South Africa: Israel Must Withdraw From Entire Gaza

South Africa urged the United Nations' highest court on Thursday to issue an order to stop the Israeli attack on the city of Rafah as part of its case accusing Israel of committing genocide in the Gaza Strip.

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It said that the attack on Rafah "must be stopped" to ensure the survival of the Palestinian people.

Vusimuzi Madonsela, South Africa's ambassador to the Netherlands urged the court to order "the immediate, complete and unconditional withdrawal of the Israeli army from the entire Gaza Strip.”

The two-day hearings at the International Court of Justice, also known as the World Court, come after South Africa last week asked for additional emergency measures to protect Rafah. More than one million Palestinians have taken refuge in the southern Gaza City.

Israel, which has denounced South Africa's claim that it is violating the 1949 Genocide Convention as baseless, will respond on Friday. In previous filings it stressed it had stepped up efforts to get humanitarian aid into Gaza as the ICJ had ordered.

Last week, South Africa called for additional emergency measures to protect Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, where more than a million Palestinians are sheltering.

It also asked the court to issue an order to Israel to allow UN officials and organizations providing humanitarian aid, as well as journalists and investigators, to enter the Strip without hindrance. She added that Israel has so far been ignoring and violating the orders previously issued by the court.

“From the beginning, Israel’s intention has always been to destroy Palestinian life and wipe them (the Palestinians) off the face of the earth,” South African lawyer Thembeka Ngcukaitobi said. Rafah is the last place.