Israeli military operations in Gaza have brought the population to the “brink of famine,” a South African lawyer told the United Nations' highest court on Thursday.
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“The situation is such that experts are now predicting that more people in Gaza could die from hunger and disease” than from direct military action, Adila Hassim told the International Court of Justice (ICJ), based in The Hague.
“Genocide”
Dozens of protesters gathered in Cape Town on the first day of the hearing at the International Court of Justice in The Hague, and further rallies were planned in South Africa to support Pretoria's claim of “genocide” against Israel.
Pretoria lawyers are presenting their case to the United Nations' highest court, calling on its judges to urgently order Israel to “immediately halt its military operations in the Gaza Strip.”
On the steps of Cape Town's Supreme Court, pro-Palestinian protesters held signs that read “Stop Genocide” and “Boycott Israeli Apartheid.” Some chanted “Free Palestine.”
AFP
Further rallies are planned today in Cape Town and particularly in Pretoria.
South Africa believes that Israel “has been complicit in, has participated in, and risks continuing to engage in genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza.” Comments Israel called an “absurd blood libel.”
“This case is important to end the genocide that is currently taking place in the Gaza Strip,” South African Justice Minister Ronald Lamola told the SABC as he arrived in The Hague to support the legal team.
The ruling ANC has long supported the Palestinian cause, which it linked to the fight against apartheid. Nelson Mandela affirmed that the freedom of South Africa would be “incomplete” without the freedom of the Palestinians.