Al Mayadeen English

  • Ar
  • Es
  • x
Al Mayadeen English

Slogan

  • News
    • Politics
    • Economy
    • Sports
    • Arts&Culture
    • Health
    • Miscellaneous
    • Technology
    • Environment
  • Articles
    • Opinion
    • Analysis
    • Blog
    • Features
  • Videos
    • NewsFeed
    • Video Features
    • Explainers
    • TV
    • Digital Series
  • Infographs
  • In Pictures
  • • LIVE
News
  • Politics
  • Economy
  • Sports
  • Arts&Culture
  • Health
  • Miscellaneous
  • Technology
  • Environment
Articles
  • Opinion
  • Analysis
  • Blog
  • Features
Videos
  • NewsFeed
  • Video Features
  • Explainers
  • TV
  • Digital Series
Infographs
In Pictures
  • Africa
  • Asia
  • Asia-Pacific
  • Europe
  • Latin America
  • MENA
  • Palestine
  • US & Canada
BREAKING
The Israeli Walla! website: We are running out of stockpiles, our forces are exhausted, and the lives of the captives are in danger. It is time for a ceasefire deal in Gaza.
Several wounded in an Israeli bombardment of a tent in al-Mawasi, south of Khan Younis in the Gaza Strip.
Israeli media: Three wounded, three killed in an ongoing operation in the Gaza Strip.
Al Mayadeen's correspondent in southern Lebanon: Israeli artillery shelling targets the outskirts of the town of Shebaa
Al-Qassam Brigades: The targeting took place at the intersection of 'Street 5' with the western line north of Khan Younis
Al-Qassam Brigades: A NIMR armored personnel carrier carrying an Israeli soldier was targeted with an Al-Yassin missile north of Khan Younis
Israeli media: At least two soldiers killed by anti-tank missile fired at Israeli army forces in the Gaza Strip
Local Syrian sources: Mortar shells fell on more than nine villages in the Sweida countryside
Local Syrian sources: Dozens of dead and wounded have arrived at Sweida hospitals as a result of ongoing clashes at several locations in the western Sweida countryside
Local sources: Civilians, including children and women, were injured in the al-Maqous neighborhood of Sweida, in Syria, as a result of ongoing clashes

At first ICJ hearing, South Africa provides evidence of 'genocide'

  • By Al Mayadeen English
  • Source: News Agency
  • 11 Jan 2024 14:48
  • 3 Shares
5 Min Read

South Africa asks the UN court to oblige "Israel" to Immediately stop aggression on Gaza.

  • x
  • Ambassador of the Republic of South Africa ,Visumuzi Mandonsela, right, Minister of Justice and Correctional Services Ronald Lamola, ICJ, Netherlands, Jan 11,2024( AP)
    Ambassador of the Republic of South Africa, Visumuzi Mandonsela, right, and Minister of Justice and Correctional Services Ronald Lamola, ICJ, Netherlands, Jan. 11, 2024 (AP)

South Africa has asked the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in a lawsuit to oblige "Israel" to immediately stop its military operation in the Gaza Strip, a representative of the South African delegation, lawyer Vaughan Lowe, said on Thursday.

South Africa's legal team stated, in its opening statement at The Hague, that South Africa has recognized the ongoing Nakba of the Palestinian people through "Israel's" colonization since 1948, "which has systematically and forcibly dispossessed, displaced and fragmented the Palestinian people, deliberately denying them the internationally recognised inalienable right to self determination and their internationally recognised rights of return as refugees to their towns and villages in what is now the state of Israel."

The team emphasized that South Africa is particularly mindful of "Israel’s" "institutionalized regime of discriminatory laws, policies, and practices designed and maintained to establish domination, subjecting the Palestinian people to apartheid on both sides of the Green Line."

They also pointed out that the decade-long impunity for widespread and systematic human rights violations has emboldened "Israel" in its recurrence and intensification of humanitarian crimes in Palestine, while simultaneously acknowledging that "the genocidal acts and omissions" by "Israel" "inevitably form part of a continuum of illegal acts perpetrated against the Palestinian people since 1948."

They are confident that the application they submitted "places Israel’s genocidal acts and omissions within the broader context of its 25-year apartheid, 56-year occupation, and 16-year siege imposed on the Gaza Strip."

Related News

At least 2 Israeli soldiers killed amid Gaza battles: Israeli media

Dr. Abu Safiya enduring severe abuse in Israeli prison: Lawyer

They came with evidence

The South African team stated that Palestinians have been killed by the relentless bombing of "Israel" wherever Palestinians sought shelter, whether in schools, hospitals, mosques, or churches, "and as they tried to find food and water for their families." They have been killed if they failed to evacuate, killed in the places to which they have fled, and even killed while they attempted to flee along Israeli-declared safe routes. They described the level of killing as "so extensive that those whose bodies are found are buried in mass graves, often unidentified."

