By Lehlohonolo Lehana.
Minister of International Relations Naledi Pandor will lead South African delegation to The Hague, as the International Court of Justice (ICJ) will deliver its landmark ruling on Friday in the case against Israel over alleged genocide in Gaza, a verdict likely to be watched closely around the world.
The International Court of Justice in The Hague could potentially order Israel to stop its military campaign in Gaza, sparked by the unprecedented Hamas attack on October 7.
South Africa has hauled Israel before the court, alleging it stands in breach of the UN’s Genocide Convention, signed in 1948 as the world’s response to the Holocaust.
Pandor will attend the ruling on Friday, where the 17-judge panel will announce its response to South Africa’s requests for an interim ruling in its historic genocide case.
South Africa wants the ICJ to issue so-called “provisional measures”, emergency orders to protect Palestinians in Gaza from potential breaches of the convention.
Orders from the ICJ, which rules in disputes between countries, are legally binding and cannot be appealed.
However, the court has little power to enforce its verdicts — for example it ordered Russia to stop its invasion of Ukraine one month after it began, to no avail.
Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has already hinted he would not feel bound by any ICJ order.
“No one will stop us — not The Hague, not the Axis of Evil and no one else,” he said on January 14, referring to the Iran-aligned “axis of resistance” groups in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen.
The court is only ruling on South Africa’s plea for emergency measures, not on the fundamental issue of whether Israel could be committing genocide — that will take years.
An ICJ ruling against Israel would increase political pressure on the country, with many speculating it could serve as a pretext for sanctions.
The war in Gaza erupted when Hamas launched its unprecedented October 7 attack, which resulted in about 1,140 people killed in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
More than 25,700 Palestinians, around 70 percent of them women, young children and adolescents, have been killed in the Gaza Strip in Israeli bombardments and ground offensive since October 7, according to the Hamas government’s Ministry of Health.