DEVELOPING | ICC prosecutor seeks arrest warrants for Netanyahu, Gallant and 3 Hamas leaders

ICC warrants: what happens now

ICC prosecutor Karim Khan has applied to the court's Pre-Trial Chamber for arrest warrants for three Hamas and two Israeli suspects, but they are not yet liable to be arrested.

The Chamber will now examine the evidence, likely via a panel of three judges, who must satisfy themselves that there is a reasonable case with sufficient evidence to back it, for each suspect.

Only then are arrest warrants issued by the Chamber. Those warrants will also specify the charges, which may change from the list Khan put forward.

Israel, Palestine react angrily – and similarly – to ICC arrest warrant application

Both the Israeli government and Palestinian organisations reacted with anger to the announcement that International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor Karim Khan is seeking to arrest leaders of both Hamas and Israel.

Senior Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri said the decision "equates the victim with the executioner" and encourages Israel to continue its "war of extermination" in Gaza.

Benny Gantz, an Israeli war cabinet minister, said that "drawing parallels between the leaders of a democratic country determined to defend itself from despicable terror to leaders of a blood-thirsty terror organisation (Hamas) is a deep distortion of justice and blatant moral bankruptcy."

- With Reuters

Israel's Gantz: ICC prosecutor's move is a crime of historic proportions

Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz on Monday denounced the seeking of arrest warrants against the country's prime minister and defence minister by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court as "a crime of historic proportion".

"Drawing parallels between the leaders of a democratic country determined to defend itself from despicable terror to leaders of a blood-thirsty terror organisation (Hamas) is a deep distortion of justice and blatant moral bankruptcy," Gantz said.

- Reuters

Israeli opposition head Lapid condemns ICC announcement, asks US Congress to intervene

Israeli opposition leader Yair Lapid condemned as a "disaster" on Monday an announcement by the International Criminal Court prosecutor that arrest warrants had been requested against Israel's prime minister and defence minister.

Addressing his parliamentary faction, Lapid voiced hope that the US Congress would convene and condemn the ICC measure.

- Reuters

Hamas official: ICC's decision 'equates the victim with the executioner'

The International Criminal Court's decision to seek arrest warrants for three leading Hamas militants "equates the victim with the executioner", a senior Hamas official told Reuters on Monday.

Sami Abu Zuhri also said the ICC decision gives encouragement to Israel to continue its "war of extermination" in Gaza.

- Reuters

ICC prosecutor seeks arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister Gallant

The prosecutor of the International Criminal Court on Monday said it had requested arrest warrants against Israeli Prime Minisiter Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for alleged war crimes in Gaza.

- Reuters

ICC prosecutor asks for arrest warrants for three leading Hamas leaders

The office of the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court on Monday said it was seeking arrest warrants against three leading Hamas militants for their alleged roles in the 7 October attacks in Israel, for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

- Reuters

Israel intends to broaden Rafah sweep, Gallant tells Biden adviser Sullivan

Israel intends to broaden its military sweep of the southern Gazan city of Rafah, Defence Minister Yoav Gallant told visiting US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan on Monday.

"We are committed to broadening the ground operation in Rafah to the end of dismantling Hamas and recovering the hostages," a statement from Gallant's office quoted him as saying during the meeting.

- Reuters

'No political will to reach ceasefire deal in Gaza', says Qatari minister

There is no political will to reach a ceasefire agreement in Gaza while military operations continue on the ground, Qatar's Minister of State at the Foreign Ministry, Mohammed Al-Khulaifi, said on Monday .

- Reuters

Israel not involved in death of Iran's Raisi, Israeli official says

 Israel was not involved in the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi in a helicopter crash that also killed several members of his entourage, an Israeli official told Reuters on Monday.

"It wasn't us," said the official, who requested anonymity.

- Reuters

The Palestinian Islamist group Hamas mourned on Monday the death of Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi, who it said had supported the Palestinian people during the recent war with Israel.

Raisi, a hardliner long seen as a potential successor to Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed in a helicopter crash in mountainous terrain near the Azerbaijan border, officials and state media said on Monday.

The charred wreckage of the helicopter which crashed on Sunday carrying Raisi and Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian was found early on Monday after an overnight search in blizzard conditions.

