“That is evident from the way in which this military attack is being conducted,” he said, adding: “The intent to destroy Gaza has been nurtured at the highest level of state.”

Israel has rejected the accusations of genocide as baseless and accused Pretoria of playing “advocate of the devil” for Hamas, the Palestinian Islamist militant group Israel is waging war against in Gaza.

Israeli Prime Minister BenjaminNetanyahu said the court had been presented with hypocrisy and lies.

“Today we saw an upside-down world. Israel is accused of genocide while it is fighting against genocide,” he said in a statement.

“Israel is fighting murderous terrorists who carried out crimes against humanity: They slaughtered, they raped, they burned, they dismembered, they beheaded – children, women, elderly, young men and women,” he said.

Israel launched all-out war after a cross-border rampage on October 7 by Hamas militants in which Israeli officials said 1,200 people were killed and 240 taken hostage back to Gaza.

What is the genocide case against Israel at top UN court?

South Africa points to Israel’s sustained bombing campaign that has killed over 23,000 people in the Gaza Strip, according to health authorities in the Hamas-run territory.

The legal team at the ICJ, known too as the World Court, also pointed to comments by Israeli Defence Minister Yoav Gallant, who said early in the war that Israel would impose a total blockade as part of a battle against “human animals”.

“The evidence of genocidal intent is not only chilling, it is also overwhelming and incontrovertible,” Ngcukaitobi said.

The 1948 Genocide Convention defines genocide as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”.

South Africa points to Israel’s sustained bombing campaign that has killed over 23,000 people in the small, densely populated Gaza Strip, according to health authorities in the Hamas-rum territory.

“Every day, there is mounting, irreparable loss of life, property, dignity, and humanity for the Palestinian people,” said Adila Hassim, advocate of South Africa’s high court.

“Nothing will stop the suffering, except an order from this court.”

South Africa has demanded that the ICJ order Israel to suspend its military campaign.

Justice Minister Ronald Lamola said South Africa condemned Hamas’ October 7 assault, but added that any attack, even one involving atrocious crimes, was not a justification for violations of the Genocide Convention.

Post-apartheid South Africa has long defended the Palestinian cause, a relationship forged when the African National Congress’ struggle against white-minority rule was cheered on by Yasser Arafat’s Palestine Liberation Organisation.

Emergency ruling

The ICJ is hearing South Africa’s arguments on Thursday and Israel’s response to the allegations on Friday.

It is expected to rule on possible emergency measures later this month. The court will not rule at that time on the genocide allegations – those proceedings could take years.

The ICJ’s decisions are final and without appeal – but the court has no way to enforce them.

Ahead of the proceedings, hundreds of pro-Israeli protesters marched close to the courthouse with banners saying “Bring them home,” referring to the hostages still held by Hamas. Among the crowds, people were holding Israeli and Dutch flags.

Outside the court, others were protesting and waving the Palestinian flag in support of South Africa’s move.

Gabi Patlis, a native of Tel Aviv who now lives in the Netherlands, said it was painful to hear Israel accused of genocide. “Especially after 7 October – we were the ones that were attacked,” he told Reuters at the rally.

The dispute strikes at the heart of Israel’s national identity as a Jewish state created in the aftermath of the Nazi genocide in the Holocaust.

It also involves South Africa’s identity: Its governing party, the African National Congress, has long compared Israel’s policies in Gaza and the West Bank to its own history under the apartheid regime of white minority rule, which restricted most Blacks to “homelands” before ending in 1994.

Israel says allegations baseless

Israeli forces launched their offensive after Hamas fighters carried out a lightning attack across the border in what became the deadliest day in Israel’s 75-year history.

Since then, the offensive has laid much of the heavily built-up territory, and nearly all its 2.3 million people have been driven from their homes at least once, causing a humanitarian catastrophe.

Netanyahu said on social media platform X: “I want to make a few points absolutely clear: Israel has no intention of permanently occupying Gaza or displacing its civilian population.”

Israel has said it is waging war against Palestinian militants, not the Palestinian people.

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In its court filings, South Africa cites Israel’s failure to provide food, water, medicine and other essential help to Gaza, where Hamas seized power in 2007, two years after Israel ended a 38-year occupation of the enclave.

Hamas official Sami Abu Zuhri told Reuters that the group was following the World Court proceedings with great interest.

“Justice is going to be tested today,” he said.

“We urge the court to reject all pressure and take a decision to criminalise the Israeli occupation and stop the aggression on Gaza.”

Israel says its only means to defend itself is by eradicating Hamas. Israel blames Hamas for all harm to civilians for operating among them, which the fighters deny.

Israeli government spokesperson Eylon Levy compared the lawsuit to a centuries-old antisemitic conspiracy theory falsely accusing Jews of killing babies for rituals.

Fighting continues

In Rafah, in southern Gaza where the bodies of members of the al-Arjany family killed overnight, including three small children, were laid out in shrouds outside a morgue, neighbours said the court must intervene to halt the war.

“To the ICJ: what is the fault of this baby?” said neighbour Khamis Kelab, cradling the smallest of the shrouded bodies in his arms as women wailed nearby.

“What did this girl do? What crime did she commit? Was she a terrorist? Did this baby fire rockets?” he said.

“She was inside a tent, in the freezing cold, she was hit by a strike, this baby is just a few days old, you people.”

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said his country was driven to bring the case by “the ongoing slaughter of the people of Gaza”, and motivated by South Africa’s own apartheid history.

Additional reporting by Associated Press