\n Israel lashed out Friday at South Africa's case before the UN's top court, describing it as \"totally divorced\" from reality, as Pretoria urges judges to order a ceasefire in Gaza.\n<\/p>\n
\n A top lawyer for Israel painted the South Africa case as a \"mockery\" of the UN Genocide Convention it is accused of breaching.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"South Africa presents the court for the fourth time with a picture that is completely divorced from the facts and circumstances,\" Gilad Noam told the International Court of Justice (ICJ).\n<\/p>\n
\n Pretoria has petitioned the ICJ to order a stop to the Israeli assault on the Gaza city of Rafah, which Israel says is key to eliminating Hamas militants.\n<\/p>\n
\n Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Thursday the ground assault on Rafah was a \"critical\" part of the army's mission to destroy Hamas and prevent a repetition of the October 7 attack.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"The battle in Rafah is critical... It's not just the rest of their battalions, it's also like an oxygen line for them for escape and resupply,\" he said.\n<\/p>\n
\n Netanyahu ordered the Rafah offensive in defiance of US warnings that more than a million civilians sheltering there could be caught in the crossfire.\n<\/p>\n
\n Friday in the Hague, Noam told the court Israel was \"acutely aware\" of civilians concentrated in Rafah.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"It is also acutely aware of Hamas efforts to use these civilians as a shield,\" he said.\n<\/p>\n
\n Noam said there had been no \"large-scale\" assault on Rafah but \"specific and localised operations prefaced with evacuation efforts and support for humanitarian activities.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n A few dozen protesters rallied in support of Israel outside the Peace Palace seat of the ICJ, showing pictures of some of the hostages held by Hamas.\n<\/p>\n
\n And the sitting was briefly interrupted as Israel was concluding its statement, with a woman heard shouting \"liars\" in the court.\n<\/p>\n
\n - 'New and horrific stage' -\n<\/p>\n
\n On Thursday, lawyers representing Pretoria presented judges a litany of allegations against Israel, including mass graves, torture and deliberate withholding of humanitarian aid.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"South Africa had hoped, when we last appeared before this court, to halt this genocidal process to preserve Palestine and its people,\" said top lawyer Vusimuzi Madonsela.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"Instead, Israel's genocide has continued apace and has just reached a new and horrific stage,\" added Madonsela.\n<\/p>\n
\n But Noam said that South Africa's accusations made a \"mockery of the heinous charge of genocide.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n \"Calling something a genocide again and again does not make it genocide. Repeating a lie does not make it true,\" he said.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"There is a tragic war going on but there is no genocide.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n It is the fourth time South Africa has appealed to the court, with Israel accusing them of abusing the procedure.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"If anyone should be told enough is enough, it should be South Africa, not Israel,\" said Noam.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"At what point do we say 'enough' to South Africa's repeated attempts to exploit the provisional measure procedure of this court in such a vile and cynical manner?\"\n<\/p>\n
\n - 'Protection from genocide' -\n<\/p>\n
\n In a ruling that made headlines worldwide, the ICJ in January ordered Israel to do everything in its power to prevent genocidal acts and enable humanitarian aid to Gaza.\n<\/p>\n
\n But the court stopped short of ordering a ceasefire and South Africa's argument is that the situation on the ground -- notably the operation in the crowded city of Rafah -- requires fresh ICJ action.\n<\/p>\n
\n The orders of the ICJ, which rules in disputes between states, are legally binding but it has little means to enforce them.\n<\/p>\n
\n It has ordered Russia to halt its invasion of Ukraine, to no avail.\n<\/p>\n
\n South Africa wants the ICJ to issue three emergency orders -- \"provisional measures\" in court jargon -- while it rules on the wider accusation that Israel is breaking the 1948 UN Genocide Convention.\n<\/p>\n
\n It wants the court to order Israel to \"immediately\" cease all military operations in Gaza, including in Rafah, enable humanitarian access and report back on its progress on achieving these orders.\n<\/p>\n
\n The Hamas attack on October 7 resulted in the death of more than 1,170 people in Israel, most of them civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.\n<\/p>\n
\n Out of 252 people taken hostage that day, 128 are still being held inside the Gaza Strip, including 38 who the army says are dead.\n<\/p>\n
\n At least 35,303 Palestinians, mostly civilians, have been killed in the Gaza Strip since the war broke out, according to data provided by the health ministry of Hamas-run Gaza.\n<\/p>\n
\n Israeli military says 279 soldiers have been killed in the Gaza military campaign since the start of the ground offensive on October 27<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Israel lashed out Friday at South Africa's case before the UN's top court, describing it as \"totally divorced\" from reality, as Pretoria urges judges to order a ceasefire in Gaza. A top lawyer for Israel painted the South Africa case as a \"mockery\" of the UN Genocide Convention it is accused of breaching. \"South Africa […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-131990","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n