Israel Urging ICJ to Reject South African Request on Gaza Orders

The Israeli on Thursday urged the UN’s highest court to reject an urgent South African request to consider whether Israel’s military operations targeting the southern Gaza city of Rafah breach provisional orders the court handed down last month in a genocide case.

South Africa asked the International Court of Justice to decide whether Israel’s strikes on Rafah, and its intention to launch a ground offensive on the city where 1.4 million Palestinians are sheltering, breaches both the UN Genocide Convention and preliminary orders handed down by the court last month in a case accusing the Israel of genocide.

In a three-page submission released Thursday by the court, Israel labeled the new South African request “ highly peculiar and improper.”