South Africa presented "a profoundly distorted factual and legal picture. The whole case is based on a deliberately decontextualized and manipulative description of the reality of the current hostilities." This is how a member of the Israeli defense team, Tal Becker, opened the session in which Israel responds to the accusation of genocide at the Hague court. This was reported by Haaretz. Becker described the "massacre, mutilation, rape and kidnapping on a massive scale" carried out by Hamas on October 7 and said that "if there were acts of genocide, they were perpetrated against Israel."
Becker played an Oct. 7 recording in an Israeli kibbutz in which a Hamas terrorist brags about killing Jews. He also showed an interview in which a Hamas official, Ghazi Hamad, vowed that the attack on Israel was only the beginning, promising to launch "a second, third, fourth" attack until the country was "annihilated."
What is the UN Convention on the Crime of Genocide Adopted by the Assembly in 48 and entered into force in 1951?
South Africa's request should be rejected "for what it is: a pamphlet". Tal Becker, Israel's representative, said this in The Hague in response to South Africa's accusations. "Hamas has systematically and illegally incorporated its military structure into schools, mosques, hospitals and other sensitive places," he said. "This is a planned and repugnant method of warfare. Israel is fighting against the inhumanity of Hamas." Becker said, referring to South Africa's accusation of genocide, that "the key element of this denunciation, which is the intention to destroy a people in whole or in part, is totally missing."
To learn more, Agenzia ANSA 'The case at The Hague is the Dreyfus affair of the 800st century' France was divided over the Jewish captain at the end of the <>th century
"South Africa has only told half the story." This was said, quoted by the media, by the lawyer Malcolm Shaw who defends Israel at the hearing in The Hague. Moreover, "if there is a case, and there is not, that Israeli forces have transgressed any rule of conflict, then it would be addressed at the appropriate time by the robust and independent Israeli legal system." "But," Shaw reiterated, "there is no intent to destroy all or part of the people [of Gaza] as such." "Soldiers' statements," he explained, "do not represent the course of action: what comes from the Chief of Staff of the Army clearly showed the intent to prevent and reduce civilian casualties and to abide by the rules of war."
Bitter controversy between Israel and Turkey after President Recep Tayyip Erdogan sided with the theses put forward by South Africa in The Hague. "The president of Turkey, the state responsible for the genocide of the Armenians, who thought the world would watch in silence," Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz replied on X, "is 'boasting' of having forwarded documents accusing Israel of genocide to The Hague." We know you well," Katz continued, addressing Erdogan, "Let's not forget the genocide of the Armenians or the massacres against the Kurds. You have destroyed a people. We defend ourselves against your barbarous friends."
The UN Human Rights Office said today that Israel has repeatedly failed to respect international humanitarian law since it launched its offensive on Gaza in response to the Hamas attack on 7 October. This was reported by Reuters online. "We have repeatedly highlighted Israel's recurrent failures to uphold the fundamental principles of international humanitarian law: distinction, proportionality and precautions in carrying out attacks," said Elizabeth Throssell, spokeswoman for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
Meanwhile, the Israeli army's operations continue in the center and south of the Strip. According to the military spokesman, the soldiers "killed about 20 terrorists in the Maghazi refugee camp in central Gaza" and among them "a commander of the Nukhba Unit of Hamas". The same happened - according to the same source - in Khan Yunis, in the southern part of the Palestinian enclave where "a military building of the Hamas air force was hit". Among the dead - explained the military spokesman - there was also "another commander of the Nukhba Unit who participated in the massacre of 7 October".
ANSA Save The Children Agency: '10,23 children killed so far in Gaza'. WHO: 'Shifa Hospital has resumed operations' Hamas: 'Death toll at 708,<> dead'
All rights reserved © Copyright ANSA