South Africa accuses Israel of genocide

War in the Middle East - South Africa accuses Israel of genocide

As Israel's army intensifies its operations in the Gaza Strip, South Africa has now accused the Jewish state of genocide before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague and demanded a halt to the fighting.

In the lawsuit filed yesterday, South Africa is asking the court for an injunction requiring Israel to immediately suspend its military operations in the densely populated coastal area. Israel rejected the accusation of genocide against the Palestinian people as completely unfounded and, according to media reports, described South Africa's application as a "despicable" exploitation of the world court.

Israel rejects genocide accusation

"South Africa's complaint lacks both factual and legal basis," wrote a spokesperson for the Israeli Foreign Ministry on X, formerly Twitter. "South Africa is collaborating with a terrorist organization (Hamas) that calls for the destruction of the State of Israel." Hamas is solely responsible for the suffering of the Palestinians in Gaza.

Israel's army continues to hunt Hamas leadership

Meanwhile, the military leader of Hamas, Jihia Sinwar, is believed by the Israeli army to be hiding in underground tunnels in Chan Junis in the south of the Gaza Strip. Israel's troops are currently concentrating their ground offensive on this city. It is considered a Hamas stronghold. In recent weeks, Israeli troops have found and destroyed one of Sinwar's former hideouts in the previously contested north of the coastal area sealed off by Israel, as the Israeli army has only now announced.

In the basement of a house, the Israeli soldiers discovered a tunnel entrance, it was said. This had led to underground passages 20 meters deep and 218 meters long. According to media reports, Sinwar fled to southern Gaza shortly after the war began.

An entire network of tunnels stretches for many kilometers beneath the Gaza Strip, in which, according to Israel, a number of Hamas terrorists are hiding and holding hostages from Israel. In order to withstand Israel's bombs from the air, some tunnels extend dozens of meters underground. The terrorists also use the tunnels to emerge from nowhere and attack from behind. Many of the tunnels are booby-trapped to kill Israeli soldiers who enter them.

South Africa: Israel pursues the extermination of the Palestinians

The war was triggered by the worst massacre in Israel's history, carried out by terrorists from Hamas and other groups in Israel on October 7. Israel responded with massive air strikes and a ground offensive. According to the Hamas-controlled health authority in Gaza, the total number of Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip since the start of the war has risen to 21,507, a figure that cannot currently be independently verified.

In view of the catastrophic humanitarian situation and the high number of civilian casualties, Israel has recently come under increasing international criticism. South Africa is one of Israel's harshest critics. South African politicians have repeatedly compared Israel's behavior in the Gaza Strip to the apartheid system of segregation of blacks and whites in their own country in the second half of the 20th century.

The World Criminal Court in The Hague has been investigating Hamas and Israel for alleged war crimes in Gaza since 2021. Although Israel is not a state party to the World Criminal Court, it is a signatory to the Genocide Convention together with South Africa. This allows the case to be brought before the International Criminal Court. The actions of the Israeli armed forces have a "genocidal character", as they are aimed at the extermination of the Palestinians in Gaza, according to South Africa's complaint.

A hearing on South Africa's application to the ICJ to order Israel to immediately cease hostilities could take place within a few weeks. If the court then opens proceedings on South Africa's charge of genocide, however, it could be years before a verdict is reached.

WHO warns of the spread of infectious diseases

Israel repeatedly emphasizes that it is at war with Hamas and not with the Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip. Hamas is using civilians as human shields. Meanwhile, international aid organizations never tire of pointing out the appalling humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.

The people in the south of the coastal area sealed off by Israel, which is barely larger than the city of Munich, continue to be forced to flee en masse, wrote the Director-General of the World Health Organization (WHO), Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, on Platform X. The emergency shelters are completely overcrowded. "My WHO colleagues and I remain very concerned about the increasing threat of infectious diseases," Tedros wrote.

USA continues to supply Israel with weapons

Meanwhile, the USA, as Israel's most important supporter, is ensuring that the Jewish state continues to be supplied with weapons in its fight against Hamas. Bypassing Congress, the US State Department has approved the sale of further weapons to Israel worth millions.

The Defense Security Cooperation Agency announced yesterday that the sale of weapons worth 147.5 million dollars (around 133 million euros) was possible without the usual congressional review of arms sales abroad. This is about the security interests of the USA.

What is important today

The humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip remains catastrophic. Thousands of civilians are once again fleeing the ongoing fighting, which is currently concentrated in the south and central Gaza Strip. Criticism of Israel's actions continues unabated.