The Executive of South Africa has registered this week before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) a new file against Israel, which it accuses of failing to comply with the provisional measures ordered by the court to prevent the possible commission of genocide in the Gaza Strip.
South Africa led a case against Israel before the ICJ at the end of December 2023 for the alleged commission of a "genocide" against the Gazan population through its bombing campaign following the attacks carried out by Palestinian militias on October 7 of that year, which marked the beginning of the Gaza war.
In response, the ICJ has ordered a series of provisional measures, legally binding but without an effective enforcement mechanism, with the aim of forcing Israel to take all necessary actions to prevent genocide against the Palestinian population, considering that there is a real and imminent risk of irreparable harm to the right of the Palestinians in Gaza to be protected from genocide.
On August 25, the South African government submitted to the ICJ a comprehensive dossier in which it reports that Israel has systematically ignored the court's orders and emphasizes, among other elements, that since the ceasefire proclaimed in October of last year "an average of one child has died per day in Gaza at the hands of the Israeli Army."
"The court's orders are binding for Israel, and the international community also has the obligation to protect the Palestinian people from genocide, which includes taking all necessary measures to prevent and punish it," the South African government stated in an official communiqué.
Given that, "unfortunately, Israel has not complied with the court orders, South Africa will continue to explore all legal avenues available to ensure that Israel fully and immediately complies with the court's orders."
The South African Ministry of Foreign Affairs concludes that "The Provisional Measures were not only ordered to protect the rights of the Palestinian people under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, but also safeguard the administration of justice and the legitimacy of the ICJ itself, by ensuring that the rights that the Court is called to uphold are not destroyed before it issues its final decision."