The Hague - Tal Becker, Legal Adviser for Israel's Foreign Ministry, and lawyer Malcolm Shaw at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) prior to the hearing of the genocide case against Israel brought by South Africa. According to the South Africans, Israel is currently committing genocidal acts against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. Picture: REMKO DE WAAL / ANP MAG / ANP via AFP
Israel has maintained its argument that South Africa’s call for it to be charged with genocide in the face of a number of extensive efforts to minimise civilian harm and assist in bringing humanitarian aid into Gaza, this was “frankly untenable”.
Lawyers representing Israel and its defence force have told the International Court of Justice that its efforts were an "inconvenient truth" for South Africa.
Galit Raguan, Director of the International Justice Division in the Ministry of Justice of the State of Israel, said that while Gaza's infrastructure has certainly been harmed in the conflict, “it was not evidence of genocide”.
She said that South Africa’s allegations that Israel levelled an assault on Gaza's medical stations and hospitals did not include Hamas' use of those hospitals. Raguan claimed that South Africa failed to show the extent to which Hamas uses civilian infrastructure for military purposes, including using hospitals as a shield for their military purposes.
"Damage has occurred sometimes by the Israeli Defence Force (IDF) and sometimes by Hamas, but always as a direct result of Hamas' abhorrent method of warfare,“ she said.
She further told the court that Hamas' strategy included turning hospitals into terrorist compounds and that the terrorist group had regularly and deliberately fired from "safe and humanitarian zones," even attacking the IDF while it secured humanitarian zones.
In Israel’s defence, Raguan said that the IDF had "dropped millions of leaflets" over areas of expected attacks with instructions to evacuate and how to do so, broadcast evacuation plans and warnings over radio, and made over 7,000 telephone calls warning civilians of imminent attacks.
"There is no question that millions of citizens are suffering in Gaza ... but the IDF is seeking to minimise civilian harm while Hamas finds every way to use Gaza infrastructure and civilians as shields.
"The charge of genocide in the face of these extensive efforts is frankly untenable,“ Raguan said.
Omri Sender, an attorney from Tel Aviv, told the court that South Africa's case was "terribly one-sided" and made no mention of the "extraordinary efforts" taken by Israel to improve the humanitarian situation.
Sender said Israel had made great efforts to eliminate bottlenecks to improve the entrance and distribution of aid, but Hamas was constantly stealing it.
He claims all these recent developments and efforts by Israel do not call for the reward of interim relief.
A brief breakdown of South Africa’s case, which was delivered to the ICJ on Thursday, can be read here.
Follow IOL's live coverage of the ICJ hearings here.