Application Instituting Proceedings — South Africa v. Israel (Genocide Convention, Gaza)
South Africa's 84-page application of 29 December 2023 instituting proceedings against Israel at the International Court of Justice under the Genocide Convention, together with a request for provisional measures.
On 29 December 2023, the Republic of South Africa instituted proceedings against the State of Israel before the International Court of Justice, alleging violations by Israel of its obligations under the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in relation to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The Court’s jurisdiction was founded on Article IX of the Genocide Convention — to which both states are parties — read with Article 36(1) of the Statute of the Court. The case, Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel), was entered in the Court’s General List as case 192.
The 84-page application contends that acts and omissions by Israel in Gaza “are genocidal in character, as they are committed with the requisite specific intent … to destroy Palestinians in Gaza as a part of the broader Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group.” It documents the military campaign, the siege and deprivation of essentials for survival, statements by Israeli officials alleged to constitute incitement, and the history and context of the occupation. Filed the same day was a request for the indication of provisional measures, asking the Court to order, among nine measures, that Israel immediately suspend its military operations in and against Gaza. Public hearings on the provisional measures request were held on 11 and 12 January 2024, leading to the Court’s order of 26 January 2024.
Why it matters
- The founding pleading of the first case ever brought before the World Court alleging genocide against Palestinians — the document that frames every subsequent order in case 192.
- Its 84 pages assemble, under oath of a state party, an evidentiary record of the Gaza campaign: casualty and destruction data, siege measures, and official statements later cited by the Court itself.
- Together with the accompanying provisional measures request, it set in motion the January, March, and May 2024 orders and the continuing merits phase of the Genocide Convention case.
Key resources
Cited work
The summary above is written by FALASTEEN.AI. The document itself is published by ICJ and is linked here in full.