South Africa to take 'Israel' to court, again, over Rafah offensive

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
13 Feb 2024 17:21
5 Shares

About 1.4 million Palestinians have been forcibly displaced to Rafah, with many living in tents while food, water, and medicine are becoming increasingly scarce.

A Palestinian mother mourns next to her child's body outside a morgue in Rafah on February 4, 2024. (AP)

The South African government announced that it had appealed to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), seeking its intervention to assess whether the potential Israeli offensive in Rafah warranted the court's use of its authority to prevent additional violations of Palestinians' rights.

About 1.4 million Palestinians have been crowded into Rafah, with many living in tents while food, water, and medicine are becoming increasingly scarce.

Last month, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) directed "Israel" to employ all available measures to prevent its forces from committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, as per a case initiated by South Africa.

Despite it all, "Israel" is considering extending its ground invasion into the city of Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians have been forcibly displaced to the region that "Tel Aviv" claimed would be "safe".

According to South Africa, this is enough to ask the ICJ to revisit its provisional measures and issue a sterner order.

It said it was "gravely concerned that the unprecedented military offensive against Rafah," which "has already led to and will result in further large scale killing, harm and destruction."

"This would be in serious and irreparable breach both of the Genocide Convention and of the Court's Order of 26 January 2024," the South African presidency argued.

"South Africa trusts this matter will receive the necessary urgency in light of the daily death toll in Gaza."

The court has not confirmed receiving the South Africa request, and it is not obliged to consider it.

Rafah attack continuation of genocidal war against Palestinians: Hamas

This comes as the Palestinian Resistance movement Hamas stressed, on Monday, that the "Nazi-like" Israeli occupation army attack on the city of Rafah is considered a continuation of the genocidal war against the Palestinian people.

In a statement commenting on the massacre that the Israeli occupation forces committed against the southern city, in which at least 100 Palestinians were martyred and several others were wounded, Hamas held the US administration and President Biden personally, along with the Israeli occupation government, fully responsible for this crime.

This massacre committed by "the terrorist Netanyahu government and its Nazi-like army" flies in the face of the urgent measures called for by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), including ceasing all activities amounting to genocide, the movement underlined.

It also deemed the attack on Rafah as a deliberate escalation in the genocidal war, which expanded the scope of massacres against the Palestinian people.

Elsewhere, Hamas called on the League of Arab States, the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, and the United Nations Security Council to take urgent and serious action to stop the Zionist aggression.

Egypt threatens to suspend 'peace accords' if 'Israel' invades Rafah

Egypt, on its part, has threatened to dissolve its normalization agreement with "Israel" if the occupation deploys condensed forces along its border with the Gazan city of Rafah.

Two Egyptian officials and a Western diplomat stated on Sunday that in case "Israel" makes the move, Egypt would be forced to block the Rafah crossing, currently the only humanitarian corridor that is supplying Gaza with relief aid.

This comes a day after Cairo sent warnings to "Israel" regarding their diplomatic relations - that these may cease in case the Israeli forces launch a full-scale invasion of the city of Rafah, according to The Wall Street Journal.

"Any ground operation in Rafah would lead to an immediate suspension of the peace treaty between the two countries," the report said, citing sources.

The officials told WSJ that a delegation from Cairo recently paid a visit to Israeli counterparts in "Tel Aviv" to specifically discuss the situation in Rafah.

"Israeli officials are trying to get Egypt to agree on some cooperation regarding the ground invasion, which Egyptian officials are resisting," the officials said.