March 7, 2024 (EIRNS)—South Africa is asking the International Court of Justice to order additional measures—urgently, and without taking the time for a hearing—to prevent genocide being committed by Israel.
”The Republic of South Africa (‘South Africa’) is compelled to return to the Court in light of the new facts and changes in the situation in Gaza—particularly the situation of widespread starvation—brought about by the continuing egregious breaches of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide … by the State of Israel … and its ongoing manifest violations of the provisional measures indicated by this Court on 26 January 2024,” opens the urgent request South Africa has submitted to the International Court of Justice.
“South Africa hereby requests the Court to indicate further provisional measures and/or to modify its provisional measures indicated on 26 January 2024,” the filing continues. “The request and application are made in light of changes in the situation in Gaza and/or new facts since the Court’s Order of 26 January 2024 and since the Court’s subsequent decision of 16 February 2024, calling on Israel to comply with its obligations….”
Recalling that on February 16, the Court declined to indicate additional measures, while stating that the “perilous situation demands immediate and effective implementation of the provisional measures” it already indicated on January 26, South Africa charges: “The situation then ‘perilous’ is now so terrifying as to be unspeakable … justifying—and indeed demanding—the indication of further provisional measures of protection.”
Palestinian children are no longer at risk of starvation; they are now “starving to death as a direct result of the deliberate acts and omissions of Israel.”
On March 2, 2024, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food warned that “famine may very well be already occurring” due to Israel “intentionally starving the Palestinian people in Gaza,” and that “the only way to end/prevent this famine is an immediate ceasefire. And the only way to get a ceasefire is to sanction Israel.”
“Israel is now massacring desperate, starving Palestinians seeking to obtain food for their slowly-dying children,” South Africa reminds the Court, referring to the “flour massacre” in Gaza City of February 29.
