GAZA/THE HAGUE — Israel prepared to defend itself on Thursday (Jan 11) at the top UN court against accusations of genocide in Gaza, as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu for the first time publicly rebuffed calls by some right-wing ministers to permanently occupy the enclave.
As Israel's war against Hamas militants rages in Gaza, where Palestinian officials say 23,000 have been killed, the International Court of Justice in the Hague was set to open two days of hearings in a case brought by South Africa in December claiming the war violates the 1948 Genocide Convention.
"Our opposition to the ongoing slaughter of the people of Gaza has driven us as a country to approach the ICJ," South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said on Wednesday of the genocide accusations, rejected by Israel and its top backer, the US.
"As a people who once tasted the bitter fruits of dispossession, discrimination, racism and state-sponsored violence, we are clear that we will stand on the right side of history," Ramaphosa said.
For almost half a century until 1994, South Africa's white minority imposed harsh rule on the Black majority under the apartheid system of racial separation.
In its 84-page filing South Africa says that by killing Palestinians in Gaza, causing them serious mental and bodily harm and by creating conditions "calculated to bring about their physical destruction", Israel is committing genocide against them.
The 1948 treaty defines genocide as "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group".
Ahead of the hearings, Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy said: "The State of Israel will appear before the International Court of Justice to dispel South Africa's absurd blood libel, as Pretoria gives political and legal cover to the Hamas rapist regime."
The hearings will deal exclusively with South Africa's request for an emergency order that Israel suspend military action in Gaza while the court, also known as the World Court, hears the merits of the case — a process that could take years.
Colombia and Brazil expressed their support for South Africa late on Wednesday.
Israel launched its offensive after Hamas fighters carried out an Oct 7 cross-border rampage in which Israel says 1,200 people were killed and 240 abducted.
Since then, Israeli forces have laid waste to much of Gaza, and nearly all its 2.3 million people have been driven from their homes at least once, causing a humanitarian catastrophe.
Washington, while rejecting South Africa's genocide claims, urged Israel to do more to protect Palestinian civilians.
"Allegations that Israel is committing genocide are unfounded," State Department spokesperson Matt Miller said in a statement. "In fact, it is those who are violently attacking Israel who continue to openly call for the annihilation of Israel and the mass murder of Jews."
Miller expressed support for Israel's "right to defend itself against Hamas' terrorist acts", adding that Israel must "comply with international humanitarian law" and "look for more ways to prevent civilian harm and to investigate credible allegations of violations of international humanitarian law when they arise."
Rights group Amnesty International said it had not determined whether "the situation in Gaza amounts to genocide" but "there are alarming warning signs, given the staggering scale of death and destruction" in the three-month-old war.
It flagged "an appalling spike in dehumanising and racist rhetoric against Palestinians by certain Israeli government and military officials".
In its statement, Amnesty added the war and Israel's "illegal siege in Gaza" were "inflicting unfathomable levels of suffering", putting at risk the survival of those in Gaza.
On the eve of the hearings, Netanyahu opposed calls from right-wing members of his government, including Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, for Palestinians to leave Gaza voluntarily, making way for Israelis to settle there.
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Smotrich has said that if a large majority of Palestinians were to leave Gaza, "Most of Israeli society will say 'Why not, it's a nice place, let's make the desert bloom, it doesn't come at anyone's expense.'"
Netanyahu posted on social media platform X: "I want to make a few points absolutely clear: Israel has no intention of permanently occupying Gaza or displacing its civilian population."
Potentially timing his comments ahead of the court hearings, he added: "Israel is fighting Hamas terrorists, not the Palestinian population, and we are doing so in full compliance with international law."
Jordan and Egypt warned on Wednesday against any Israeli re-occupation of the Gaza Strip and appealed for uprooted residents to be allowed to return home.
In Gaza, Israeli strikes intensified despite Israel's pledge to pull out some troops and shift to a more targeted campaign.
Israel's chief military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari told a briefing the military was focusing its operations on Khan Younis and the refugee camps in the centre of the Strip.
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In the latest sign of the three-month-old war spreading, US and British warships in the Red Sea fended off the biggest attack yet from Yemen's Houthi movement, which says it is acting to support Gaza.
Washington and London said they shot down 21 drones and missiles aimed at shipping lanes. No one was hurt.
The UN Security Council approved a resolution demanding that the Houthis immediately cease the shipping attacks.
The World Health Organisation cancelled a planned medical aid mission to Gaza due to security concerns, the sixth such cancellation in two weeks.
The Palestinian Red Crescent said four of its staffers were killed by an Israeli strike near Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, while Palestinian health officials said four children were killed in an Israeli air strike on a house in Rafah.
US Secretary of State Antony Blinken, on his fourth trip to the region during the war, met Palestinian leaders in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, including Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.
The State Department said Blinken expressed support for a Palestinian state and discussed efforts to protect and aid civilians in Gaza. The Palestinian Authority said Abbas told Blinken no Palestinians should be displaced from Gaza or the West Bank.
Senior White House adviser Amos Hochstein is expected to visit Beirut on Thursday, a US official said, as part of US efforts to ease tension along the Israel-Lebanon border.
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