South Africa is set to submit a detailed memorial against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Monday, aiming to substantiate its case that Israel is committing genocide in Palestine, diplomatic sources confirmed to Anadolu on Sunday.
A South African diplomatic source told Anadolu, requesting anonymity as he was not authorized to talk to the media, that the memorial will be filed on Monday.
South African Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola told the Daily Maverick news website that the memorial contains more evidence, in “forensic detail,” to show that “this is not just a plausible case of genocide, but indeed it is genocide.”
The report says that once a memorial is filed, the respondent (in this case, Israel) must file a counter-memorial by July 28 of next year.
South Africa filed the genocide case against Israel at the tribunal based in The Hague in late 2023, saying Israel, which has bombed Gaza since last October, of failing to uphold its commitments under the 1948 Genocide Convention.
Several countries, including Türkiye, Nicaragua, Palestine, Spain, Mexico, Libya, and Colombia, have joined the case, which began public hearings in January.
The top court in May ordered Israel to halt its offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah. It was the third time the 15-judge panel issued preliminary orders seeking to rein in the death toll and alleviate humanitarian suffering in the blockaded enclave, where the casualty count has crossed 44,000.