Staff Reporter
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is set to deliver its judgment today on South Africa’s request for the court to order Israel to cease its military operations in the Gaza Strip.
South Africa presented oral arguments before the ICJ a week ago, appealing for the court to modify provisional measures issued in January 2023 and last month.
The request comes as the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor Karim Khan has applied for arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, and three Hamas leaders over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity.
In his speech, Dr Atilla Kisla of the Southern Africa Litigation Centre said the ICJs ruling is highly anticipated as they have seen that the South African delegation is committed to this.
“We’ve again seen strong submissions by the South African delegation, with strong reliance again on UN sources.
“The Israeli submission focused on undermining the South African contests, claiming there is no basis for any wrongdoing in terms of international law, on the part of Israel.” Said Kisla.
“It will be very interesting to see how the court will actually deal with the requests that were made by the South African delegation, especially in terms of the repeated request that Israel should cease its military operations in the Gaza Strip and withdraw its army from the entirety of the Gaza Strip.” Kisla added.
The ICJ’s ruling, expected this afternoon, will be a development in the ongoing tensions between Israel and South Africa over the situation in Gaza.
