will be treated with the necessary urgency in view of the daily number of deaths in Gaza

 ,” adds Pretoria.

However, although the Court's decisions are binding, they do not have coercive means, and possible UN Security Council sanctions could be blocked by the United States.

(With

AFP

)

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