An order extending Israel’s time to respond to South Africa’s genocide claims against it for its conduct in Gaza by six months – from the original July 28 deadline to January 12, 2026, of this year instead – was published by the International Court of Justice on Thursday.
The order was issued on Monday, and its existence was subsequently first reported on by i24News, but the actual order only came out Thursday.
According to the order, Israel requested an extension for three main reasons: 1) Procedural and substantive problems relating to the timing and manner of South Africa presenting its evidence, with many of those issues still open for the court to decide; 2) The parallel new ICJ proceeding Israel will soon need to contend with to respond to claims of starvation and cutting off humanitarian aid; and 3) The voluminous number of additional claims by other states, like Ireland, against Israel, who Israel must now also respond to, along with South Africa.
The Jerusalem Post understands that South Africa has and is in the process of producing thousands of documents to try to prove its genocide case against Israel.
Many of these documents and processes will likely be challenged by Israel before the process even gets to what issues Jerusalem must respond to in more detail.
In January 2024, Israel succeeded in beating off South Africa’s attempt to get the ICJ to order an immediate halt to the war.
This victory eventually bought Israel around 18 months – to the point where it would need to provide a more detailed defense of its narrative.
What this order signifies for Israel
However, the latest ICJ order gives Israel yet another six months and appears to show that South Africa’s strategy to overwhelm Israel with “evidence,” new claims, and parallel claims by other countries has backfired.
At the start of the proceedings, top Israeli officials predicted a verdict could take anywhere between 18 months to three years, with the three-year mark now looking more realistic.
There are additional questions about whether the delay of the ICJ proceeding will also allow Israel more time to publicly produce its own close to 90 criminal probes into extreme cases where there were suspicions of potential war crimes committed by Israeli soldiers over departing from the rules of engagement or other regulations.
The International Criminal Court is also seeking to arrest Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former defense minister Yoav Gallant to advance its own criminal probe, which might be closed or, alternatively, lead to indictments.