Egypt intends to support South Africa’s case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against Israel’s bombing campaign and ground invasion in Gaza, its foreign ministry announced on Sunday.
The decision is in response to the escalating Israeli aggression and scope of attacks against civilians in the Palestinian enclave, the ministry said in a statement posted on X (formerly Twitter).
Fighting between the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and Hamas, which has lasted more than eight months, was sparked by the Palestinian militant group’s surprise raid into Israeli territory on October 7, which killed approximately 1,200 people. Hamas also took over 200 hostages, some of whom were later released as part of prisoner exchanges.
According to local authorities, more than 35,000 Palestinians have been killed since the start of hostilities, which have spread to Rafah, Gaza’s southernmost city, where people fleeing the northern part of the enclave sought refuge.
Hamas declared last week that it had agreed to a cease-fire proposal by Egypt and Qatar calling for an initial halt to fighting followed by long-term peace and the withdrawal of Israeli troops from the Palestinian territory. Israel, on the other hand, rejected the proposal and pledged to push ahead with its long-planned assault on Rafah, located on Egypt’s eastern border with Gaza, despite opposition from the US and a host of other countries.
On Sunday, Cairo accused the IDF of directly targeting civilians, destroying infrastructure, and forcing Palestinians to flee their homes.
“Egypt calls on Israel to comply with its obligations as the occupying power, and to implement the provisional measures issued by the International Court of Justice, which require ensuring adequate access to humanitarian and relief aid to meet the needs of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, and for Israeli forces not to commit any violations against the Palestinian people as a protected people,” the ministry stated.
The IDF has denied targeting civilians.
In January, an interim ruling by the ICJ ordered Israel to take steps to prevent genocide and improve humanitarian conditions for Gaza’s population. South Africa’s lawsuit accuses West Jerusalem of committing systematic war crimes in the Palestinian region.
Ireland also announced late in March that it would support Pretoria in the case filed late last year, calling Israel’s actions in Gaza a “blatant violation of international humanitarian law on a mass scale.”