South Africa submits more evidence to ICJ in genocide case against Israel

South African legal experts submitted more evidence to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to back the country’s genocide case against Israel, Al Jazeera reported.

Hundreds of documents further proving Israel’s complicity in genocide in Gaza were submitted on Monday, the deadline given by the ICJ in order to continue the case.

Some of this evidence included statements made by extremist Israeli settlers and politicians at a demonstration near the Gaza border, where they called for the expulsion of Palestinians to other Arab states and their intention to settle in the enclave.

An event titled "Preparing to Settle in Gaza", was organised last week by the extremist Nachala Settlement Movement, which is led by Daniella Weiss - who is often regarded as the godmother of the Israeli settler movement.

Statements like these, South African diplomats said, offer "undeniable evidence" of Israel’s genocidal intent.

The team of lawyers and diplomats working on the case told Al Jazeera that they were "confident" the hundreds of pagers of evidence gathered were sufficient to back their case.

South Africa resorted to the ICJ in late December accusing Israel of genocide in its more than year-long brutal war on Gaza. The court ordered Israel in January to refrain from any acts that could fall under the 1948 Genocide Convention and to ensure its troops commit no genocidal acts against Palestinians.

Israel has ignored these orders, killing so far over 43,000 people since 7 October 2023, most of them civilians. The war has displaced nearly all of Gaza’s 2.3 million population and has utterly devastated the territory.

At least 13 countries have joined South Africa’s case at the ICJ.