War on Gaza: ICJ begins hearing genocide case against Netanyahu

War on Gaza: ICJ begins hearing genocide case against Netanyahu

Two days of public hearings in South Africa’s genocide case against Netanyahu will start at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) Thursday (today), as pro-Palestine campaigners hope the World Court might halt Israel’s devastating military campaign in Gaza.

The case, filed by South Africa, according to Al Jazeera, sets a precedent as the first at the ICJ relating to the siege on the Gaza Strip, where more than 23,000 people have been killed since October 7, nearly 10,000 of them children.

Today and tomorrow, the court will hear arguments from both sides and will then decide whether to issue an interim order that Israel stop its bombardment of Gaza.

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“There are ongoing reports of crimes against humanity and war crimes being committed as well as reports that acts meeting the threshold of genocide or related crimes as defined in the 1948 ‘Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide’ have been and may still be committed in the context of the ongoing massacres in Gaza,” said Clayson Monyela, spokesman for South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation in a report from VOA.

Both countries are parties to the convention, which obliges them to not commit genocide and also to prevent and punish it. The treaty defines genocide as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”.

The politically-charged hearings will deal exclusively politically charged with South Africa’s request for emergency measures ordering Israel to suspend its military actions in Gaza while the court hears the merits of the case – a process that could take years.

“Our opposition to the ongoing slaughter of the people of Gaza has driven us as a country to approach the ICJ,” South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Wednesday in a report from Reuters.

War on Gaza: ICJ begins hearing genocide case against Netanyahu