The Hague: South Africa accused Israel of "systematic genocidal acts" during hearings at the International Court of Justice(ICJ) in The Hague on Thursday.
South Africa is presenting its side of a case it brought against Israel, alleging that Israel has violated the UN Genocide Convention.
Israel forcefully rejected the lawsuit — the first of its kind against the Jewish state — when it was filed in December. Shortly before the hearing began, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said there is no legal basis to the claim.
Both German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and Economy Minister Robert Habeck, both from the Green party, have rejected the genocide charge.
Habeck, visiting Sderot, an Israeli border community that suffered numerous casualties when Hamas and others attacked it on October 7, said "genocide is something else."
Hamas "drove through the streets here with the sole aim of slaughtering as many people as possible," while Israel does not target civilians and did not go into Gaza to murder children and women, he said on Thursday.
Israel is due to present its arguments on Friday.
South Africa said Israel is employing an unprecedented wave of violence to destroy the lives of Palestinians, according to its legal representatives.
It is calling for the legal protection of Palestinian lives in summary proceedings, urging the judges to order an end to military action.
South Africa condemned the Hamas attack on Israel, but Justice Minister Ronald Lamola said, "No armed attack can provide any justification to breach the convention."
He spoke of a politics of "apartheid against Palestinians in the last 76 years."
South Africa's legal representative, Adila Hassim, described acts of violence by the army, such as bomb attacks and blockades of humanitarian aid, speaking of "genocidal acts."
South Africa also substantiated the accusations with statements made by Israeli ministers and officers, calling the Palestinians "human animals" and saying that Israel will "spare no one" as genocidal rhetoric.
Many people protesting had gathered in front of the court. Others were marching to the court.
More than 23,000 Palestinians have been killed, with at least 70 per cent of them women and children, according to the health authority.
The court intends to rule on the urgent appeal in a few weeks. The main case, the genocide allegations, could take years.
"South Africa's case before the International Court of Justice... is a historic event in the process of the joint Palestinian and South African struggle in the face of the injustice and genocide.
"Holding Israel, the illegal occupying power, accountable, using all legal tools, and through international justice institutions and international law enforcement, is the main focus of the legal strategy of the State of Palestine, and the core of the diplomatic and international movement.
"...What encouraged Israel and its various tools, including government officials, military personnel, and colonialists, to commit crimes, leading to the commission of, and incitement to commit, the crime of genocide, is due to international failure, the failure to take practical steps to hold it accountable..., and supplying Israel with various types of lethal weapons and political support...," Palestine foreign ministry said in a statement in Ramallah on Thursday.
"Israel has always been a state above the law. They did what they did in Gaza because they knew they couldn't be punished as long as America was on their side. It is time to change that.
"We salute South Africa, and we want the war to be stopped and the court can do that. We call upon the world to say enough to Israeli killings, enough to massacres, enough to the destruction of Gaza, enough to the bloodshed," Amer Salah, a displaced Palestinian in Gaza, said.
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