"These leaders supported the legitimate struggle of our people against the Zionist entity, provided valued support to the Palestinian resistance, and made tireless efforts in solidarity and support in all forums and fields for our people in the steadfast Gaza Strip during the Battle of Al-Aqsa Flood," referring to the current war with Israel which began on 7 October.

"They also made significant political and diplomatic efforts to stop the Zionist aggression against our Palestinian people," said Hamas in a statement.

Hamas leaders have repeatedly thanked Iran for its military and financial support to the group in their decades-long fight against Israel.

- Reuters

Deadly strikes hit Gaza as US envoy visits Israel

An Israeli strike killed 31 people in central Gaza Sunday, the Palestinian territory's civil defence agency said, as US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan visited for talks on the conflict.

Israeli troops have moved in on the Gaza Strip's far-southern city of Rafah, which the army describes as the last Hamas stronghold and where the United States says 800 000 civilians have been newly displaced by the fighting.

Hamas' armed wing, the Ezzedine Al-Qassam Brigades, said it was targeting Israeli forces stationed at Rafah crossing - a vital conduit for humanitarian aid that is now closed - with mortar fire.

Israel has also fought and bombed resurgent Hamas forces in northern and central areas of the coastal territory previously considered to be under army control, sparking US warnings that it could become mired in a lengthy counterinsurgency campaign.

In the latest aerial bombardment overnight, Gaza's civil defence agency said an Israeli strike killed 31 people and wounded 20 in a home in the central Nuseirat refugee camp.

Israel's military, which on Sunday reported its aircraft had "struck dozens of terror targets" over the past 24 hours, said it was checking the reports.

Witness Yasser Abu Oula told AFP an entire residential complex "was destroyed" and "there are still bodies under the rubble".

-AFP

Major Gaza hospital reopens amid the chaos of war

Lying bedridden in her room at the recently reopened Nasser hospital in Khan Yunis in Gaza, Alaa Abu Ahmed is relieved that she can finally restart her medical treatment.

Displacement because of fighting between Israeli forces and Hamas militants in the Palestinian territory interrupted Abu Ahmed's treatment for a chronic condition.

Over a week in February, the hospital was attacked when Khan Yunis was the focus of fighting and soldiers raided it, saying Hamas was holding Israeli hostages there.

Now hallways are filled with still-wrapped boxes of equipment, and some semblance of order is returning to the facility.

While air strikes, bombardment and fighting continue to rock other areas of Gaza, in Nasser the beds have been straightened, the debris cleared and white coats bearing Doctors Without Borders (MSF) logos mix with the blue uniforms of local medics.

The international NGO has just resumed work at the hospital, the most important in the southern Gaza Strip.

"Thank God MSF was able to start working again at Nasser Hospital and I returned for treatment," Abu Ahmed said.

"My condition has improved, but I did spend some time afraid that what happened at Al-Shifa hospital would repeat itself," she added of the territory's largest hospital, in Gaza City.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), Al-Shifa has been reduced to an "empty shell" by fighting.

-AFP

Health ministry in Gaza says war death toll at 35 456

The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Sunday that at least 35 456 people have been killed in the territory during more than seven months of war between Israel and Palestinian militants.

The toll includes 70 deaths over the past 24 hours, a ministry statement said, adding that 79 476 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began when Hamas militants attacked Israel on 7 October.

-AFP

Gaza officials say death toll from Israeli strike on Nuseirat rises to 31

Gaza Strip, Palestinian Territories – Gaza's civil defence agency said on Sunday that an Israeli air strike targeting a house at a refugee camp in the centre of the Palestinian territory killed at least 31 people, updating an earlier toll.

"The civil defence crew were able to recover 31 martyrs and 20 wounded from a house belonging to the Hassan family, which was targeted by the Israeli occupation forces in the Nuseirat camp," Gaza civil defence agency spokesperson Mahmud Bassal told journalists.

He said rescue workers were continuing to search for missing people under the rubble.

Earlier on Sunday, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital had said it had received the bodies of 20 people killed in the strike which witnesses said occurred around 03:00 local time.

The Israeli army when contacted by AFP asked for specific coordinates of the strike.

Palestinian official news agency Wafa reported that the wounded included several children.

 - AFP 

Two Israeli soldiers killed in south Gaza, military says

JERUSALEM – Two Israeli soldiers were killed in a battle in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, the military said on Sunday.

