Israel faces 'genocide' charge at UN top court

Israel will on Friday hit back at what it describes as "atrocious" allegations it is committing "genocide" in Gaza, in a closely watched landmark case before the U.N.'s top court.

South Africa has launched an emergency case at the International Court of Justice arguing that Israel stands in breach of the U.N. Genocide Convention, signed in 1948 in the wake of the Holocaust.

Pretoria wants judges to force Israel to "immediately" stop the Gaza campaign launched after the devastating Oct. 7 Hamas attacks.

Israel and its ally the United States have dismissed the case as groundless and vowed a robust defence at the Peace Palace in The Hague, which houses the ICJ.

The ICJ will likely rule within a matter of weeks on South Africa's request. Its rulings are final and legally binding but it has little power to enforce them.

A month after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, the ICJ ordered a halt to the military operation — to no avail.

 'Crossed the line'

For this emergency proceeding, the court will not rule on the fundamentals of the case — whether Israel is actually committing genocide — but on whether the rights of Gazans to exist are at risk.

South Africa can bring an ICJ case against Israel as both countries have signed the Genocide Convention.

Justice Minister Ronald Lamola told the court on Thursday that Israel had "crossed the line" and was in breach of the Convention.

He said that even the brutality of the Hamas attack could not justify this.

"Genocides are never declared in advance," said Adila Hassim, a top lawyer for South Africa.

"But this court has the benefit of the past 13 weeks of evidence that shows incontrovertibly a pattern of conduct and related...