South Africa applauds UN’s top court ruling against Israel

The South African government has commended a ground-breaking ruling by the International Court of Justice that ordered Israel to suspend its military assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

Judges at the UN top court had earlier on Friday supported a South African request to order Israel to halt its violent attacks on Rafah.

The ruling came a week after Pretoria called for the measure in a case accusing Israel of genocide, an allegation Israel has rejected.

Zane Dangor, director-general of the Department of International Relations and Cooperation, said in a video clip shared by the department that the order is “ground-breaking as it is the first time that explicit mention is made for Israel to halt its military action in any area of Gaza.”

Commenting on the court’s verdict, President Cyril Ramaphosa’s office said South Africa was worried that the United Nations Security Council had not succeeded in stopping the collective punishment and humanitarian suffering in Gaza.

Meanwhile, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office rejected South Africa’s allegations on Friday, calling them false and outrageous.

Tel Aviv has repeatedly denied the accusations of genocide, arguing in court that its operations in Gaza are self-defence and targeted at Hamas militants who attacked Israel on Oct. 7.