Israel's military has been focusing its offensive in the southern part of Gaza where it says the remaining Hamas brigades are holed up.

 - REUTERS 

Gaza hospital says 20 killed in Israeli strike on Nuseirat

Gaza Strip, Palestinian Territories – A Gaza hospital said on Sunday that an Israeli air strike targeting a house at a refugee camp in the centre of the Palestinian territory killed at least 20 people.

"We received 20 fatalities and several wounded after an Israeli air strike targeted a house belonging to the Hassan family in Al-Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza," the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital said in a statement.

Witnesses said the strike occurred at around 03:00 local time.

The Israeli army said it was checking the report.

Palestinian official news agency Wafa reported that the wounded included several children, and rescuers were searching for missing people trapped under the rubble.

Fierce battles and heavy Israeli bombardments have been reported in the central Nuseirat camp since the military launched a "targeted" operation focussing on the southern city of Rafah in early May.

Palestinian militants and Israeli troops have also clashed in north Gaza's Jabalia camp for days now.

Witnesses said several other houses were targeted in air strikes during the night across Gaza, and that air strikes and artillery shelling also hit parts of Rafah during the night.

The Israeli military said two more soldiers were killed in Gaza the previous day.

The military said 282 soldiers have been killed so far in the Gaza military campaign since the start of the ground offensive on 27 October.

 - AFP

Israel war cabinet minister says to quit unless Gaza plan approved

Jerusalem – Israeli war cabinet minister Benny Gantz said on Saturday he would resign from the body unless Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu approved a post-war plan for the Gaza Strip. 

"The war cabinet must formulate and approve by June 8 an action plan that will lead to the realisation of six strategic goals of national importance… (or) we will be forced to resign from the government," Gantz said, referring to his party, in a televised address directed at Netanyahu. 

Gantz said the six goals included toppling Hamas, ensuring Israeli security control over the Palestinian territory and returning Israeli hostages.

"Along with maintaining Israeli security control, establish an American, European, Arab and Palestinian administration that will manage civilian affairs in the Gaza Strip and lay the foundation for a future alternative that is not Hamas or (Mahmud) Abbas," he said, referring to the president of the Palestinian Authority.

He also urged the normalisation of ties with Saudi Arabia "as part of an overall move that will create an alliance with the free world and the Arab world against Iran and its affiliates".

Netanyahu responded to Gantz's threat on Saturday by slamming the minister's demands as "washed-up words whose meaning is clear: the end of the war and a defeat for Israel, the abandoning of most of the hostages, leaving Hamas intact and the establishment of a Palestinian state".

The Israeli army has been battling Hamas militants across the Gaza Strip for more than seven months.

 - AFP 

Israeli army says body of one hostage retrieved from Gaza

Jerusalem – The Israeli army said on Saturday that troops had retrieved the body of hostage Ron Benjamin from the war-torn Gaza Strip after he was "murdered" during the 7 October Hamas attack.

Military spokesperson Rear Admiral Daniel Hagari said Benjamin's body was recovered in the same operation that saw troops retrieve the remains of three other hostages, which was announced on Friday.

Benjamin was "murdered during the October 7th massacre at the Mefalsim intersection, and his body was abducted to Gaza by Hamas militants", the military said in a separate statement.

"His body was rescued along with the bodies of Yitzhak Gelerenter, Shani Louk, and Amit Buskila ... based on precise intelligence obtained during the interrogations of terrorists who were apprehended in the Gaza Strip."

The military said on Friday troops had recovered the bodies of Louk, Buskila and Gelerenter from Gaza after they were taken hostage during the attack on the Nova music festival.

Thousands of young people had gathered on 6 and 7 October to dance to electronic music at the event held near Re'im kibbutz close to the Gaza border.

Fighters from Hamas crossed over from Gaza and killed more than 360 people at the festival, Israeli officials have said.

 - AFP 

UN says 800 000 have fled fierce fighting in Rafah

Rafah, Palestinian Territories – Heavy clashes and bombardment rocked the southern Gaza city of Rafah on Saturday, as the United Nations said 800 000 people had been "forced to flee" Israel's assault on Hamas militants there.

