President Cyril Ramaphosa answering questions in the National Assembly. Picture: The Presidency.
As Israel continues its war in Gaza, President Cyril Ramaphosa says he is confident that South Africa will prove that Israel is committing genocide against the people of Palestine.
Ramaphosa was responding to a question from uMkhonto weSizwe (MK) Party deputy leader John Hlophe in the National Assembly on Thursday.
In January, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) determined that genocidal attacks may be occurring in Gaza and ordered Israel to take measures to prevent genocide against Palestinians in the region.
However, Israel refused to comply with the court’s order, and its attacks on Gaza continued, causing the civilian death toll and destruction of infrastructure to rise rapidly.
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In March, the ICJ again concurred with South Africa’s assertion that the situation in Gaza has deteriorated significantly since the initial order on 26 January, which Israel has failed to comply with.
The UN’s top court granted South Africa’s urgent request to enforce additional emergency measures against Israel, accusing it of violating existing orders and causing irreparable harm to the rights invoked by Pretoria under the 1948 Genocide Convention concerning the ongoing siege of Gaza. Despite this, Israel continued.
In May, the ICJ ordered Israel to immediately cease its attacks in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. This decision marked the third time this year that the 15-judge panel has issued preliminary orders aimed at curbing the death toll and alleviating humanitarian suffering in Gaza.
When asked by Hlophe what his administration was doing to ensure that the ICJ ruling is respected, “particularly in light of the ongoing brutality in the region,” Ramaphosa said his administration continues to approach the UN’s top court with further pleas and submissions to strengthen the ruling it made in January.
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“As the honourable member knows we have continued to take action at the International Court of Justice, having initiated the action last year. We have continued to approach that court with further pleas and submissions to the court to make further rulings and to tighten up what they ruled in our favour last year.”
Ramaphosa said South Africa has also received support from other countries in its case against Israel.
“We’ve been fortunate to be joined by a number of other countries that have voiced and articulated their support for the case that South Africa initiated. We are now in the process of preparing almost a 500 page case which will be presented to the court, where we will be taking steps to prove that what we had approached the court on last year is the reality that Palestinians are living under.
“We will be submitting not only video proof, photographic proof, but also great witness to our assertion that a genocide is unfolding and underway in Gaza, and all this, as the honourable member would know, is being done to not only support the people of Palestine, but to ensure that we live up to our own values and principles of respect for human rights and for justice,” Ramaphosa said.
Ramaphosa said the only solution for “the horror that is unfolding in Palestine” is for Palestinians to have their own state “side by side with Israel”.
ALSO READ: WATCH: ICJ orders Israel to immediately stop attacks in southern Gaza city of Rafah
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