THE HAGUE, Friday, May 10, 2024 (WAFA) – South Africa today submitted an urgent request for additional provisional measures in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) genocide case against Israel.

The ICJ said in a press release that “South Africa filed an urgent request with the Court for the indication of additional provisional measures and the modification of provisional measures previously prescribed by the Court in the case concerning Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel).”

ICJ pointed out that in its new request, South Africa states that the provisional measures previously indicated by the Court “are not capable of ‘fully address[ing]’ the changed circumstances and new facts on which [its] Request is founded”.

South Africa further states in the new request that “[t]he situation brought about by the Israeli assault on Rafah, and the extreme risk it poses to humanitarian supplies and basic services into Gaza, to the survival of the Palestinian medical system, and to the very survival of Palestinians in Gaza as a group, is not only an escalation of the prevailing situation, but gives rise to new facts that are causing irreparable harm to the rights of the Palestinian people in Gaza”.

ICJ added that South Africa requests the Court to indicate further provisional measures and modify the previous provisional measures, pursuant to Article 41 of the Statute of the Court and Articles 73 (1), 74 (1), 75 (1) and (3) and/or 76 (1) of the Rules of Court, for “the protection of the Palestinian people in Gaza from grave and irreparable violations of their rights, and of South Africa’s rights, under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide”.

K.F.