Netanyahu Condemns ICJ Genocide Case; Gazans Return to Wasteland in North
Editor
12 January 2024 11:02 WIB
TEMPO.CO, The Hague - Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, Jan. 11, condemned South Africa's genocide case against Israel in Gaza as "hypocrisy and lies", as some Gazans returned to scenes of total devastation in the north of the enclave where Israeli forces have begun withdrawing.
Three months of Israeli bombardment have laid much of the coastal enclave to waste, killing more than 23,000 people and driving nearly the entire population of 2.3 million Palestinians from their homes. An Israeli blockade has sharply restricted supplies of food, fuel and medicine, creating what the United Nations describes as a humanitarian catastrophe.
Israel says its only means to defend itself is by eradicating Hamas, the Islamist group that rules Gaza, whose fighters stormed through Israeli communities on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 people and capturing 240 hostages. Israel blames Hamas for all subsequent harm to Palestinian civilians for operating among them, which the fighters deny.
The case, brought by South Africa at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague, accuses Israel of violating the 1948 genocide convention, enacted in the wake of the mass murder of Jews in the Holocaust, which mandates all countries to ensure such crimes are never repeated.
"Israel has a genocidal intent against the Palestinians in Gaza," Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, advocate of the High Court of South Africa, told the court in the Hague. "The intent to destroy Gaza has been nurtured at the highest level of state."
South Africa asked the court for a preliminary order to demand Israel stop fighting now, while the court hears the full merits of the case in the coming months.
In a strongly worded response, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said "The hypocrisy of South Africa screams to the heavens."
"We are fighting terrorists, we are fighting lies... Today we saw an upside-down world. Israel is accused of genocide while it is fighting against genocide," he said.
Israel's foreign ministry accused South Africa of "functioning as the legal arm of the Hamas terrorist organization" in a case built on "false and baseless claims".
The White House also said the genocide allegations were unfounded.
Palestinians said they hoped the court would stop the war.
In Rafah, in southern Gaza where the bodies of members of the al-Arjany family killed overnight were laid out outside a morgue, neighbor Khamis Kelab picked up the smallest of three children bundled in shrouds and cradled the dead infant.
"To the ICJ: what is the fault of this baby? What did this girl do? What crime did she commit? Was she a terrorist? Did this baby fire rockets?" he said.
"She was inside a tent, in the freezing cold, she was hit by a strike, this baby is just a few days old, you people."
The Palestinian Red Crescent reported late on Thursday that nine people had been killed in an Israeli bombardment targeting a house in Rafah.
