Israel will appear before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague to contest South Africa's genocide accusations over the war with Hamas in Gaza, an Israeli government spokesman said on Tuesday.
Lawyers representing South Africa are preparing for the hearing scheduled on Jan. 11 and 12, Clayson Monyela, a spokesperson for South Africa's Department of International Relations and Cooperation, said in a post on the platform X.
South Africa asked the ICJ on Friday for an urgent order declaring that Israel was in breach of its obligations under the 1948 Genocide Convention in its crackdown against Hamas.
The first hearing in South Africa’s claim against Israel under the Genocide Convention will take place next week.
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Israeli media report that Netanyahu is thinking about hiring Alan Dershowitz to represent Israel at the International Court of Justice. Dershowitz has devoted much… pic.twitter.com/pisVzB4jCS
"The State of Israel will appear before the International Court of Justice at The Hague to dispel South Africa's absurd blood libel," spokesman Eylon Levy told an online briefing.
The war was triggered by a cross-border attack by Hamas Islamist militants on Oct. 7, which Israel says killed 1,200 people.
Israel responded with an air and land assault that has killed more than 22,000 people, Palestinian health officials say. While its casualty figures do not differentiate between fighters and civilians, the ministry has said that 70% of Gaza's dead are women and those under 18. Israel disputes Palestinian casualty figures and says it has killed 8,000 fighters.
South Africa has launched a case at the United Nations’ top court alleging that Israel’s military campaign in Gaza amounts to genocide.
The filing and Israel’s decision to defend itself at the International Court of Justice set up a high-stakes showdown before a panel of judges in the Great Hall of Justice.
The case will likely drag on for years. At its heart is the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, drawn up in the aftermath of World War II and the Holocaust.
The convention defines genocide as acts such as killings “committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group.”
