Lerato Mbhiza
THE Oral observations at the International Court of Justice sitting at Peace Palace heard from South Africa’s legal team proceeded in earnest with the Justice Minister Ronald Lamola delivering introductory remarks where he said “the violence and destruction in violence did not begin on October 7, 2023.
“This application is our commitment to Palestine. As previously mentioned, this violence and destruction did not start on October 7. They have experienced it for 76 years. Israel continues to exercise control over everything, such as power infrastructure and key government functions.
“South Africa has unequivocally condemnsthe taking of hostages and the Hamas attack but no armed attack can provide justification to the breach of genocide convention. Israel’s retaliation has breached this.”
Lamola added that the South African case will be presented by a team of six legal counsel, composed of Dr Adila Hassim, Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, Professor John Dugard, Blinne ni Ghrálaigh, Max du Plessis and Professor Vaughan Lowe.
“Dr Adila Hassim, Senior Counsel, will provide an overview of the risk of genocidal acts and the perpetual vulnerability to acts of genocide; Tembeka Ncgukaitobi, SC, will examine Israel’s alleged genocidal intent; Professor John Dugard, SCo, will focus on prima facie jurisdiction; Professor Max du Plessis, SC, will discuss the various rights currently under threat; Ms Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh, KC, will present the argument of urgency and potential irreparable harm, and Professor Vaughan Lowe, KC, will speak on provisional measures.”
Advocate Adila Hassim gave a detailed history of Gaza while presenting a map of the Gaza Strip and indicating the restrictions imposed by Israel. She said it’s not necessary for the court to come to a final view on genocide adding that the court must find that there has been breaches to the Genocide Convention.
Hassim said Israel’s conduct is “deliberately calculated” to cause widespread hunger, dehydration and starvation.
“Just three days ago, a planned mission by the UN to provide aid was denied by Israeli forces. This marked the fifth denial of aid”.
Hassim showed the court a distressing short video of an aid truck arriving in Gaza that has been overtaken by the desperate Palestinians. She pointed out that the few aid trucks that try to get in “are simply not allowed”.
She reminded the court that “in the first three weeks alone following October 7, Israel deployed 6,000 bombs per week. At least 200 times, it deployed 2,000 pound bombs in southern areas of Palestine designated as safe.
“Israel has killed an unparalleled and unprecedented amount of civilians. More than 1,800 families in Gaza have lost multiple members of their family and hundreds of generations of families have been wiped out. This killing is nothing short of destruction of Palestinian life. No one is spared, not even newborn babies.”
This is a developing story.
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