Yedioth Ahronoth: ‘South Africa presented detailed case of facts’

Israeli writer for Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth, Nadav Eyal, has reported that South Africa submitted “a detailed, organised case full of facts and quotes against Israel” to the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Eyal added in his article: “There is no point in denying this. It was a harsh day for the State of Israel in The Hague. One of the harshest days, diplomatically, since the outbreak of the war.”

He said: “There is no point in denying this either: in a certain sense, Israel has already lost in this situation, as soon as it began, even if Aharon Barak (Israel’s representative at the International Court of Justice) succeeds in convincing the rest of the judges not to issue a temporary order. The damage was done as soon as the international discussion and attention started, and as soon as the international media started discussing the question of whether Israel committed genocide in Gaza or not.”

On Friday, the ICJ resumed its sessions to try Israel on charges of committing acts of genocide in the Gaza Strip, based on a lawsuit filed by the state of South Africa and supported by dozens of countries, in a historical precedent.

READ: Germany rejects genocide charges brought against Israel by South Africa

During Friday’s session, the court heard the response by Israel, the occupying power, to the lawsuit filed against it by South Africa.

In the first session on Thursday, South Africa submitted a detailed 84-page file to the court in which it collected evidence, noting: “The acts in question include killing Palestinians in Gaza, causing them serious bodily and mental harm, and inflicting on them conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction.”

The lawsuit filed by South Africa before the ICJ against Israel received Arab and international support.

Since 7 October, the Israeli occupation has continued its genocidal aggression against the Gaza Strip, with US and European support, as its planes bomb hospitals, buildings, towers and homes of Palestinian civilians, destroying them over the heads of their residents.

The occupation has also prevented the entry of water, food, medicine and fuel, which led to the deaths of 23,469 martyrs and the wounding of 60,005, most of whom are women and children. It also caused the massive destruction of infrastructure and an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe, according to the Ministry of Health in Gaza and international organisations and bodies.

READ: ‘South Africans now see Israel as an apartheid state’