Gaza war tragic, terrible, but not a 'genocide': Israel tells UN court

By Cagan Koc

Israel denied it’s committing genocide in Gaza after South Africa filed a request at the International Court of Justice for emergency measures to stop what it called the destruction of the Palestinian enclave.
 

“This war, like all wars, is tragic and terrible for Israelis and Palestinians and it has exacted a terrible human price. But it is not a genocide,” Israel’s lawyer Gilad Noam said on Friday at the United Nations court in The Hague. South Africa’s “fourth request for provisional measures is replete with blatant distortions,” he said. “Armed conflict is not a synonym for genocide.”

South Africa earlier this month asked for an urgent order from the court seeking protection for Palestinians in Gaza from “further, severe and irreparable harm” of their human rights due to Israel’s ongoing military campaign in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. South African legal representatives claimed on Thursday that “Israel’s aim of destroying Gaza from the map is being realized.”

The ICJ’s panel of judges is hearing arguments from Israel at the court on Friday after hearing from South Africa on Thursday afternoon. The verdict is expected in the coming days or weeks although the court hasn’t yet announced when it will deliver a ruling.

The seven-month conflict was triggered when the Iran-backed Hamas invaded Israel on Oct. 7, killing 1,200 and abducting 250. Israel’s retaliatory campaign in Gaza has left about 35,000 Palestinians dead, according to authorities in the Hamas-run enclave. Hamas is a designated terrorist organization by the US and European Union.

Genocide is defined as the killing of members of a national, ethnic, racial and religious group, causing them serious bodily harm or deliberately inflicting conditions meant to harm them. 

In January, South Africa’s government called upon the ICJ to rule Israel’s actions in Gaza to be genocide and order Israel to withdraw its troops. In an interim order on Jan. 26, the ICJ told Israel it must act immediately to prevent the killing of innocent Palestinians, but rejected South Africa’s demand for a cease-fire.

The Hague tribunal in March ordered Israel to ensure measures for the unhindered provision of urgently-needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to Palestinians throughout Gaza, increasing the capacity and number of land crossing points and maintaining them open for as long as necessary. 

The Hague-based tribunal’s judgments are binding with no right of appeal. As a signatory under the UN Charter, Israel must abide by whatever the court rules, but there is no mechanism to enforce any such order. Other countries have chosen to ignore them in the past, notably Russia over its invasion of Ukraine.

Israel’s Noam said that South African officials recently met with Hamas leaders. “They did not use the meeting to urge Hamas to release the hostages, to stop targeting Israeli civilians, to cease using human shields, to cease operating from within and nearby hospitals, UN facilities, and other protected sites,” he said.

If the court rules in favor of South Africa, he concluded, “it will turn the Genocide Convention into a sword rather than a shield and would sweep Israel of its rights under international law.”