Israel continues to defy court orders issued last week by the U.N.'s top court. In a matter of days, Israel killed hundreds of Palestinians in Gaza said South Africa's Foreign Minister, Naledi Pandor. Additionally, she has asked why an arrest warrant for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has not been issued in a case South Africa filed at the separate International Criminal Court.
The Associated Press reports South Africa would "look at proposing other measures to the global community" in a bid to stop Israel from killing civilians in its assault on Gaza.
The preliminary ruling by the U.N.'s International Court of Justice in South Africa's case accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza ordered Israel to do all it can to prevent death, destruction, and any acts of genocide against Palestinians in the territory. It stopped short of ordering a cease-fire. It also ruled Israel must urgently get basic humanitarian aid to Gaza and submit a report on steps taken to abide by the ruling within a month.
A higher-up official in South Africa's foreign ministry revealed to the AP that the country hopes Friday's ruling will be discussed on a larger scale within the United Nations, possibly as early as Wednesday.
Since the court's ruling, Israel has not taken any steps to withdraw its military offensive. Israel continues to claim the defense is aiming at Hamas, however, hundreds more Palestinians have been killed, according to figures from the Palestinian Health Ministry.
The ministry said Wednesday that 150 people were killed in the territory in the last 24 hours, bringing the total number of Palestinian deaths in the war to more than 26,700.
What Does The Health Ministry Say?
The Health Ministry says the majority of the dead are women and children.
"I can't be dishonest. I believe the rulings of the court have been ignored," South Africa's foreign minister said. "Hundreds of people have been killed in the last three or four days. And clearly, Israel believes it has a license to do as it wishes," reported the AP.
Pandor elaborated on the danger of the world doing nothing to stop the killing of civilians in Gaza and said similar ignorance contributed to the horrific death toll in the genocide in Rwanda in 1994, where 800,000 Rwandans were slaughtered in the East African country.
"We are allowing this to happen again, right before our eyes, on our TV screens," Pandor said.
Israel could face U.N. sanctions if found in breach of the court's orders. Nevertheless, The United States has the power to veto the sanctions as it's an extraordinarily close ally of Israel.
Netanyahu said Israel "will continue to do what is necessary to defend our country and defend our people." Israel says the offensive aims to destroy Hamas after its Oct. 7 attacks on Israel that killed some 1,200 people, mostly civilians.
Israel says it has allegedly abided by international law and is doing its best to minimize its killings in Gaza. Israel says it has killed more than 9,000 militants and accuses Hamas of embedding in civilian areas, making it truly difficult to avoid 26,700 Palestinian civilian casualties.
The African National Congress, South Africa's governing party, has always compared Israel's policies in Gaza and the West Bank to its history under the apartheid regime of white minority rule, which restricted Black people to "homelands" before ending in 1994.
Pandor also said South Africa was eager to pursue the case it has lodged with the separate International Criminal Court, an indication the country will continue its legal pressure on Israel. In the ICC case, South Africa accuses Netanyahu of war crimes and asks the court to order his arrest.
The ICJ and ICC are based in The Hague but deal with different cases. The ICJ is a U.N. court that decides disputes between countries. The ICC prosecutes individuals.
Israel, like Russia, is not a signatory to the treaty that created the ICC and does not recognize the court's authority.