Israel's military said air strikes hit more than 70 targets across Gaza while ground troops conducted "targeted raids" in eastern Rafah, killing 50 militants and locating dozens of tunnel shafts.

Philippe Lazzarini of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees said that since Israel's Rafah operation began, there had been a massive movement of people.

"800 000 people are on the road having been forced to flee since the Israeli forces started the military operation in the area on 6 May", the UNRWA chief said on X.

He said people were fleeing to areas without water supplies or adequate sanitation.

 - AFP 

Israeli leaders split over post-war Gaza governance

New divisions have emerged among Israel's leaders over post-war Gaza's governance, with an unexpected Hamas fightback in parts of the Palestinian territory piling pressure on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

The Israeli army has been battling Hamas militants across Gaza for more than seven months while also exchanging near-daily fire with Iran-backed Hezbollah forces along the northern border with Lebanon.

But after Hamas fighters regrouped in northern Gaza, where Israel previously said the group had been neutralised, broad splits emerged in the Israeli war cabinet in recent days.

Netanyahu came under personal attack from Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for failing to rule out an Israeli government in Gaza after the war.

The Israeli premier's outright rejection of post-war Palestinian leadership in Gaza has broken a rift among top politicians wide open and frustrated relations with top ally the United States.

Experts say the lack of clarity only serves to benefit Hamas, whose leader has insisted no new authority can be established in the territory without its involvement.

"Without an alternative to fill the vacuum, Hamas will continue to grow," International Crisis Group analyst Mairav Zonszein told AFP.

Emmanuel Navon, a lecturer at Tel Aviv University, echoed this sentiment. "If only Hamas is left in Gaza, of course they are going to appear here and there and the Israeli army will be forced to chase them around," said Navon.

"Either you establish an Israeli military government or an Arab-led government."

- AFP

Israel's many, many insults for Hamas ‘ally’ South Africa at the ICJ

On Friday, Israel came before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague with an ask totalling 26 words: "The State of Israel requests the Court to reject the request for the modification and indication of provisional measures submitted by the Republic of South Africa.

"It did not take particularly long to make its argument either, declining to use 30 minutes of the two hours it had been granted to do so.  But within that time, and during its so simply summarised request, it had an extraordinary number of bad things to say about South Africa. 

On Friday, 10 May, South Africa asked the ICJ to order Israel's military out of Rafah. On Thursday, SA amended that request to cover the whole of Gaza, saying a court-imposed ceasefire was a legal and moral imperative.

Israeli forces kill senior Palestinian militant in Jenin: army

The Israeli military said on Saturday it killed a senior Palestinian militant during an air strike on an "operations centre" in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin.

"A number of significant terrorists were inside the compound," the Israeli Defen e Forces said in a statement posted to Telegram.

It said the strike by a fighter jet and helicopter killed Islam Khamayseh, a "senior terrorist operative in the Jenin Camp" who was responsible for a series of attacks in the area. The Al-Quds Brigade, the armed wing of militant group Palestinian Islamic Jihad, confirmed in a statement that Khamayseh was killed and several others wounded during an Israeli raid on Friday night. It said Khamayseh was a leader of the Jenin Battalion, which is affiliated with Islamic Jihad.

The Palestinian Ministry of Health said one person was killed and eight were wounded and receiving hospital treatment as a result of Israel's operation in Jenin on Friday night. Israel has occupied the West Bank since 1967 and its troops routinely carry out incursions into areas such as Jenin, which are nominally under the Palestinian Authority's security control. The West Bank has seen a recent surge in violence, particularly since the Israel-Hamas war erupted on 7 October.

-AFP

Hezbollah uses new drone weapons in Israel attacks

Lebanon's Hezbollah announced on Thursday it had used a drone capable of firing rockets at a military position in one of its latest attacks in northern Israel.

Israel and Hezbollah have been involved in near-daily exchanges of fire since the war between Israel and Hamas broke out on 7 October.

Hezbollah announced it had used an "armed attack drone" equipped with two S-5 rockets on a military position in Metula in northern Israel.

The Iran-backed group published a video showing the drone heading towards the position, where tanks were stationed, with the footage showing the moment the two rockets were released followed by the drone exploding.

It was the first time they had announced the use of this type of weapon since the cross-border exchanges with Israel erupted in October.

The Israeli army said three soldiers were wounded in Thursday's attack.