The team provided figures and statistics to back its statement mentioning that in the first three weeks alone, following 7 October, "Israel" deployed 6,000 bombs per week. At least 200 times, it has deployed 2000lb bombs in southern areas of Palestine designated as "safe". "These bombs have also decimated the north, including refugee camps," emphasizing that 2000lb bombs are some of the biggest and most destructive bombs available.

"Israel has killed an unparalleled and unprecedented number of civilians. With the full knowledge of how many civilian lives each bomb will take," said the team. They further elaborated that more than 1,800 Palestinian families in Gaza have lost multiple family members, and hundreds of multigenerational families have been wiped out of the civil register with no remaining survivors. Mothers, fathers, children, siblings, grandparents, aunts, and cousins, are often all killed together. They affirmed that the latter is nothing short of the destruction of Palestinian life and emphasized that it is inflicted deliberately and that "no one is spared, not even newborn babies."

"Israel" violates the Genocide Convention 

Adila Hassim, an advocate of the High Court of South Africa, declared that Israeli acts violate articles 2b and 2c of the Genocide Convention. She listed those acts, starting with leaving close to 60,000 Palestinians wounded and maimed, the majority of whom are women and children, while shedding light on the fact that the healthcare system in Palestine has collapsed. 

She elaborately presented how the Palestinians are suffering mentally and physically in which a large number of Palestinians, mainly children, are arrested, blindfolded, forced to undress, loaded onto trucks, and taken to unknown locations. 

Hassim described the conditions imposed by "Israel" on Gaza as "deliberate and calculated" causing physical destruction of Gaza and forced displacement of Palestinians. According to her statement, 85% of Palestinians in Gaza have been displaced forcefully by "Israel". This is evident by the first evacuation order on October 13 that led to the evacuation of over one million people, including children, elderly individuals, wounded, and others. Hassima described that order as "genocidal" and pointed out that it proved more evidently that the actions committed by the occupation were calculated as no humanitarian assistance was permitted. All necessities including fuel, water, and food had been deliberately cut off.  

The first hearing started at 10:00 am before the International Court of Justice, in The Hague, The Netherlands. The second hearing will be tomorrow where, according to Court procedure, the occupation will try to "defend itself".

  • Gaza Strip
  • Operation Al-Aqsa Flood
  • Palestine
  • International Court of Justice
  • International Criminal Court
  • Israel
  • Israeli occupation
  • Gaza
  • ICJ
War on Gaza

War on Gaza

Most Read

Hezbollah SG reveals war details on Al Mayadeen for the first time

Hezbollah SG reveals war details on Al Mayadeen for the first time

  • Politics
  • 8 Jul 2025
Major ambush in Gaza kills 6 Israeli troops, injures dozens

Major ambush in Gaza kills 5 Israeli troops, injures 14

  • Politics
  • 8 Jul 2025
Israeli soldiers are seen in Beit Hanoun ahead of an operation by the al-Qassam Brigades, undated (Al-Qassam Brigades Military Media)

'Israel' on blast as media exposes report discrepancies in Gaza ambush

  • Palestine
  • 8 Jul 2025
Yemen Navy sinks ETERNITY C ship, shares footage of operation

Yemen Navy sinks ETERNITY C ship, shares footage of operation

  • Politics
  • 9 Jul 2025

Coverage

All
The Ummah's Martyrs

Read Next

All
The Freedom Flotilla ship Handala as it departs for Gaza, where it aims to break the maritime blockade at a port in Syracuse, Sicily in southern Italy on July 13, 2025. (AFP)
Palestine

Freedom Flotilla's Handala departs Sicily in bid to break Gaza siege

The container ship CMA CGM Laperouse, left, docks at the Georgia Ports Authority's Port of Savannah, Sept. 29, 2021, in Savannah, Ga (AP)
Politics

US shipbuilding woes deepen as tariffs, outdated policies backfire

Gaza war raises ethical questions for ex-Obama, Biden officials
Politics

Mercenary firm tied to Gaza war crimes hires Obama-Biden PR operatives

'Israel' targets children in Gaza collecting water
Palestine

'Israel' strikes Gaza kids fetching water, blames it on 'malfunction'

Al Mayadeen English

Al Mayadeen is an Arab Independent Media Satellite Channel.

All Rights Reserved

  • x
  • Privacy Policy
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Authors
Android
iOS