South Africa seeks urgent ICJ order for additional provisional measure
11 May 2024
The Republic of South Africa yesterday, 10 May 2024, returned to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to seek an urgent order from the court for the protection of the Palestinian people in Gaza from grave and irreparable violations of their rights under the Genocide Convention, as a result of Israel’s ongoing military assault on Rafah.
The urgent application follows the escalation of Israel’s assault on Rafah, which poses extreme risk to humanitarian supplies, basic services into Gaza, the survival of the Palestinian medical system, and the very survival of Palestinians in Gaza as a group. South Africa contends that the attack on Rafah further worsens the prevailing situation and causes irreparable harm to the rights of Palestinians in Gaza and that the situation has changed significantly since the Court’s Order of 28 March 2024.
Rafah is home to 1.5 million Palestinians. It is the last refuge in Gaza for those displaced by Israeli action, and the last viable centre for public administration and the provision of basic public services, including medical care. Since the start of the military action in Rafah, Israel has seized control of both the Rafah and the Kerem Shalom (Karem Abu Salem) crossings, effectively controlling all movement in and out of Gaza and cutting off all critical humanitarian and medical supplies, goods and fuel. Israel has further prevented medical evacuations and has treated evacuation zones as extermination zones as evidenced with the destruction of hospitals in Gaza and discovery of mass graves in other major health care facilities in the Strip.
Therefore, South Africa is calling for urgent interventions and investigations of all actions that continue to cause irreparable prejudice to the rights of Palestinians, including the use of Artificial Intelligence (‘AI’) for targeted killings.