The International Court of Justice, the highest judicial body of the United Nations, announced that it will issue a historic decision on Friday in the case against Israel, which is accused of committing genocide in Gaza.
The court may order Israel to stop its military campaign in Gaza, which it launched following the unprecedented attack launched by Hamas on October 7.
South Africa filed the lawsuit accusing Israel of violating the United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, concluded in 1948 as a global response to the Jewish Holocaust.
Pretoria wants the International Court of Justice to issue so-called "interim measures", which are emergency orders to protect Palestinians in Gaza from potential violations of the agreement.
Orders issued by the International Court of Justice, which decides disputes between states, are legally binding and cannot be appealed, but the court does not have broad authority to enforce its rulings.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has already hinted that he will not be bound by any order from the International Court of Justice.
“No one will stop us - not The Hague, not the Axis of Evil and no one else,” Netanyahu said on January 14, referring to the court based in The Hague and the “Axis of Resistance” factions allied with Iran in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen.
The decision to be issued on Friday only rules on South Africa's request for emergency measures, and not on the core issue of whether Israel committed genocide - an issue that will take years to decide.
A decision by the International Court of Justice against Israel would increase political pressure on the Hebrew state, and many observers expect that it could serve as an excuse to impose sanctions on it.
The war broke out in Gaza when Hamas launched its unprecedented attack on October 7, which killed about 1,140 people in Israel, most of them civilians, according to a tally prepared by Agence France-Presse based on official figures.
More than 25,700 Palestinians were killed as a result of the Israeli military campaign in the Gaza Strip, about 70% of whom were women and minors, according to the Hamas Ministry of Health.
South Africa's legal team argued that Israel's bombing campaign aimed to "destroy Palestinian life" and had pushed Gazans "to the brink of starvation."
“Genocides are never declared in advance, but this court has the benefit of evidence obtained over the past thirteen weeks that indisputably demonstrates a pattern of conduct and relevant intentions that justify a plausible allegation of commission,” said team member Adila Hashim, a member of the team, lawyer Adeela Hashim. acts of genocide.”
Israel responded that it did not seek to destroy the Palestinian people and described the South African case as painting a "severely distorted picture of reality."
A member of the Israeli legal team, lawyer Tal Baker, said, “Israel is waging a defense war against Hamas, not against the Palestinian people.”
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