Cape Town/Tel Aviv, Feb 13, (dpa/GNA) – South Africa filed an urgent application with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague, to examine whether an Israeli expansion of military operations in Rafah is legal under international law.
Rafah, on the border with Egypt, is the last refuge for Palestinians in Gaza, the South African government said in a statement released on Tuesday. The urgent request was filed on Monday.
South Africa is “gravely concerned” that the military offensive in Rafah “has already led to and will result in further large scale killing, harm and destruction.”
It said this would be a “serious and irreparable breach” of both the UN’s Genocide Convention and an ICJ order issued on January 26.
The order, in response to a December South African filing, told Israel to prevent genocidal acts, but did not require Israel to end its military operations in Gaza.
Israel entered Gaza after an unprecedented massacre in Israel on October 7, in which 1,200 people were killed and some 240 kidnapped at the hands of the Palestinian militant group Hamas and other extremists.
The ICJ decision was an interim finding in a proceeding, that is expected to take years. The court has no enforcement powers.
On Tuesday, criticism of an anticipated Israeli ground offensive in Rafah continued to grow, after staunch allies like the United States, Britain and Germany voiced opposition to conducting a major operation in Rafah.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, called Israel’s response to the October 7 terrorist attacks “disproportionate.”
“There are too many victims who have nothing to do with Hamas at all,” Tajani, who also serves as deputy prime minister, told RAI Radio 1, emphasizing that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu must do more to protect civilians in the Gaza Strip.
Israel has repeatedly said that it is doing all that it can to protect civilians and said it is working on a plan to evacuate people in Rafah ahead of an offensive. US media reports, citing Egyptian officials, say Israel wants to build extensive tent cities for the population to be evacuated further north of Rafah. It has asked the United Nations for help.
But on Tuesday the UN emergency aid organization OCHA said it will not take part in the forced evacuation of Palestinians from Rafah.
“We have not had any official communication from the Israeli government on this,” OCHA spokesman Jens Laerke told dpa.
“In any case, we will not be part of any plan to forcibly move people. We would not provide tent cities elsewhere so that Israeli forces can then forcibly move people.”
On the ground in Gaza, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said it had killed “more than 30 terrorists” in the city of Khan Younis, as heavy fighting in south and central Gaza continues.
Two gunmen were killed in western Khan Younis after trying to move “under the cover of the Gazan civilian population,” the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) said. One was pointing a pistol at an IDF vehicle, the army said.
In another case, several men were attacked from the air after trying to transport an explosive device on a motorbike.
In the central part of Gaza, the IDF said it had killed 10 militants within 24 hours.
The Palestinian health authority, which is controlled by the militant organization Hamas, said on Tuesday that 133 Palestinians were killed and 162 injured by Israeli attacks within 24 hours.
It puts the total number of dead at 28,473 since the war started.
Israel said 232 servicemen and women have been killed since the start of the ground offensive and a total of 569 were killed and more than 2,860 injured since October 7.
On one positive note, sources in Egypt and Israel reported that the heads of Israeli secret service Mossad, its domestic intelligence service the Shin-Bet and the head of the CIA were meeting with Qatari and Egyptian officials in Cairo over a possible ceasefire and hostage exchange.
During a ceasefire mediated by Egypt, Qatar and the US last November, 105 hostages were released in return for 240 Palestinian prisoners.
There are currently 134 people still being held by Hamas, but Israel estimates that at least 30 of them are no longer alive.
GNA