Gaza: South Africa says war at ‘new and horrific stage’ as it urges UN court to order ceasefire and stop Rafah offensive
South Africa has told a UN court the situation in Gaza is at a “new and horrific stage” – as it tries to convince it to order a ceasefire and stop Israel’s operation in Rafah.
It was the third time the International Court of Justice (ICJ) has held hearings on Gaza since December, when South Africa first accused Israel of genocide.
“Seven months ago South Africa could not have imagined that Gaza would be largely wiped off the map,” the country’s ambassador to the Netherlands, Vusimuzi Madonsela, told judges.
Israel denies allegations of genocide and says it takes great care to avoid civilian casualties as it seeks to destroy Hamas following its devastating October attack.
However, South Africa believes Israel’s military operation has far exceeded acceptable self-defence.
“Israel’s actions in Rafah are part of the end game. This is the last step in the destruction of Gaza,” lawyer Vaughan Lowe told the 15-judge panel at The Hague.
South Africa called Israel’s offensive in the southern city a “brutal military attack on the sole remaining refuge for the people of Gaza”, and said the court’s previous orders had made no difference.
It was the third time the court has held a session on Gaza at South Africa’s request. Pic: Reuters
Pic: Reuters
Ambassador Madonsela urged judges to order Israel to “totally and unconditionally withdraw” from the Gaza Strip.
More than a million people are estimated to have originally fled to Rafah from the destruction in northern parts of Gaza.
But as Israeli attacks in Rafah intensify, about half have now left for other areas – including to bombed-out homes they previously abandoned.
Palestinians sheltering in a school prepare to flee Rafah on 13 May. Pic: Reuters
In January, the ICJ ordered Israel to do all it could to guard against deaths, destruction and any acts of genocide but didn’t tell it to end the fighting.
Another order in March said the country should take steps to improve the humanitarian situation – with many Gazans also dealing with chronic food shortages.
Thursday’s court hearing came as the US said it had anchored a floating pier to receive much-needed aid at a Gaza Strip beach.
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Military analyst Michael Clarke explains how the pier will work
The United Nations welcomed the move but said land entry points were a faster way to get aid in.
Israel’s operation in Rafah has virtually halted aid via the southern border and famine is a “clear and present danger”, said UN humanitarian affairs chief Martin Griffiths.
“Stocks of food which were in place already in southern Gaza are running out. I think we’re talking about almost none left,” he told Reuters news agency.
“And so the humanitarian operation is stuck, it’s completely stuck. We can’t do what we want to do.”
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Eyewitness: Israeli protesters block aid going into Gaza
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Israeli protesters block Gaza aid trucks
Israel has blamed UN agencies for not distributing aid more efficiently and creating backlogs of supplies.
It says it had killed more than 100 Hamas fighters since it began a ground operation in Rafah last week – which officials say is intended to destroy the group’s presence there and rescue hostages.
Military spokesman Lt. Col. Nadav Shoshan said on Thursday they had also found tunnel shafts under and near the city’s border crossing with Egypt.
Many Western countries warned of devastating consequences if Israel expanded operations in Rafah, with President Biden saying the US wouldn’t provide some weapons if it went ahead.
So far, it doesn’t appear to be a full-scale invasion but the UN says hundreds of thousands of people have still fled.
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The offensive could escalate, however, after the Israeli defence minister visited on Wednesday and warned “additional forces will enter” and “we are wearing Hamas down”.
Gaza’s health ministry says more than 35,000 people have died so far, while about 1,200 were murdered in the 7 October Hamas attack that triggered the war.
Several hundred Israelis were also taken hostage, with immense pressure at home for the government to agree a ceasefire deal to free them.
Israel has approved a plan to capture all of the Gaza Strip and remain there for an unspecified length of time, Israeli officials say.
According to Reuters, the plan includes distributing aid, though supplies will not be let in yet.
The Israeli official told the agency that the newly approved offensive plan would move Gaza’s civilian population southward and keep humanitarian aid from falling into Hamas’s hands.
On Sunday, the United Nations rejected what it said was a new plan for aid to be distributed in what it described as Israeli hubs.
Israeli cabinet ministers approved plans for the new offensive on Monday morning, hours after it was announced that tens of thousands of reserve soldiers are being called up.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has so far failed to achieve his goal of destroying Hamas or returning all the hostages, despite more than a year of brutal war in Gaza.
Palestinian children struggle to get donated food at a community kitchen in Khan Younis, Gaza. Pic: AP
Officials say the plan will help with these war aims but it would also push hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to southern Gaza, exacerbating an already dire humanitarian crisis.
They said the plan included the “capturing of the strip and the holding of territories”.
It would also try to prevent Hamas from distributing humanitarian aid, which Israel says strengthens the group’s rule in Gaza.
The UN rejected the plan, saying it would leave large parts of the population, including the most vulnerable, without supplies.
It said it “appears designed to reinforce control over life-sustaining items as a pressure tactic – as part of a military strategy”.
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IDF reservists call for end to war in Gaza
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More than 52,000 Palestinians have been killed since the IDF launched its ground offensive in the densely-populated territory, according to the Hamas-run health ministry.
It followed the deadly Hamas attacks on Israel, which killed 1,200 people and saw around 250 people taken hostage.
A fragile ceasefire that saw a pause in the fighting and the exchange of Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners collapsed earlier this year.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed to retaliate against the Houthis and their Iranian “masters” after the group launched a missile attack on the country’s main international airport.
A missile fired by the group from Yemen landed near Ben Gurion Airport, causing panic among passengers in the terminal building.
“Attacks by the Houthis emanate from Iran,” Mr Netanyahu wrote on X. “Israel will respond to the Houthi attack against our main airport AND, at a time and place of our choosing, to their Iranian terror masters.”
Israeli police officers investigate the missile crater. Pic: Reuters
The missile impact left a plume of smoke and briefly halted flights and commuter traffic at the airport. Some international carriers have cancelled flights to and from Tel Aviv for several days.
Four people were lightly wounded, paramedic service Magen David Adom said.
Air raid sirens went off across Israel and footage showed passengers yelling and rushing for cover.
The attack came hours before senior Israeli cabinet ministers were set to vote on whether to intensify the country’s military operations in the Gaza Strip, and as the army began calling up thousands of reserves in anticipation of a wider operation in the enclave.
Houthi military spokesperson Brigadier General Yahya Saree said the group fired a hypersonic ballistic missile at the airport.
Iran’s defence minister later told a state TV broadcaster that if the country was attacked by the US or Israel, it would target their bases, interests and forces where necessary.
Israel’s military said several attempts to intercept the missile were unsuccessful.
Air, road and rail traffic were halted after the attack, police said, though it resumed around an hour later.
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Yemen’s Houthis have been firing missiles at Israel since its war with Hamas in Gaza began on 7 October 2023, and while most have been intercepted, some have penetrated the country’s missile defence systems and caused damage.
Israel has previously struck the group in Yemen in retaliation and the US and UK have also launched strikes after the Houthis began attacking international shipping, saying it was in solidarity with Palestinians over Israel’s war with Hamas.
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