TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - South Africa has accused Israel of conducting four counts of genocidal acts under the Genocide Convention. Adila Hassim, a lawyer representing South Africa in its landmark case against Israel in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Thursday, said Israel has breached Article II (a), (b), (c), and (d) of the convention.

Genocide is defined within the convention as acts committed with
intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial, or religious group. The convention sets out five counts of genocidal acts under Article II.

South Africa argues that Israel's actions have been well documented before by the United Nations, and they show a systematic pattern of conduct from which genocide can be inferred.

"The first genocidal act committed by Israel is the mass killing of Palestinians in Gaza, in violation of Article II (a) of the Genocide Convention," Hassim said, in a hearing live-streamed by the UN, citing the article providing the first count of genocidal act, killing members of a particular group.

Israeli attacks in Gaza have killed more than 23,000 Palestinians ever since October 7, 2023. Out of those, around 9,600 are children and 6,750 are women. At least 7,000 people remained missing.

"This killing is nothing short of destruction of Palestinian lives. It is inflicted deliberately. No one is spared, not even newborn babies," she said. The scale of Palestinian children killing is such that the leaders of the United Nations described it as a "graveyard for children", Hassim went on.

The second genocidal act committed by Israel, Hassim addressed the court, is the serious bodily or mental harm to the members of the group, in violation of Article II (b).

Israel's attacks have wounded close to 60,000 Palestinians, the majority of whom are women and children. "Suffering of the Palestinian people, physical and mental, is undeniable," she said.

The third genocidal act found by South Africa falls under Article II (c) of the Genocide Convention, in which Israel deliberately imposed conditions on Gaza that cannot sustain life and are calculated to bring about its physical destruction. Israel, the lawyer said, has forced the displacement of about 85 percent of Palestinians in Gaza, and acted in deliberately calculated ways to cause widespread hunger, dehydration, and starvation.

Fourth, South Africa argues that Israel's actions to block the delivery of life-saving aid in Gaza including essential medical kits for delivering babies are counted as a genocidal act under Article II (d). The article forbids measures intended to prevent births within the group.

"All of these acts, individually and collectively, form a calculated pattern of conduct by Israel indicating a genocidal intent," Adila Hassim concluded.

NABIILA AZZAHRA

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