CORRECTS - Palestine hails South Africa's urgent ICJ appeal for safety of Gazans amid Israeli onslaught

CORRECTS DATE IN 2nd PARA

By Qais Abu Samra

RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) – Palestine welcomed on Thursday South Africa's urgent request for additional interim measures from the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to secure the safety of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip amid a deadly Israeli onslaught.

South Africa on Wednesday said it requested the Hague-based court to act urgently to prevent a “catastrophic famine” and “genocide” in the Gaza Strip.

“The Palestinian people are no longer at immediate risk or death by starvation. The Palestinian people are dying of starvation,” the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

“Israel is massacring the Palestinian people seeking to obtain extremely limited humanitarian aid.”

In an interim ruling in January, the ICJ ordered Israel to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

The Palestinian ministry accused Israel of "violating the Genocide Convention" and “defying the provisional measures by the ICJ."

"The unfolding genocide in Gaza justifies and indeed demands that the ICJ immediately and urgently modify its prior decisions on provisional measures and indicate additional provisional measures, including an immediate halt to Israel's genocide," it added.

Israel has continued a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip, now in its 153rd day, following an Oct. 7 attack by the Palestinian group Hamas, which Tel Aviv said killed nearly 1,200 people.

At least 30,800 Palestinians have since been killed and nearly 73,000 others injured amid mass destruction and shortages of necessities.

Israel has also imposed a crippling blockade on the Gaza Strip, leaving its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.

About 85% of Gazans have been displaced by the Israeli onslaught amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio