UPDATE: South Africa welcomes ICJ ruling to halt Rafah offensive

CHANGES DECK; ADDS DETAILS WITH STATEMENT FROM SOUTH AFRICAN PRESIDENT

By Hassan Isilow

South Africa’s --president late Friday welcomed the ruling by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that ordered Israel to immediately halt its military offensive in Rafah, but he expressed concern about the ongoing humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.

“We are gravely concerned that Israel has restricted necessary levels of aid from entering Gaza and has systematically targeted aid and aid infrastructure within Gaza,” Cyril Ramaphosa said in a statement.

He said Palestinians continue to die of starvation, many of them children, and hundreds of thousands are at imminent risk of death because a deliberate decision has been taken by Israel to starve Palestinians by denying them food.

“This case is thus focused on the ordinary Palestinians in Gaza who are now facing their seventh month of suffering through collective punishment for something for which they have no individual responsibility,” said Ramaphosa.

The South African leader said his country remains concerned that the UN Security Council has so far not succeeded in stopping the human suffering.

South Africa, which reported Israel to the ICJ in November 2023, accusing it of war crimes and acts of genocide for its onslaught in Gaza, had successfully asked the Court twice to grant additional or modified provisional measures in its case to prevent irreparable harm by Israel to the rights of Palestinians under the Genocide Convention.

South Africa urged state parties to observe the prescripts of international law, which obliged them to reconsider their relations with Israel following the Court’s findings.

“Under international law, Israel is obliged to implement the Court’s Order,” it said.

Earlier South Africa’s Director-General in the Foreign Ministry Zane Dangor described the ruling as ground-breaking.

‘‘This 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 Rafah. South Africa welcomes the ruling made by the court today,’’ he said.

Dangor said they also welcome the court's order compelling Israel to grant access to investigators appointed by the UN into Gaza to investigate actions that would be tantamount to a genocide.

“This is important because it allows for independent researchers to go into areas that journalists have been prohibited from….. allows us engaged in the legal action to have independent verified UN experts doing a lot of the investigations,’’ he said, adding they hope the UN Security Council will take note of it.

Dangor said South Africa will be approaching the Security Council to get this provision implemented.

‘‘We need to point out that this order like the others obligated they are binding and Israel has to adhere to them," he said.

The ICJ also ordered Israel to open the Rafah border crossing, provide "unimpeded access" to investigators looking into allegations of genocide, and report back on the progress within one month.