The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague met on Thursday to hear a case brought before it by the South African government against Israel’s alleged genocidal attack on Palestine amidst the ongoing Hamas war.
Irish lawyer Blinne Ni Ghralaigh, who represented South Africa in the case, claimed that since the war broke out in October, 247 Palestinians had been killed each day, 1 every 6 minutes, 48 mothers in 2 every hour, and 117 children in 5 every hour.
South Africa petitioned in an 84-page document about Israel’s inability to supply the Gaza Strip with necessities like food, water, medicine, fuel, shelter, and other humanitarian aid.
South Africa has accused Israel of failing to uphold its obligations under the 1948 Genocide Convention, to which both countries are parties.
In a separate clip, South Africa’s Minister of Justice and Correctional Services, Minister Ronald Lamola, noted in his prayer before the ICJ that “the ongoing violence and destruction in Palestine and Israel did not begin on October 7. “The Palestinians have experienced systematic operations and violence for the last seventy-six years,” he argues.
Israel will begin its defence on Friday, but it has maintained all along that it has committed no crime in its actions against Hamas.