TPC Staff
The Palestine Chronicle / December 9, 2024
“We cannot turn a blind eye to this injustice. Israel must be held accountable for its crimes against the people of Gaza.”
South African President Cyril Ramaphosa has said Israel’s “barbaric war” against the people of Gaza must end “and we demand that it should end now.”
“As nations, we know too well the pain of having our lands colonized and our people oppressed,” Ramaphosa said during an address to the Algerian parliament on Friday, adding that South Africa and Algeria “stand firm in our support for the Palestinian people’s quest for self-determination.”
“Israel’s barbaric war on the people of Gaza must end,” the president emphasized, adding that “The killing of women, children, and non-combatants; the bombardment of homes, schools, and hospitals; and the denial of humanitarian aid is a stain on the conscience of the world.”
Ramaphosa stressed “We cannot turn a blind eye to this injustice. Israel must be held accountable for its crimes against the people of Gaza.”
ICJ case
South Africa filed a case of genocide against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in late 2023, accusing Israel of violating the 1948 Genocide Convention.
Several countries, including Ireland, Turkey, Nicaragua, Spain, Mexico, and Colombia, have joined the case which began public hearings in January.
In October, South Africa filed its memorial to the ICJ which it says contains evidence that Israel has violated the Genocide Convention in its ongoing military offensive in the enclave which has killed over 44,000 Palestinians.
“The evidence will show that undergirding Israel’s genocidal acts is the special intent to commit genocide, a failure by Israel to prevent incitement to genocide, to prevent genocide itself and its failure to punish those inciting and committing acts of genocide,” the country’s Presidency said in a statement following the submission.
“The glaring genocide in Gaza is there for all who are not blinded by prejudice to see,” the statement said.
South Africa has repeatedly called for an immediate ceasefire as well as the start of a political process to ensure a just and lasting peace.
Ongoing genocide
Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate ceasefire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza.
Currently on trial before the International Court of Justice for genocide against Palestinians, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7.
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, 44,758 Palestinians have been killed, and 106,134 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7, 2023.
Moreover, at least 11,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.
Israel says that 1,200 soldiers and civilians were killed during the Al-Aqsa Flood Operation on October 7. Israeli media published reports suggesting that many Israelis were killed on that day by ‘friendly fire’.
Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.
Famine and displacement
The Israeli war has resulted in an acute famine, mostly in northern Gaza, resulting in the death of many Palestinians, mostly children.
The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.
Later in the war, hundreds of thousands of Palestinians began moving from the south to central Gaza in a constant search for safety.
