News24 | SA condemned Hamas attacks, but Israel claims asking court for genocide declaration is aiding terrorists

Heavy fighting rages in the northern Gaza Strip as Israel encircles the area, despite increasingly pressing calls for a humanitarian truce.

While Israel is claiming that South Africa is "cooperating with a terrorist organisation" in asking the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to declare Israel’s actions in Gaza as genocide, South Africa unequivocally condemned Hamas' attack on Israeli civilians in its application.

On Friday, South Africa filed an urgent application at the ICJ in The Hague, the Netherlands, "in which the Court is requested to declare on an urgent basis that Israel is in breach of its obligations in terms of the Genocide Convention, should immediately cease all acts and measures in breach of those obligations and take a number of related actions", according to a statement from the Department of International Relations and Cooperation.

In response, the Israeli ministry of foreign affairs called on the ICJ and the international community "to completely reject South Africa’s baseless claims".

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