On Tuesday, South Africa announced that it has formally requested the World Court to assess whether Israel's plan of expanding its offensive into the city of Rafah necessitates extra emergency measures to safeguard the rights of Palestinians. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) previously instructed Israel to take all necessary actions within its power to prevent its troops from committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, following a case launched by South Africa. Israel has refuted all allegations of genocide and has urged the court to dismiss the case entirely, arguing that it abides by international law and possesses the right to self-defense.
Israel has announced its intention to escalate its ground assault into Rafah, where over a million Palestinians have sought refuge from the ongoing offensive, which has caused significant destruction throughout the Gaza Strip since the attack by Hamas militants on October 7th. South Africa's presidency issued a statement expressing deep concern that the Israeli military offensive against Rafah, as announced by Israel itself, has already resulted in extensive loss of life, harm, and destruction. Their statement further emphasized that such actions would constitute a grave violation of both the Genocide Convention and the court's previous order from January 26th.
The ICJ, based in The Hague, has confirmed that it has received the request from South Africa but has not provided any indication of how or when a decision will be made.
The Israeli foreign ministry has not yet responded to a request for comment. In prior cases, the ICJ has sometimes granted additional emergency measures when the circumstances on the ground have changed. While the court has not yet made a ruling on the central issue of whether genocide has occurred in Gaza, it has acknowledged the right of Palestinians in Gaza to be protected from acts of genocide.