South Africa explains its position after latest top UN court hearing on Israel offensive in Gaza

(16 May 2024)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
The Hague - 16 May 2024
1. Arrival of lawyers
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Zane Dangor, Director-General of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation:
"This is now the third time that they've come in asking for provisional orders. And we're asking for provisional orders because the situation in the whole of Gaza, but in particular in Rafah has changed drastically since the last time we came to the court. What we're seeing is the genocidal acts intensifying. We're seeing the killings intensifying and our legal teams have demonstrated the facts on these changing circumstances, including the genocidal acts in both Rafah and in Gaza. The legal teams specifically pointed out to the unabated killing since we came in January, and they pointed out that at least 13,000 people died since we came in January and asked for these provisional orders."
++BLACK FRAMES++
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Zane Dangor, Director-General of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation:
"What we're asking for is the court to use its powers to stop this carnage. The Court to use its powers in an unambiguous way to stop this, that we do not need the court to provide language that infers what Israel must do, that the court must explicitly state, that Israel must stop its genocidal acts in Rafah, that it must stop its genocidal acts in Gaza. And that includes an unambiguous call to seize its military operations in Rafah and the whole of Gaza."
++BLACK FRAMES++
4. SOUNDBITE (English) Zane Dangor, Director-General of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation:
"The court has previously said that its calls for humanitarian aid to be provided unhindered, can only be done if there is a cease-fire in place. What our legal team is pointing out is we should not depend on such a cease-fire to come through a political negotiations because it's not happening or through some action of the Security Council because it's not happening. We're asking that the court use uses its powers that is been conferred upon through the Geneva Convention to order the acts of genocide to end, and that includes an explicit order for the cessation of hostilities to end."
++ENDS ON SOUNDBITE++
STORYLINE:
South Africa urged the United Nations’ top court on Thursday to order a ceasefire in Gaza during hearings over emergency measures to halt Israel’s military operation in the enclave’s southern city of Rafah.

"We're asking for provisional orders because the situation in the whole of Gaza, but in particular in Rafah has changed drastically since the last time we came to the court," said Zane Dangor, the Director-General of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, as South Africa's foreign ministry is called.

It was the third time the International Court of Justice held hearings on the conflict in Gaza since South Africa filed proceedings in December at the court, based in The Hague in the Netherlands, accusing Israel of genocide.

According to the latest request, the previous preliminary orders by the court were not sufficient to address Israel's "genocidal acts in Rafah, that it must stop its genocidal acts in Gaza," Dangor told reporters.

Israel will be allowed to answer the accusations on Friday.

Dangor reiterated that the legal team is pushing the court to "use its powers in an unambiguous way" to stop Israel's offensive.

The war began with a Hamas attack on southern Israel on Oct. 7 in which Palestinian militants killed around 1,200 people and took about 250 hostages.




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