South Africa petitions The Hague to block Israeli operation against Hamas in Rafah
Pretoria claims offensive could violate the Genocide Convention, in move that comes after ICJ last month refused South Africa’s request to order unilateral ceasefire
Jeremy Sharon is The Times of Israel’s legal affairs and settlements reporter
South Africa petitioned the International Court of Justice for a second time on Monday to halt Israel’s military campaign against Hamas in Gaza, specifically seeking an order by the court to stop a looming assault against Hamas battalions in the enclave’s southernmost city of Rafah.
In a submission, the South African government said it was “gravely concerned” that the offensive in Rafah could violate the Genocide Convention and asked the court to consider issuing additional provisional measures against Israel to stop the operation.
The IDF is preparing to stage an assault against the four largely intact Hamas battalions situated in the city, which sits along Gaza’s border with Egypt, and has already begun airstrikes and other attacks against the terror group. Israel also believes senior Hamas leaders are present in Rafah, or below it in Hamas’s military tunnel system, along with Israeli hostages the terror group is holding captive.
In December, South Africa filed an application to the ICJ requesting it order Israel to unilaterally hold its fire against Hamas. Although the court found “plausibility” that Israel may have violated some terms of the Genocide Convention, it did not order Israel to halt its campaign, essentially rebuffing the notion that Israel is carrying out a genocide in Gaza.
“The South African Government has made an urgent request to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to consider whether the decision announced by Israel to extend its military operations in Rafah, which is the last refuge for surviving people in Gaza, requires that the court uses its power to prevent further imminent breach of the rights of Palestinians in Gaza,” the office of the South African Presidency said in a statement Tuesday.
The statement issued by a spokesperson for South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said that South Africa was concerned that “an Israeli military offensive against Rafah… has already led to and will result in further large scale killing, harm and destruction,” which it said would constitute “serious and irreparable breach both of the Genocide Convention” and the ICJ’s orders issued against Israel in January.
The Israeli Foreign Ministry did not immediately comment on the new South African petition.
Israel has accused South Africa of acting as the “legal arm of Hamas” through its application to the ICJ, and of hypocrisy for failing to challenge other war crimes in that court, such as those committed by the Assad regime in Syria and by the Houthis in Yemen.
On October 22, South Africa Minister of International Relations and Cooperation Naledi Pandor met with Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in Tehran. A delegation of the Iran-backed Hamas terror group, including senior members of the organization, visited South Africa in December to participate in a ceremony marking ten years since the death of Nelson Mandela.
Iranian leaders, including Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, have frequently referred to Israel as a “cancer” and called for its destruction, and Tehran has funded, armed and trained Hamas fighters, including in the weeks before the October 7 atrocities committed by Hamas during its invasion of Israel.
Earlier in January, Ramaphosa met with Sudanese warlord Mohamed Dagalo, head of the Sudanese rebel militia Rapid Support Forces, which US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken accused of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in the ongoing Sudanese civil war back in December.
