Provisional ICJ ruling on South Africa’s genocide charges against Israel expected Friday — report

South Africa expects the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to rule this Friday on whether it will grant emergency measures to stop the war against Hamas sparked by the October 7 onslaught, South African News24 website reports, citing two sources close to the matter.

In response to the news report, South Africa’s justice ministry spokesperson Chrispin Phiri posts on X: “We do not have an official communication from the court as to when the judgment will be delivered.”

A spokesperson for Israel’s Foreign Ministry says he was not aware and was looking into it.

News24 said a South African government delegation had touched down in The Hague in anticipation of the judgment.

Reuters was unable to immediately confirm the arrival.

While the court is expected to rule on possible emergency measures, it will not rule at the same time on the genocide allegations — those proceedings could take years.

Israel has rejected the accusations of genocide as baseless and said South Africa was acting as an emissary of the Hamas terror group, which seeks to eliminate the Jewish state. It says the Israel Defense Forces is targeting Hamas terrorists, not Palestinian civilians, but that civilian casualties in the fighting are unavoidable as terrorists operate from within the population.