The Israeli leadership said on Friday that the genocide charges brought by South Africa to the International Court of Justice in The Hague are “false, shameful and morally repugnant.”
This came in a joint statement issued by the head of the Israeli National Security Council and the spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The statement comes after the International Court of Justice ruled on Friday that Israel “must immediately halt its military offensive and any other action in the Rafah Governorate that might impose on Palestinian communities in Gaza living conditions that would lead to their physical destruction, in whole or in part.” “
“Following the horrific attack against the citizens of Israel on October 7, 2023, Israel embarked on a defensive and just war to eliminate Hamas and secure the release of our hostages,” the Israeli joint statement said.
Israel said it was acting on the basis of its right to self-defense “in accordance with international law, including international humanitarian law.”
Israel also said it would not conduct military operations in Rafah “that would impose on the Palestinian civilian population of Gaza living conditions that could lead to its physical destruction, in whole or in part.”
The Gaza war broke out after a Hamas attack on Israel on October 7 that killed about 1,200 people, most of them civilians.
The militants also took 252 hostages, 121 of whom remain in Gaza, including 37 who the Israeli army says are dead.
According to the Hamas-run Ministry of Health in Gaza, more than 35,000 people have been killed in the Palestinian territories since the war began.
Last week, South African lawyers asked the International Court of Justice to order an emergency halt to the military operation in Rafah – a city in the southern Gaza Strip where more than a million people live – accusing Israel of intensifying what it calls “genocide” in Gaza.
South Africa also demands that Israel end its broader war in Gaza, but the court refrained from issuing an order covering the entire Strip.
“Lifelong food lover. Avid beeraholic. Zombie fanatic. Passionate travel practitioner.”