What is genocide and why has South Africa taken Israel to court for it?

Published

2 years ago

January 26, 2024

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The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is today delivering an interim ruling in the case that claims Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

South Africa filed the case, arguing Israel is breaching the UN convention on genocide by “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”.

Israel has described the lawsuit as a “despicable and contemptuous exploitation” of the court.

However, today’s ruling will not centre on the accusation of genocide – but instead, the court will make a decision on whether emergency measures suggested by South Africa should be implemented.

Follow our live blog for the hearing

What does genocide mean?

The term genocide was adopted by the UN soon after it was established in 1945, with a specific convention adopted on it in 1948.

According to the charter, genocide “means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”.

Examples include:

• Killing members of a group;

• Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group;

• Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part;

• Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group;

• Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

It was set up in wake of the Holocaust, in which the Nazis killed approximately six million Jewish people between 1941 and 1945, as part of the international community’s commitment to “never again”.

Since its inception there have only been three proven cases of genocide under the UN definition: the Khmer Rouge killing of Cambodian minority groups in the 1970s; the Srebrenica Massacre of Muslims in Bosnia in 1995; and the killing of Tutsis in Rwanda in 1994.

What is South Africa claiming – and why?

An 84-page court document set out South Africa’s case, which states that Israel’s “acts… in the wake of the attacks on 7 October 2023… are genocidal in character”.

It claims this is because they are “intended to bring about the destruction of a substantial part of the Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group, that being the part of the Palestinian group in the Gaza Strip”.

South Africa says Israel is “failing to prevent genocide and is committing genocide” in its war with Hamas.

In the court documents, lodged on 29 December, it also acknowledged “direct targeting of Israeli civilians and other nationals and hostage-taking by Hamas” on and after 7 October, which may breach international law.

As both South Africa and Israel are signatories to the 1948 convention, it argues the court has jurisdiction to stop Israel’s military offensive killing Palestinians in Gaza.

It also compares Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories to its own Apartheid period.

South Africa has a longstanding affinity with the Palestinian people.

After Nelson Mandela was freed from prison and became South African president, he said: “We know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians”, and later wore a traditional keffiyeh to a pan-African event in Algeria in 1990.

Current South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has condemned Israel’s offensive in Gaza from the start.

Why do some in South Africa stand with Palestine?

Most South Africans recognise Israel’s complicity in their own oppression, according to Professor Salim Vally, the director for the centre for education rights and transformation at the University of Johannesburg.

“For example, Israel was an important arms supplier to apartheid South Africa, despite the international arms embargo,” he says.

“As late as 1980, 35% of Israel’s arms exports were destined for our country.

“When the global anti-apartheid movement forced countries to impose sanctions on the apartheid regime, Israel imported South African goods and re-exported them to the world as a form of inter-racist solidarity,” he adds.

“Israel was loyal to the apartheid state and clung to this friendship when almost all other relationships dissolved.”

How has Israel responded?

Historically, Israel has refused to engage with international tribunals, but sent a legal team to defend itself at The Hague this time.

It described South Africa as “hypocritical” and the lawsuit as a “blood libel” – a term used for antisemitic false allegations against Jewish people that originates from the Middle Ages.

What have Israel and Hamas said about the war?

Hamas fighters and other militant Palestinian groups killed 1,200 Israelis on 7 October, the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) say. Some 240 were abducted and taken into Gaza, with 132 still missing.

The Israeli military says more than 200 of its soldiers have died fighting in Gaza so far.

According to the Hamas-run Palestinian health ministry, 25,000 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli attacks since the conflict started.

Nearly all of the 2.3 million population of Gaza have been displaced by heavy bombing.

In its founding charter in 1988, Hamas declared there is “no solution for the Palestine question except through Jihad”, adding: “The day of judgement will not come about until Muslims fight Jews and kill them”.

But in 2017 it changed the charter to reflect that “its conflict is with the Zionist project, not with the Jews because of their religion”.

Individual Hamas leaders however, such as Mahmoud Zahar, have claimed the killing of Israeli children has been “legitimised” by the killing of Palestinian infants by Israel.

At the beginning of the conflict, an Israeli military official declared: “We are imposing a complete siege on Gaza. There will be no electricity, no food, no water, no fuel. Everything will be closed. We are fighting human animals and we act accordingly.”

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said “Hamas must be destroyed” – but has not referenced Palestinians or the people of Gaza.

What power does the ICJ have?

The ICJ has the power to issue “provisional measures” – legally-binding court orders – that would last for the duration of the case.

South Africa wants it to use them to “immediately suspend military operations in and against Gaza”.

Although they are legally binding, they are not always adhered to.

For example, a joint case against Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022 resulted in provisional measures for Moscow to withdraw troops, but these were ignored by the Kremlin.

Like others before it, the case is likely to last for years, as proving “intent” to commit genocidal acts is a difficult and lengthy process.

