The Maldives, Namibia and Pakistan have joined the list of countries expressing support for the genocide case filed against Israel by South Africa at the The International Court of Justice (ICJ).
The three countries each expressed their support for the case in speeches delivered during a UN General Assembly session.
Namibia’s Ambassador, Neville Gertze told the UN that his country “welcomes and supports” South Africa’s case.
“Namibia both identifies and aligns with the arguments put forward by South Africa,” Gertze said.
Permanent Mission Of Pakistan to the UN posted on X, “Pakistan has welcomed South Africa’s initiative to bring Israel’s transgressions under Genocide Convention to ICJ.”
It said, “Pakistan also looks forward to the Advisory Opinion of ICJ on the legal consequences arising from policies and practices of Israel in Occupied Palestinian Territory.”
Other countries that have already expressed support for the case include Bolivia, Jordan, Malaysia and Turkey.
The International Court of Justice (ICJ), based in The Hague, will hold its first hearing in South Africa’s genocide case against Israel on Thursday, January 10, 2024.
Former UK Opposition leader, Jeremy Corbyn will join a South African delegation for the hearings at the International Court of Justice.
Corbyn was one of a number of “senior political figures from progressive political parties and movements across the globe” who will join the South African delegation at The Hague in the Netherlands for two days of preliminary hearings that will begin on Thursday.
Corbyn was the only foreign political figure in its delegation named by the South African government.
He is a longtime supporter of the Palestinian cause and a fierce critic of Israel.
On the other hand, Israel is sending top legal minds, including a Holocaust survivor, to The Hague to counter South Africa’s allegations.
Aharon Barak, a former Israeli Supreme Court Chief justice, and Malcolm Shaw, a British Barrister with international law experience, will join the International Court of Justice’s 15-member panel.
Israel hopes their expertise will help refute the South African claim that Israel’s military campaign in Gaza amounts to genocide.
“Israel cannot run away from an accusation that is so serious,” said Alon Liel, a former director general of Israel’s foreign ministry and former Israeli ambassador to South Africa.
South Africa filed the lawsuit at the end of December, accusing Israel of genocide in its war on Gaza and seeking a halt to the brutal military assault that has killed more than 23,000 Palestinians, nearly 10,000 of them children.
More than 59,000 people have been wounded.
UN Envoy Says ICJ Should Consider Destroyed Buildings As “Evidence Of Genocide’ In Gaza
Balakrishnan Rajagopal, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, said that the ICJ should consider the scale of damaged and destroyed housing in Gaza as part of the genocide case against Israel.
“ICJ should consider this as evidence of genocide when coupled with public statements documented before it by South Africa,” Rajagopal said in a post on X.
Rajagopal cited analysis from the Decentralised Damage Mapping Group which found that as of January 5, 2024, between 45.3 to 55.9 percent of buildings in the Gaza Strip were “likely damaged or destroyed” and between 71.1 to 82.7 percent of buildings in the area around Gaza City in northern Gaza were “likely damaged or destroyed.”
Meanwhile, deadly overnight Israeli attacks in central and southern Gaza have continued.
At least 15 people, mostly women and children, belonging to the same family in Rafah, and six people sheltering in refugee camps in central Gaza, were killed in those attacks.
The Israeli military said that it has hit 150 targets around Gaza in a day as it continues to bomb areas in and around Maghazi and Khan Younis.
The army also claimed to have uncovered 15 tunnels and discovered weapons during its operations.
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