Israel has rejected the accusations introduced by South Africa to the Worldwide Courtroom of Justice (ICJ) that its actions in Gaza quantity to genocide, in a second day of a public hearing on the world physique in The Hague.
Israel’s authorized representatives on Friday claimed South Africa’s case was “unfounded”, “absurd” and amounting to “libel”, and stated Israel sought to not destroy a individuals however to guard its individuals.
On Thursday, on the first day of hearings, South Africa argued Israel had dedicated “systematic” acts of genocide in Gaza, the place greater than 23,500 Palestinians have been killed amid Israel’s army marketing campaign, with not less than 70 p.c of whom had been ladies and kids, in keeping with Gaza’s Well being Ministry.
Israel’s arguments revolved round its “proper to self-defence” following the attacks by Hamas on October 7, in addition to what it known as a scarcity of proof of “genocidal intent”.
Christopher Staker, a lawyer representing Israel, stated, “The inevitable fatalities and human struggling of any battle shouldn’t be of itself a sample of conduct that plausibly exhibits genocidal intent.”
Malcolm Shaw, a professor of worldwide regulation representing Israel, stated the case relates solely to fees of genocide, which “stands alone amongst violations of worldwide regulation because the epitome of evil”. If the cost of genocide is levelled incorrectly, “the essence of this crime can be misplaced”, he stated.
Shaw added that such proof was missing within the arguments South Africa introduced a day earlier.
Detailing its proof on Thursday, Tembeka Ngcukaitobi, a lawyer for South Africa, stated, “The proof of genocidal intent shouldn’t be solely chilling, additionally it is overwhelming and incontrovertible.”
‘Large disconnect’
Israel’s authorized representatives insisted its military has acted in compliance with worldwide regulation in Gaza and aimed to mitigate civilian hurt by warning of impending army actions, together with through phone calls and leafleting.
Omri Sender, one other lawyer, argued that Israel’s efforts to facilitate humanitarian help to individuals in Gaza testified to its goal of defending the civilian inhabitants, reasonably than destroying it.
Nevertheless, Thomas MacManus, a senior lecturer in state crime at Queen Mary College of London, instructed Al Jazeera the ICJ is prone to see a “large disconnect” between the image Israel painted of its humanitarian concern for Gaza and “the truth on the bottom the place UN businesses say persons are ravenous, missing water, and seeing assaults on hospitals, faculties, and universities”.
Talking earlier than the ICJ listening to, Galit Raguan, appearing director of the worldwide justice division at Israel’s Ministry of Justice, refuted the declare that Israel had bombed hospitals. She argued Israel had discovered proof of Hamas utilizing “each single hospital in Gaza” for army functions.
Responding to claims that hospitals had been used as army bases, Palestinian international ministry official Ammar Hijazi instructed Al Jazeera outdoors The Hague that Israel’s arguments weren’t based mostly in reality or regulation.
“What Israel has offered at the moment are most of the already debunked lies,” he stated.
‘Believable proper to self-defence’
The ICJ is ready to rule on nine provisional measures successfully looking for the suspension of army operations in Gaza, however a timeline for when that can occur has not been said. Israel has argued the provisional measures can not require a state to chorus from exercising a “believable proper to defend itself”.
On the difficulty of jurisdiction, Israel argued that one of many necessities of the ICJ’s mandate is that the state placing ahead the case ought to attempt to kind out this drawback first. In response to Israel, they didn’t handle to speak to South Africa earlier than they introduced this case to the court docket. In flip, South Africa argued it had reached out to Israel however obtained no response.
The Israeli staff did make sturdy “jurisdictional and procedural arguments”, Al Jazeera’s senior political analyst Marwan Bishara stated, however he added that “Israel misplaced the ethical, factual, historic and humanitarian argument due to the way in which the state of affairs has unravelled in Gaza – with the sheer loss of life and industrial killing there.”
Tal Becker, the authorized adviser of Israel’s international ministry, instructed the ICJ listening to that South Africa loved shut relations with Hamas and was subsequently making an attempt to place ahead a “distorted factual and authorized image”.
South Africa “firmly rejects” that declare, Al Jazeera’s Fahmida Miller stated, reporting from South Africa.
“The South African authorities has stated that it doesn’t have bilateral relations with Hamas and that its stance by way of supporting the Palestinian wrestle towards occupation doesn’t equate to the help of Hamas,” she stated.
In its presentation on Thursday, South Africa’s attorneys additionally condemned Hamas’s actions on October 7.
ICJ President Joan Donoghue ended the two-day listening to saying the court docket will announce its resolution within the coming days.