Hezbollah-affiliated media said that the drone's warhead consisted of between 25 and 30 kilogrammes of high explosive.

- AFP

Israel recovers bodies of three hostages in Gaza

Israeli forces on Thursday night recovered the bodies of three hostages from the Gaza Strip, chief military spokesperson Daniel Hagari said on Friday.

Hagari identified the three as Shani Louk, Amit Buskila and Yitzhak Gelernter, who he said "were murdered by Hamas while escaping the Nova music festival on Oct. 7 and their bodies were taken into Gaza".

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu praised the military operation on Friday and reiterated a pledge to return all the hostages.

"We will bring back all our hostages, whether they are alive or dead," he said in a statement.

- Reuters

WHO says no medical supplies received in Gaza for 10 days

The World Health Organisation said Friday that it has received no medical supplies in the Gaza Strip for 10 days.

Israel's closure of the Rafah crossing into Gaza has caused "a difficult situation", WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic said. "The last medical supplies that we got in Gaza was before May 6."

Israeli troops entered the city of Rafah on 7 May, and closed the Rafah crossing into Egypt that is crucial for humanitarian supplies.

With UN agencies warning of a growing risk of famine in Gaza, the Kerem Shalom and Erez crossings from Israel are also virtually shut down.

Jasarevic said the biggest concern was over fuel needed to keep clinics and hospitals running. Gaza's health facilities need up to 1.8 million litres of fuel a month to keep operating.

The spokesman said only 159 000 litres had entered Rafah since the border closure. "This is clearly not sufficient," he added, highlighting how only 13 out of 36 hospitals across the Palestinian territory were now "partially" operating.

"Hospitals still functioning are running out of fuel, and that puts so many lives at danger," said Jasarevic. "Current military operations in Rafah are putting countless lives at risk."T

- AFP

Moroccan jailed for life in UK for random murder over Gaza war

A Moroccan asylum seeker was on Friday sentenced to life in prison for randomly stabbing a British man to death in revenge for Israel's response to the 7 October attacks.

Ahmed Alid, 45, murdered "innocent" victim Terence Carney, 70, in the streets of the northeastern English town of Hartlepool, eight days after Hamas militants attacked Israel last October.

Judge Bobbie Cheema-Grubb told Alid he had "attacked and murdered... in a terrorist act", and said he would spend a minimum of 44 years behind bars.

She said he had "hoped to frighten the people of Britain and undermine the freedoms they enjoy" in actions "intended as revenge" for Israel's response to the Hamas attack.

Minutes before killing Carney, Alid had also attempted to murder his housemate, Christian convert Javed Nouri, by breaking into his bedroom and hacking at him while he slept.

Alid shouted "Allahu Akbar" ("God is greatest") during the attack at the government-approved asylum seekers' accommodation before fleeing into the street, still armed with a knife.

Alid admitted to police that Carney was "innocent" but justified killing him by saying Britain had created the "Zionist entity" of Israel and should make them leave, adding: "They killed children and I killed an old man."

- AFP

ICJ hearings: Israel claims SA distorts facts about Gaza, abuses law and ignores role of 'ally' Hamas

Israel accused South Africa on Friday of misrepresentation, distortion of facts, and misuse of legal procedures in response to South Africa’s recent application to the International Court of Justice (ICJ). 

The ICJ had put it at a legal disadvantage, Israel argued, by adhering to South Africa’s timeline for the proceedings. 

Israel argued that the ceasefire South Africa is seeking is "unthinkable" and suggested that South Africa should instead engage with its "ally" Hamas.

That closes two days of remarkable hearings, during which South Africa demanded that the ICJ order Israel's military out of Gaza in explicit terms, and Israel accused South Africa of wildly distorting facts and abusing legal processes.

It is not clear exactly when the ICJ may rule on South Africa's request.

By its own timeline, it cannot do so until Monday afternoon at the earliest, but it has shown a remarkable sense of urgency, which suggests a decision not long after.

- Phillip de Wet

The disruption was brief, and Israel has now concluded its presentation to the ICJ, with a full 30 minutes left to its slot.

SA now has until Monday at 12:00 to respond in writing to what Israel has said.

- Phillip de Wet

Proceedings at the ICJ have been disrupted by someone shouting "liar" in the background.  

