South Africa condemns Israel’s attack on Palestinian civilians awaiting aid in Gaza

By Hassan Isilow

South Africa on Friday condemned the Israeli killings of more than 100 Palestinians who were shot while waiting for life-saving humanitarian aid in Gaza.

More than 700 others were injured during Thursday's attack.

“This latest atrocity is another breach of international law and in breach of the binding provisional orders of the Internal Court of Justice(ICJ),’’ South Africa’s Foreign Ministry said.

In late 2023, South Africa filed a case at the top UN court in The Hague, accusing Israel of failing to uphold its obligations under the 1948 Genocide Convention.

In its interim ruling in January, the court found South Africa's claims plausible. It ordered Israel's government to cease genocidal acts and to take steps to ensure that civilians in Gaza receive humanitarian assistance.

Pretoria said legal remedies are one route to end institutionalized impunity that Israel has enjoyed for decades, but considering Thursdays attack legal remedies are not sufficient though and the international community must now consider other measures to end the unlawful actions of the Israeli government.

“A first step is an unconditional call for a ceasefire by the United Nations Security Council. An immediate and unconditional call for a ceasefire is now a moral and life-saving necessity,” said the ministry.

On Thursday dawn, the Israeli forces shelled a crowd of Palestinians waiting for humanitarian aid south of Gaza City at the "al-Nabulsi Roundabout" area, leaving more than 112 Palestinians killed and 760 others injured, according to the Gaza-based Health Ministry.

Israel has launched a deadly military offensive on the Gaza Strip since an Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas attack, which Tel Aviv says killed nearly 1,200 people.

At least 30,035 Palestinians have since been killed and 70,457 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.

The Israeli war has pushed 85% of Gaza’s population into internal displacement 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.