LONDON: South Africa launched a case Friday at the United Nations鈥� top court accusing Israel of genocide against Palestinians in Gaza and asking the court to order Israel to halt its attacks. 
South Africa鈥檚 submission to the International Court of Justice alleges that 鈥渁cts and omissions by Israel ... are genocidal in character鈥� as they are committed with the intent 鈥渢o destroy Palestinians in Gaza鈥� as a part of the broader Palestinian national, racial and ethnic group.
South Africa has been a fierce critic of Israel鈥檚 military campaign in Gaza. Many there including President Cyril Ramaphosa have compared Israel鈥檚 policies regarding Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank with South Africa鈥檚 past apartheid regime of racial segregation.
South Africa asked the Hague-based court to issue an interim order for Israel to immediately suspend its military operations in Gaza. A hearing into that request is likely in the coming days or weeks. The case, if it goes ahead, will take years, but an interim order could be issued within weeks.
South Africa鈥檚 filing alleged Israel was violating its obligations under the treaty, drafted in the wake of the Holocaust, which makes it a crime to attempt to destroy a people in whole or in part.

It asked the court to issue provisional, or short-term, measures ordering Israel to stop its military campaign in Gaza, which it said were 鈥渘ecessary in this case to protect against further, severe and irreparable harm to the rights of the Palestinian people.鈥�
No date has been set for a hearing.
While the ICJ in The Hague is considered the UN鈥檚 highest court, its rulings are sometimes ignored. In March 2022, the court ordered Russia to halt hostilities in Ukraine, a binding legal ruling that Moscow flouted as it pressed ahead with its attacks.
Israel鈥檚 foreign ministry on Friday said it 鈥渞ejects with disgust鈥� the case launched by South Africa.
鈥淚srael rejects with disgust the blood libel spread by South Africa and its application鈥� to the ICJ, Israeli foreign ministry spokesman Lior Haiat wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
鈥淪outh Africa鈥檚 claim lacks both a factual and a legal basis, and constitutes despicable and contemptuous exploitation of the court.鈥�
Lashing out at South Africa, Haiat accused the country of 鈥渃ooperating with a terrorist organization,鈥� referring to the Hamas movement.
The statement also said Israel operates according to international law and focuses its military actions solely against Hamas, adding that the residents of Gaza are not an enemy. It asserted that it takes steps to minimize harm to civilians and to allow humanitarian aid to enter the territory.
South Africa can bring the case under the Genocide Convention because both it and Israel are signatories to it.
Whether the case will succeed in halting the war remains to be seen. While the court鈥檚 orders are legally binding, they are not always followed. 
South Africa鈥檚 foreign ministry said in a statement that the country is 鈥済ravely concerned with the plight of civilians caught in the present Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip due to the indiscriminate use of force and forcible removal of inhabitants.鈥�
The ministry added that there are 鈥渙ngoing reports of international crimes, such as crimes against humanity and war crimes, being committed as well as reports that acts meeting the threshold of genocide or related crimes as defined in the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide, have been and may still be committed in the context of the ongoing massacres in Gaza.鈥�
War began on Oct. 7 when militants of the Islamist group Hamas killed 1,200 people in a cross-border attack and seized 240 hostages by Israel鈥檚 count. Israel responded with an assault on Hamas-ruled Gaza, killing more than 21,000 people, Palestinian health officials say.
鈥淚srael, since 7 October 2023 in particular, has failed to prevent genocide and has failed to prosecute the direct and public incitement to genocide,鈥� South Africa鈥檚 Department of International Relations and Cooperation said in a statement.
South Africa鈥檚 president earlier accused Israel of war crimes and acts 鈥渢antamount to genocide.鈥� And South Africa last month pushed for the International Criminal Court, which also is based in The Hague, to investigate Israel鈥檚 actions in Gaza.
The ICC prosecutes individuals for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, while the International Court of Justice settles disputes between nations.
Balkees Jarrah, associate international justice director at Human Rights Watch, said South Africa鈥檚 case 鈥減rovides an important opportunity for the International Court of Justice to scrutinize Israel鈥檚 actions in Gaza using the Genocide Convention of 1948.鈥� She said South Africa is looking to the United Nations鈥� highest judicial body 鈥渢o provide clear, definitive answers on the question of whether Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people.鈥�
Jarrah stressed that the ICJ case 鈥渋s not a criminal case against individual alleged perpetrators, and it does not involve the International Criminal Court (ICC), a separate body. But the ICJ case should also propel greater international support for impartial justice at the ICC and other credible venues.鈥�
(With AP, Reuters and AFP)