THE HAGUE, (PIC)
The International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague concluded on Friday its two-day public hearings on South Africa’s genocide case against Israel and its demand for the court’s urgent intervention to stop Israel’s military operation in the Gaza Strip.
“The public hearings on the request for the indication of provisional measures submitted by South Africa in the case concerning Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel) concluded today,” ICJ said in a statement.
The court judges will now start deliberations on the arguments and evidence presented by South Africa on Thursday and Israel on Friday before delivering their decision on urgent measures to end the war on Gaza at a public sitting to be announced in due course.
ICJ president Joan Donoghue said the court would rule on the request for urgent measures “as soon as possible.”
However, the court will continue to hear the merits of the case on Israel’s genocide in Gaza – a process that could take years.
South Africa’s minister of justice Ronald Lamola told journalists outside the ICJ headquarters on Friday that Israel had failed to disprove South Africa’s arguments, and expressed his rejection of Israel’s claims of self-defense as an excuse for genocide.
