SOUTH AFRICA DEMANDS THE ICJ HALT ISRAEL’S INVASION OF RAFAH
May 18, 2024South Africa has asked the international court of justice (ICJ) to urgently order Israel to end its assault on Rafah, halt its military campaign across Gaza, and allow international investigators and journalists into the territory.
In a court hearing, lawyers for South Africa expanded a written request for judges to issue an emergency order to stop the offensive into Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city.
They argued that seven months into the war, which has killed more than 35,000 people and reduced much of Gaza to rubble, the scale of suffering was now so intense that a total ceasefire was needed to get food, medicine and other aid to its desperate population.
Prof Vaughan Lowe KC told the court that a destructive campaign in Rafah, the last corner of Gaza that has not faced a ground invasion by Israeli forces, would destroy “the foundation of Palestinian life” in the territory.
Bravo South Africa!! Standing up ONCE AGAIN!!! Israel’s invasion of Rafah risks a catastrophe LIKE NONE OTHER!! More states MUST back this bid and put more pressure on Israel to halt this genocide!
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English Script:
Prof Vaughan Lowe KC: President, members of the court, it is a privilege to appear before you, and an honor to have been entrusted with the presentation of this part of South Africa’s submissions. This is not a routine case. It’s not even a routine case on the use of force or on international humanitarian law. South Africa is here because the Palestinian people are facing genocide in Gaza, and your previous orders have not succeeded in protecting them against that. The court held in January that the Palestinians have a legal right to protection against genocide and that South Africa had shown that there was a real and imminent risk to the irreparable violation of that right. The court issued an order because it considered it necessary to protect the Palestinian people against genocide. And it issued a further order in March. But whether because of a lack of clarity as to precisely what the orders require or because Israel chooses to ignore them, they have not been effective. United Nations has a framework, including the Security Council and the General Assembly, for addressing international disputes. But this part, has not worked well in this case. South Africa respectfully asks the court to reassert its authority and its role in this framework. South Africa has considered the technical legal requirements for provisional measures, changing the situation and so on, and will address them. That the essential point is that the court has the power to act to ensure that its previous orders and its eventual judgment will not be worthless and that the Palestinian people will be protected and that it needs to exercise that power now. Israel’s action is directed against the Palestinian people throughout Gaza and the West Bank. South Africa’s request was initially focused on Rafah because the imminent prospect of death and suffering on a massive scale resulting from Israel’s attack. And since that request was made, it has become increasingly clear that Israel’s actions in Rafah are part of the endgame in which Gaza is utterly destroyed as an area capable of human habitation. This is the last step in the destruction of Gaza and its Palestinian people. It was Rafah that brought South Africa to the court, but it is all Palestinians as a national, ethnical and racial group who need the protection from genocide that the court can order.
