South Africa has submitted its Memorial to the International Court of Justice regarding the Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip, the South African government reported on their International Relations and Cooperation website on Monday.
Details of this Memorial are not publicly available at this time due to ICJ rules. Nevertheless, the southern African country’s government noted that the filing coincides with an increase in civilian casualties in the Gaza Strip and rising tensions in Lebanon.
According to the announcement, the Memorial claims that Israel has violated the genocide convention by promoting the destruction of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Allegations include killing civilians with destructive weapons, obstructing humanitarian aid, creating life-threatening conditions for physical destruction, and using starvation as a weapon of war to “depopulate Gaza through mass death and forced displacement,” the announcement read.
Global solidarity
The evidence, comprising over 750 pages of text and an additional 4,000 pages of exhibits the announcement noted, asserts that Israel's actions are allegedly motivated by a specific intent to commit genocide and that it has failed to prevent or punish incitement to genocide, the South African government emphasized.
The Memorial calls on the global community to remember the plight of the Palestinian people and urges solidarity in stopping the ongoing alleged genocide. Moreover, the announcement claimed the action follows Israel’s historical failure to comply with international obligations despite interventions from the ICJ and UN bodies.