South Africa charged Israel with violating international law in Gaza during arguments before the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Tel Aviv has imposed a full blockade on the Palestinian territory since the beginning of March.
The ICJ began hearing statements on Tel Aviv’s obligations to the Palestinians under Israeli military occupation on Monday. Palestinian Ambassador to the Netherlands Ammar Hijazi accused Israel of breaching international law in Gaza and the West Bank.
“Israel is starving, killing and displacing Palestinians while also targeting and blocking humanitarian organizations trying to save their lives,” he said.
On Tuesday, South Africa’s representative Jaymion Hendricks argued that “International law prohibits Israel from the use of starvation as a method of warfare, including under siege or blockade, Israel may not collectively punish the protected Palestinian population, which it holds under unlawful occupation.”
Israel has “deployed the full range of techniques of hunger and starvation, perfecting the degree of control suffering and death that it can cause through food systems, leading to this moment of genocide. Despite the horrific attempts by Israeli officials to characterize them otherwise, Palestinians are human beings,” he added.
On March 2, Israel broke a ceasefire and hostage agreement with Hamas by imposing a full blockade of aid and goods into the Strip. Supplies of food, medicine and other goods have plummeted, with aid groups warning that the shortages have thrown parts of Gaza into famine.
The ICJ hearings are a result of a UN General Assembly vote that called on the World Court to at least examine Israel’s obligations to the Palestinians. Israel is not issuing a defense to the court, effectively boycotting the hearings in protest.
Representatives from Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Bolivia, and Colombia all accused Israel of violating international law. The hearings, which kicked off Monday, are expected to last five days.
In January 2024, the ICJ ruled there was a plausible cause that Israel was carrying out a genocide in Gaza. The legal process in that case was delayed until January 2026 because of postponements requested by Tel Aviv.
That Israel is conducting a genocide and using starvation warfare has been openly discussed by top Israeli ministers since the start of the conflict. Defense Minister Israel Katz and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich have also opened an office within the Defense Ministry dedicated to resettling Palestinians outside of Gaza.
In October, several members of the Knesset, including 10 from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud party, held a conference plotting to “resettle Gaza.”
Last week, Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir met with Republican congressmen in the US and said they discussed bombing food stores in Gaza. “I had the honor and privilege to meet with senior officials of the Republican Party at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate,” Ben Gvir wrote on X.
“They expressed support for my very clear position on how to act in Gaza and that the food and aid warehouses should be bombed in order to create military and political pressure to bring our hostages home safely,” he added.
Aid agencies say food stores are largely depleted, and many Palestinians are surviving on one meal a day. Tens of thousands of children have begun to show signs of malnutrition.
