From the Liveblog of
Thursday, July 18, 2024
ICJ to begin evidentiary stage of South African case accusing Israel of genocide in June 2025
Yuval Yoaz is the legal analyst at Zman Israel, The Times of Israel's sister Hebrew website. He practices law, specializing in public, constitutional and media laws. He is a partner in the law office of Karniel & Co Yoaz-Bareket-Jonas.
The evidentiary proceedings in South Africa’s case accusing Israel of genocide in the Gaza Strip will be heard at the International Court of Justice in The Hague (ICJ) in June and October 2025, the Times of Israel’s sister site Zman Yisrael has learned.
The court has decided to devote those two months to hearing testimony and arguments on the matter.
An Israeli team at the Justice Ministry, led by the deputy legal adviser on international Law, Dr. Gilad Noam, is working on preparing the argument on behalf of Israel for the proceedings.
The court has not yet officially published the schedule for the hearings.
South Africa filed its case with the International Court of Justice late last year, alleging that Israel was breaching the genocide convention in its military assault against the Hamas terror group in Gaza during the war sparked by the Palestinian terror group’s October 7 onslaught.
Israel has rejected the accusations of genocide as baseless and says South Africa is acting as an emissary of the Hamas terror group, which rules Gaza and seeks to eliminate the Jewish state. It says that the Israel Defense Forces is targeting Hamas terrorists, not Palestinian civilians, but points out that civilian casualties in the fighting are unavoidable as terrorists operate from deep within the population.
