Smoke rises after an explosion in Gaza, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist group Hamas, as seen from southern Israel, March 18, 2024.
Credit: Reuters Photo
The Hague: Israel has asked the International Court of Justice (ICJ) not to issue emergency orders for it to step up humanitarian aid to Gaza to address a looming famine, dismissing South Africa's request to do so as "morally repugnant".
In a legal filing to the United Nations' top court, made public on Monday, Israel said it "has real concern for the humanitarian situation and innocent lives, as demonstrated by the actions it has and is taking" in Gaza during the war.
Lawyers for Israel denied allegations of deliberately causing humanitarian suffering in the enclave, where thousands have died and hunger is rising, and said South Africa's repeated requests for additional measures were an abuse of procedures.
The filing said South Africa's accusations in its request for new measures, filed March 6, are "wholly unfounded in fact and law, morally repugnant, and represent an abuse both of the Genocide Convention and of the court itself".