- Phillip de Wet

"For the court to accede to South Africa's request is to enable Hamas' battalions to continue to target Israel, to attack humanitarian crossing, and to destine the Palestinians in Gaza to perpetual war," says Tourgeman.

And it would mean the ICJ sides with a terrorist organisation.

- Phillip de Wet

If South Africa were honest in these proceedings, then it would have noted the "remarkable humanitarian efforts" by Israel, as well as the "crimes committed constantly by Hamas and the circumstances that compel Israel to respond to them, as any state would", says Tourgeman.

"Instead, it offers grandstanding and rhetoric, no real evidence."

- Phillip de Wet

On Wednesday, South Africa showed a video of Israeli soldiers chanting what SA said was the phrase "destroy Rafah".

The correct translation would actually be "dismantle", says Tourgeman, "a clear reference to Hamas".

- Phillip de Wet

"South Africa would do well to tell its ally Hamas to stop exploiting hospitals and other protected sites as military command centres," says Tourgeman - expressing directly what Israel has largely sought to imply and suggest in these legal proceedings.

- Phillip de Wet

South Africa "turns a blind eye to Israel's remarkable efforts" to improve aid delivery, Tourgeman charges, while UN officials and other states have seen "remarkable progress in the delivery of aid".

"To say, as South Africa presently does, that Israel is deliberately denying humanitarian aid cannot be farther from the truth."

- Phillip de Wet

Tourgeman has delivered a detailed account of Israeli humanitarian efforts.

She now switches to statements by Israeli leaders around aid.

That is key to several of Israel's arguments: That it has no genocidal intent, that South Africa has presented incorrect information, and that it is honouring a previous ICJ injunction that it must ensure aid gets where it is needed.

- Phillip de Wet

Now up for Israel, foreign ministry advisor Tamar Kaplan Tourgeman.

She says South Africa's presentation was striking for what it did not say.

"We have hardly heard the word 'Hamas'", she says, even though Hamas is responsible for the suffering SA says it seeks to stop.

- Phillip de Wet

Israel has now attacked both South Africa's facts and its approach, painting it as an ally of Hamas with little regard for the people of Palestine.

SA, Israel has argued so far, is cynically exploiting the ICJ, is insulting Israel by equating its actions to genocides including the Holocaust, and is ignoring the reality of the war in Gaza.

SA's claims are outrageous and libellous, Noam says, while Israel tries to engage with this process in good faith and shows its "unwavering commitment to international law" despite being under active attack.

- Phillip de Wet

Israel is outraged that South Africa speaks of "extermination zones", harking back to the Holocaust, and invokes the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, says Noam.

"How low South Africa has stooped."

- Phillip de Wet

"Hamas has been concealing the number of militants in its unverified list of Palestinian casualties," Noam says, and includes people who died from causes that include Hamas fire.

These numbers South Africa has accepted.

- Phillip de Wet

On Wednesday, South Africa argued that Israel would not allow independent fact-finding in Gaza, while insisting that information from the likes of UN bodies cannot be accepted.

Noam now says SA presented its case to the court relying in part on Hamas sources "or those subject to Hamas intimidation", and without making an effort to access information held by Israel.

- Phillip de Wet

The ICJ has previously found a genocide may be under way in Gaza, which gives it the power to order emergency measures.

That is extremely unlikely to change; the ICJ will neither make a more firm determination of genocide without full hearings that could take years, nor rescind that finding.

Yet, much like South Africa on Wednesday laid out evidence of what it says is genocide, Israel is now arguing again that there is no genocide in Gaza, nor genocidal intent by Israel.

- Phillip de Wet

"South Africa's actions speak louder than its words," charges Noam.

While Israel seeks a peaceful future for Gaza, South Africa wishes to keep Hamas in control.

- Phillip de Wet

South Africa again recently hosted Hamas representatives, says Noam, and did not call for the release of hostages, which could lead to the end of hostilities.

Now SA has "rushed" to court "for fear Hamas' last significant stronghold will fall".

- Phillip de Wet

SA is "exploiting" the Genocide Convention, Israel argues, and if it succeeds it would deny Israel the ability to defend itself while leaving Hamas free to attack it.

South Africa is asking the court to micro-manage an ongoing conflict, says Noam.

- Phillip de Wet