International Court Holds Trial On Allegations Of Israel's Genocide In Gaza, South African President: We Believe Standing On The Right Side Of History

Damage from Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip. (Source: WHO/PBB)

JAKARTA - President Cyril Ramaphosa believes his country stands on the right side of history, when the International Court of Justice will hold a two-day hearing starting this Thursday, over allegations of genocide by Israel in Gaza reported by South Africa.

South Africa assessed that there was a violation of the 1948 agreement, the Genocide Convention, in the war in Gaza, which had entered its 97th day and killed more than 23,000 people in the region, reported it to a court based in The Hague, Netherlands.

"Our opposition to the ongoing massacre against the Gaza people has prompted us as a country to approach the ICJ," President Ramaphosa said of allegations of genocide, rejected by Israel and its main supporter, the United States.

"As people who have experienced bitter fruit from confiscation, discrimination, racism and state-sponsored violence, we believe that we will stand on the right side of history," believes President Ramaphosa.

In a 84-page filing, South Africa said by killing Palestinians in Gaza, causing serious mental and physical suffering for them, creating conditions "expected to result in physical destruction", Israel committed genocide against them.

The 1948n agreement defines genocide as "an act taken with the intention of destroying, overall or partially, a group of nations, ethnicity, race or religion".

Ahead of the hearing, Israeli Government spokesman Eylon Levy said: "Israel will be present before the International Court to eliminate unreasonable defamation in South Africa, as Pretoria provides political and legal protection to the Hamas regime."

The hearing will discuss exclusively South Africa's request to issue an emergency order for Israel to halt military action in Gaza, while the court will listen to the benefits of the case.

Israel launched an attack on Gaza after the militant group Hamas launched a cross-border attack on October 7, which Israel says 1,200 people were killed and 240 kidnapped.

Since then, Israeli forces have destroyed much of Gaza's territory, and nearly 2.3 million of its population have been evicted from their homes at least once, causing a humanitarian disaster.

Separately, human rights group Amnesty International said it had not yet determined whether "the situation in Gaza was genocide" but "there are signs of a worrying warning, given the magnitude of the scale of death and destruction" in the three-month war.

This indicates the "terrible spike in inhumane and racist rhetoric against Palestinians carried out by Israeli government and military officials".

In his statement, Amnesty added that Israel's illegal war and "Imagineable suspension of Gaza", thereby endangering the survival of the people in Gaza.