President Cyril Ramaphosa is one of three leaders who has warned of collapse unless international law is enforced. Photo: Felix Dlangamandla/Gallo Images
South Africa has provided forensic proof to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office said after the country filed papers setting out its full case before the court.
Termed a memorial, South Africa’s affidavit should serve as a reminder to the global community of the plight of the Palestinian people, the presidency said.
“The glaring genocide in Gaza is there for all who are not blinded by prejudice to see,” it said.
“South Africa’s memorial is a reminder to the global community to remember the people of Palestine, to stand in solidarity with them and to stop the catastrophe.
“The devastation and suffering has been possible only because despite the ICJ and numerous UN bodies’ actions and interventions, Israel has failed to comply with its international obligations.”
It was filed on the same day that the Knesset passed a ban on the UN Relief and Works Agency, the largest provider of food and health assistance to the population of Gaza, despite appeals to Israel from traditional allies including the United States and Germany to withdraw the measure.
The passage of the ban drew a warning from UN secretary general António Guterres that national legislation cannot circumvent Israel’s obligations under international law and the UN Charter.
South Africa in March argued, in one of its applications to the court for interim orders against Israel, that attempts to cripple the agency were among deliberate acts on the part of Israel causing the starvation of Palestinian children.
The country’s case in The Hague rests on an accusation that the Jewish state is violating the UN Convention on Genocide adopted in 1948 in response to the Holocaust, and has become a cornerstone of its campaign for the reform of multi-lateral institutions.
In pleadings before the court in January, its legal team argued that there was proof of intent to commit genocide in calls by Israeli officials, often couched in religious rhetoric, to annihilate all those who live in Gaza in retaliation for the Hamas massacres in southern Israel in October 2023.
Evidence set out over more than 750 pages in the memorial filed on Monday will provide further, forensic proof of intent to commit genocide in Gaza, the presidency and the international relations ministry said.
Annexes and exhibits attached to the text span 4 000 pages.
“The evidence will show that undergirding Israel’s genocidal acts is the special intent to commit genocide, a failure by Israel to prevent incitement to genocide, to prevent genocide itself and its failure to punish those inciting and committing acts of genocide,” the presidency said.
The government has not publicly released the memorial because this is the court’s prerogative to do so, but said it contained persuasive evidence of violation of the Genocide Convention, including through deprivation of humanitarian aid and the use of mass starvation as a weapon of war “to further Israel’s aims to depopulate Gaza through mass death and forced displacement of Palestinians”.
There was more evidence of intent, it said, in Israel’s rejection of provisional measures ordered by the ICJ to prevent further death and suffering in Gaza.
South Africa has thrice approached the court for provisional measures since it handed down in interim judgment in January in which it held that there was a risk of violation of the rights of the Palestinian people to protection from genocide.
In May, in response to one of these applications, the court ordered Israel to halt its military operations in Rafah in southern Gaza.
The court voted by a majority of 13 to two that Israel shall, in view of the deteriorating conditions in Rafah, “immediately halt its military offensive and any other action in the Rafah governorate which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that would bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part”.
South Africa hailed that ruling as both ground-breaking and binding, but it was immediately rejected by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who termed the genocide charges “false and outrageous”, and denied that Israel’s actions would “lead to the destruction of the Palestinian civilian population”.
Both Ramaphosa and International Relations Minister Ronald Lamola have pointed to Israel’s relentless campaign in Gaza, and its incursion into Lebanon, as proof that the UN Security Council has failed in its mandate on peace and security.
Lamola has argued that by bringing the case before the court, and framing Israel’s actions in law, South Africa has shifted how Israel’s conduct is seen and contributed to calls for a ceasefire in Gaza.
A number of states, among them Spain, Mexico and Turkey, have filed Article 62 and 63 interventions to join in the matter
But at the same time the case has underscored the limitations, in real terms, of even successful recourse to the tribunal established to settle disputes between UN members.
There was a five-month impasse at the security council before it managed in March to pass a resolution calling for a halt in the conflict in Gaza for Ramadan. In that instance the US abstained from the vote.
In September, it used its veto to block a resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire.
On filing the memorial, South Africa reiterated its call for an immediate ceasefire in Palestine, in Lebanon and all of the Middle East, as the start to a political process that could put in place an enduring peace accord.
On Tuesday, an Israeli airstrike in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza hit a residential building sheltering refugees. The Gaza government said more than 90 people died in the attack.
Ramaphosa said Israel has been granted “unprecedented impunity to breach international law” for as long as the UN Charter has been in existence.
“Israel’s continued shredding of international law has imperilled the institutions of global governance that were established to hold all states accountable.”
“The devastation and suffering has been possible only because despite the ICJ and numerous UN bodies’ actions and interventions, Israel has failed to comply with its international obligations.”
Israel has until mid-2025 to file a counter-memorial to the ICJ, which could take years to hand down its final ruling in the matter.