The South African Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, Ronald Lamola, assured on Monday that his country has extensive forensic evidence to demonstrate before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) that Israel has committed genocide in Gaza. Lamola made these statements in Pretoria during a press conference alongside his Ukrainian counterpart, Andrii Sybiha, who was visiting the African country.
The South African government submitted a detailed memorial against Israel to the court in The Hague, with an extensive document of over 750 pages. Although the exact content has not been publicly disclosed according to the court's regulations, the South African Presidency confirmed that the memorial has already been delivered to the ICJ. In the statement, Israel is accused of killing Gazans, depriving them of access to humanitarian aid, and using hunger as a "weapon of war."
South Africa filed the complaint against Israel in late December 2023, accusing it before the ICJ of alleged crimes of genocide during its conflict with the Islamist group Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Chile joined this demand on September 12 to stop what it called a "massacre in Gaza." Since Israel's bombings in Gaza began in October 2023 following Hamas's attacks on Israeli territory, the number of dead in Gaza has surpassed 43,000, according to data from the Gazan Ministry of Health, of which 69% are women and children.