South Africa says ICJ orders did not protect Palestinians against genocide

South Africa's second representative, Professor Vaughan Lowe, told the ICJ that the provisional measures already issued to Israel by the court were "not effective" in protecting Palestinians against genocide, and asked the court to "reassert its own authority and the authority of international law".

He said the current Israeli offensive on Rafah is "the last step in the destruction of Gaza and its Palestinian people".

“It was Rafah that brought South Africa to the court, but it is all Palestinians - as a national ethnic and racial group - who need the protection from genocide that the court can order,” he said.