What is Genocide Convention, basis of South Africa's case against Israel

South Africa has contended that Israel violated the Genocide Convention as "it failed to prevent genocide and failed to prosecute direct and overt incitement to genocide" in its ongoing Gaza offensive

Israel-Hamas war updates: South Africa has accused Israel of committing "genocide" in Gaza as it drags the Benjamin Netanyahu government to the United Nations' International Court of Justice (ICJ) over the conflict with Hamas. Israel has outrightly rejected the allegations.

South Africa has urged the ICJ to order the suspension of Israel's military offensive in the Gaza Strip, governed by the militant group Hamas. The war, triggered by Hamas' October 7 attack on Israel's southern territories, has entered its fourth month, with much of Gaza shredded to ruins and the death of at least 23,000 Palestinians.

At the two-day hearing, which began on Thursday, South Africa contended that Israel has violated the Genocide Convention as "it failed to prevent genocide and failed to prosecute direct and overt incitement to genocide." Israel defended itself at the top UN court on Friday.

 

What amounts to genocide

According to experts, a high death toll during any conflict cannot alone substantiate genocide claims. According to Article II of the Genocide Convention, it means an intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group. 

This includes killing the members, causing them serious physical and mental harm, intentionally subjecting the group to living conditions intended to cause its physical destruction, imposing measures to prevent the birth of children within the group, and forcibly transferring children from the group to another group.

What is the UN Genocide Convention

South Africa's 84-page long case document against Israel's operation in Gaza is centred around the UN's Genocide Convention. The convention, officially called the 'Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide' was drawn in 1948 in the aftermath of the second world war, following the Holocaust, in which six million Jews were killed in the Nazi genocide in Germany.

"The convention affirms the international community's commitment that the atrocities of genocide never be repeated," the UN explains. However, since then, the world has witnessed two similar tragedies, in Rwanda in 1994 and in Srebrenica in 1995.

The convention has 19 articles in total and stipulates the duty of signatory nations to prevent the horrific act. No one is immune from prosecution under the convention, the UN says.

Both South Africa and Israel are signatories to the convention. According to the UN, 41 UN members are yet to ratify or accede to the convention.