Israel has asked the International Court of Justice (ICJ) not to issue emergency orders to increase humanitarian aid to the Gaza Strip to deal with the impending famine. According to the Israeli government, South Africa's request for this is “morally repugnant”.
In a legal document presented to the UN's highest court, made public this Monday (18), Israel claims that it “has a real concern for the humanitarian situation and for innocent lives, as demonstrated by the actions it has taken and is taking” in Gaza during the war.
Lawyers representing the country have denied accusations that the country deliberately causes humanitarian suffering in the Palestinian territory, where thousands of people have died and hunger is intensifying.
They also said that South Africa's successive requests for additional measures constitute an abuse of procedures.
The document maintains that the African country's accusations in the request for new measures presented on March 6 are “totally unfounded in fact and in law, morally repugnant and represent an abuse of both the Genocide Convention and the court itself”.
The parties' new exchange of statements is part of the process presented by South Africa, which accuses Israel of state-led genocide in Gaza following the Hamas militant attacks on October 7.
In January, the ICJ, also known as the World Court, ordered Israel to refrain from any acts that could fall under the Genocide Convention and to ensure that its troops do not commit genocidal acts against Palestinians in Gaza.
Israel denies targeting Palestinian civilians, arguing that its only interest is to annihilate Hamas. Aid agencies say, however, that aid to Gaza's 2.3 million residents is subject to severe restrictions.
The ICJ's emergency measures serve as temporary injunctions, designed to prevent a situation from deteriorating before the court can review the full case, a process that often takes years.
Source: CNN Brasil
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