Israel denies committing genocide in Gaza Strip during court hearing in The Hague

Israel is not guilty of genocide in the Gaza Strip, Israeli lawyer Tal Becker said before the International Court of Justice in The Hague. It is Hamas that is bent on genocide and is responsible for the situation in Gaza, he claimed. Israel says it acting in self-defense. “We are not trying to destroy a people, but to protect a people.”

The case brought by South Africa started on Thursday in the Peace Palace. South Africa wants the court to order Israel to immediately stop the military operation in Gaza. According to Pretoria, Israel has violated the United Nations Genocide Convention by killing and forcing thousands of Palestinians to flee in the war against Hamas. According to Israel, this is a “very distorted story.”

Israel supports the genocide treaty, says Becker. He emphasized that Israel was one of the first countries to sign the treaty in the years after World War II “with the collective memory of the murder of 6 million Jews fresh in its mind,” he said. “For some, ‘never again’ is just a slogan; for Israel, it is the highest duty.”

Israel claims it did not want this war and did not want the death of Palestinian civilians. “The suffering of civilians in this war, as in all wars, is tragic and heartbreaking.” However, according to Becker, it is caused by Hamas' strategy to entrench itself in civilian areas, and Israel is doing its best to limit civilian damage.

Israel says it is defending itself against Hamas. Becker told the court that the Palestinian militants were guilty of massacres, rapes, hostage-taking, and torture on October 7. “These atrocities do not absolve Israel of its obligation to uphold the law, but it does show that if there were genocidal acts, they were against Israelis.” Hamas killed about 1,200 people that day. Since then, Israel has killed more than 23,000 people in attacks on the Gaza Strip.

According to Becker, South Africa ignored events on October 7 in the accusations it presented before the international court on Thursday. “South Africa not only wants to let Hamas get away with the murders but also to leave Israel defenseless while Hamas attacks.”

Over 10,000 children killed in Gaza

Over 10,000 children have been killed in the Gaza Strip in almost 100 days of Israel’s fight against Hamas, the Palestinian health authority reported, according to the organization Save the Children. Thousands are also missing. Over 23,200 people have been killed and approximately 59,000 injured.

Many injured children are maimed for life. According to figures from UN organizations, at least a thousand children have lost one or both of their legs. Most Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, 1.9 million people, have been driven from their homes.

Hundreds of protesters at second day of hearings

Hundreds of people demonstrated at the Peace Palace in The Hague on Friday, both pro-Palestinians and pro-Israeli demonstrators. The police were keeping the two groups a considerable distance from each other.

There were demonstrators on Carnegieplein who supported the South African indictment. There was a large screen showing the lawsuit. Demonstrators also carried Palestinian flags and banners that read, among other things, 'justice for Palestine' and 'cease-fire now.'

About a hundred meters away, at the Van Karnebeekbron, there were several dozen supporters of Israel. They waved the Israeli flag. They also had flyers about the kidnapped hostages.