Alexander Horne, a barrister and visiting law professor at Durham University, who is also a dual British-Israeli national, said Israel will be “determined to demonstrate its armed forces have acted both morally and proportionately following the horrendous events of 7 October”.

He added that its choice of supreme court judge Aharon Barak as its representative suggests it is taking the case “very seriously”.

If the court does impose provisional measures it would be “hugely problematic” for the Israeli offensive, which it has vowed will continue until all hostages are returned, he said.

World

Mile after mile of grey rubble – the view from a plane dropping aid to Gaza

Published

17 hours ago

July 29, 2025

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Mile after mile of grey rubble - the view from a plane dropping aid to Gaza

We are on our way to Gaza with the Jordanian military.

The aircraft is hot and noisy and as we get closer, the atmosphere gets more tense. Aircrew gesture with their hands to tell us how many minutes there are to go. Fifteen. Six. One.

The Jordanian military C-130 flies out over the sea before banking and heading inland for Gaza. The parachutes, attached to the top of each of the eight pallets, are prepared for the drop.

As land approaches, I look down. The ground is modern and built up – we’re still over southern Israel.

Then a few short minutes later, it’s clear we’ve crossed Gaza’s border.

The ground turns grey, the shapes of buildings disappear, there are no cars, no people.

You can see the outline of communities and villages that are now flattened. Mile after mile of grey rubble.

This mission by the Royal Jordanian Air Force is one of the first aid drop flights since Israel announced they could resume. It is carrying eight tonnes of food and baby formula.

Foreign nations know this is a deeply flawed way of delivering aid – road convoys are far more effective and can carry far more – but the Jordanian flight crew say the need in Gaza is so urgent, it’s simply an attempt to do something.

When the aircraft ramp opens, the aid is pushed out and it’s gone in seconds.

The parachutes seem peaceful as they open and their fall slows. But dropping food from the sky is a dangerous and undignified way to feed people.

On the ground it’s chaos.

Our colleagues in Gaza say the fighting for food has become lethal – gangs are now punching and stabbing people to reach it first. Most critically, it’s not getting to the weakest. To those who really need it.

One man becomes emotional as he describes racing to find food and leaving with nothing.

“I came only for my son,” he says. “I wouldn’t come here if it was just for me. When you have a child, they need bread.”

He’s an engineer in normal times and seems in disbelief that his life has come to this. “The aid comes from the sky and we have to run after it. I’ve never had to do this in my life.”

It is hoped Israel’s humanitarian pauses in fighting will rapidly increase food distribution by road but it’s very unclear how that is going.

Hospitals in Gaza have reported another 14 deaths from starvation in the last 24 hours, the Gaza health ministry said on Monday.

Airstrikes killed another at least 78 Palestinians across Gaza on Monday, local health officials said.

We cannot verify these numbers because Israel has not allowed international journalists access to Gaza.

And Monday’s flight came with strict media conditions.

We were told the Israeli side had warned that any shots of Gaza filmed from the air could result in these aid flights being cancelled.

But Israel’s tight grip has not stopped the images from Gaza getting out, horrifying people around the world.

The question now is what more the international community will do about it.

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Israeli human rights organisations accuse country of genocide

Published

20 hours ago

July 28, 2025

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Israeli human rights organisations accuse country of genocide

Two Israeli human rights organisations have said the country is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

In reports published on Monday, B’Tselem and Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) said Israel was carrying out “coordinated, deliberate action to destroy Palestinian society in the Gaza Strip”.

The two groups are the first major voices within Israeli society to make such accusations against the state during nearly 22 months of war against Hamas.

Israel has vehemently denied claims of genocide. David Mencer, a spokesperson for the government, called the allegation by the rights groups “baseless”.

He said: “There is no intent, (which is) key for the charge of genocide… it simply doesn’t make sense for a country to send in 1.9 million tonnes of aid, most of that being food, if there is an intent of genocide.”

B’Tselem director Yuli Novak called for urgent action, saying: “What we see is a clear, intentional attack on civilians in order to destroy a group.”

The organisation’s report “is one we never imagined we would have to write,” Ms Novak said. “The people of Gaza have been displaced, bombed, and starved, left completely stripped of their humanity and rights.”

PHR said Israel’s military campaign shows evidence of a “deliberate and systemic dismantling of Gaza’s health and life-sustaining systems”.

Both organisations said Israel’s Western allies were enabling the genocidal campaign, and shared responsibility for suffering in Gaza.

“It couldn’t happen without the support of the Western world,” Ms Novak said. “Any leader that is not doing whatever they can to stop it is part of this horror.”

Hamas said the reports by the two groups were a “clear and unambiguous testimony from within Israeli society itself regarding the grave crimes perpetrated by the occupation regime against our people”.

Dire humanitarian conditions

Since Israel launched its offensive in Gaza following the deadly Hamas attack on 7 October 2023, nearly 60,000 people – mostly civilians – have been killed, according to Gaza health officials.

