Cairo — Egypt announced on Sunday that it will "formally back" South Africa's genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over the ongoing Israeli aggression in the besieged Palestinian Gaza Strip.
Egypt's announcement came in light of Israel's "continued perpetration of systematic practices against the Palestinian people, including direct targeting of civilians, destruction of infrastructure in the enclave, and pushing Palestinians to be displaced from their land," the Egyptian Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
Israeli offensives have "led to an unprecedented humanitarian crisis that created unlivable conditions in the Gaza Strip, in flagrant violation of the provisions of international law and international humanitarian law," it noted.
The statement did not elaborate on what kind of support would be extended to South Africa in the litigation. It came after South Africa on Friday asked the ICJ to issue a new order for Israel to immediately stop the Rafa operation and withdraw from this southernmost Gazan city.
Filing a request for more "provisional measures" over the case, South Africa said the assault on Rafah posed an "extreme risk" to the humanitarian supplies sent to Gaza and the basic services in the besieged enclave.
The ongoing massive Israeli attacks on Gaza over the past seven months have killed, so far, more than 35,000 Palestinians and wounded over 78,700 others, according to the latest update released by Gaza's health authorities on Sunday.
In a landmark interim ruling in January, the United Nations Hague-based ICJ ordered Israel to take all necessary measures "to prevent and punish the direct and public incitement to commit genocide" and to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza.
In March, the ICJ ordered further "provisional measures" to be taken by Israel to ensure, without delay, the delivery of "urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance to Palestinians throughout Gaza."
South Africa submitted the case in late December, accusing Israel of committing acts of genocide in the Gaza Strip in violation of the 1948 Genocide Convention. Israel rejects the claims as groundless.
The Israeli onslaught on Gaza followed a surprise attack by Hamas on southern Israeli towns, in which about 1,200 Israelis were killed and around 250 others were taken hostage.