Much of the infrastructure has been destroyed, and nearly the whole population of more than two million has been displaced.

An increasing number of people in Gaza are also dying from starvation and malnutrition, according to Gaza health authorities.

On Monday, the Gaza health ministry reported that at least 14 people had died from starvation and malnutrition in the past 24 hours, raising the total number of hunger-related deaths during the war to 147.

Among the victims were 88 children, with most of the deaths occurring in recent weeks.

UN agencies say the territory is running out of food for its people and accuse Israel of not allowing enough aid deliveries to the enclave. Israel denies those claims.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday said “there is no starvation in Gaza” and vowed to fight on against Hamas.

US President Donald Trump said on Monday that many in Gaza are facing starvation and implied that Israel could take further steps to improve humanitarian access.

Israel has repeatedly said its actions in Gaza are in self-defence, placing full responsibility for civilian casualties on Hamas. It cites the militant group’s refusal to release hostages, surrender, or stop operating within civilian areas – allegations that Hamas denies.

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Why are airdrops on Gaza so dangerous?

Published

1 day ago

July 28, 2025

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The United Nations has condemned airdrops on Gaza, warning they risk killing the starving Palestinians they are intended to help.

Jordan, the United Arab Emirates, and Israel parachuted aid packages into the territory for the first time in months at the weekend amid claims a third of the population has not eaten for days.

But Philippe Lazzarini, commissioner-general for the UN Relief and Work Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA), has said they “will not reverse the deepening starvation” and often do more harm than good.

‘Make or break’ as starvation looms; Middle East latest

“They are expensive, inefficient & can even kill starving civilians,” he wrote in a statement on X.

What is an airdrop – and why are they dangerous?

There are several ways humanitarian agencies and international allies can deliver aid to regions in need – by land, by sea, or by air.

While parachuting in supply packages from planes may look impressive, airdrops are “fraught with problems”, Sky correspondent in Jordan Sally Lockwood says, and often used as a “desperate last resort”.

“Foreign nations know airdrops are a deeply flawed way of delivering aid,” she says.

“Palestinian sources tell us the aid that’s been dropped so far is not reaching the most vulnerable. They are an attempt to get something to a few – often viewed as a desperate last resort. Gaza is at that point.”

Military analyst Sean Bell says that delivering aid by air is ideally done when planes can land on a runway – but Gaza’s only landing strip in Rafah was shut down in 2021.

The alternative is “very dangerous”, he warns. “Aircraft flying relatively low and slow over a warzone isn’t very clever. When these parcels hit the ground, there’s a significant danger of them hitting people.”

Crucially, they can only deliver a fraction of what lorries can.

“The really big issue is aircraft can only deliver one truckload of aid. Gaza needs 500 truckloads a day, so it’s 0.2% of the daily need,” Bell adds.

They also risk falling into the wrong hands and ending up on the black market.

“Some of it has been looted by gangs and is on the black market already,” Lockwood says.

Why are they happening now?

Israel cut off all supplies to Gaza at the beginning of March, reopening some aid centres in May, but with restrictions they said were designed to stop goods being stolen by Hamas militants.

Israeli authorities control the only three border crossings to the strip: Kerem Shalom in the south, Crossing 147 in the centre, and Erez to the north.

Since the current conflict with Hamas began in October 2023, humanitarian agencies and world leaders have repeatedly accused Israel of not allowing enough deliveries through.

Mr Lazzarini says the UN has “the equivalent of 6,000 trucks” in neighbouring Jordan and Egypt “waiting for the green light to get into Gaza”.

Israel says it has commissioned a “one-week scale-up of aid”, having conducted its own airdrops on Saturday.

In a statement over the weekend, the Israeli Defence Forces said it will work with the UN and other aid organisations to ensure aid is delivered but no more details were given.

Meanwhile on Sunday, it began daily 10-hour pauses in fighting in three areas of Gaza to address the deteriorating humanitarian situation.

According to the Hamas-run health ministry, 133 Palestinians had died of malnutrition by then, including 87 children.

Doctors Without Borders warned on Friday that 25% of young children and pregnant women in Gaza are malnourished.

Israel says there is no famine in Gaza.

What are in the airdrops and who is behind them?

Air packages are largely being delivered by C-130 planes. Jordan is reported to be using 10 and the UAE eight.

They can carry eight pallets of goods each, weighing around eight tonnes in total, according to Lockwood, who is on the runway at Jordan’s King Abdullah II airbase.

There are no medical supplies in the packages, she says, only dried food, rice, flour, and baby formula.

Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has said the UK will help with airdrops – but no British aircraft have been seen in Jordan so far.

He will discuss the matter with US President Donald Trump during talks in Scotland on Monday.

The RAF delivered 110 tonnes of aid across 10 drops last year as part of a Jordanian-led international coalition – but it is not clear what level of support will be offered this time.