Jordan backs South Africa ICJ genocide file against Israel over Gaza atrocities

Jordan’s foreign minister said on Thursday that Amman will back South Africa’s submission filed at the International Court of Justice that accuses Israel of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.

Ayman Safadi on Thursday said that Amman will be preparing the necessary legal documents in consultation with legal experts to support South Africa’s file, and will also coordinate with Arab and Islamic countries on the matter.

Last week, South Africa filed a case at the ICJ saying that Israel has violated the 1948 Genocide Convention throughout its air and ground assault on Gaza that has lasted three months.

Speaking during a parliamentary session on Jordan's 2024 budget, Safadi said: "Israel’s blockade on humanitarian aid into Gaza implements the starvation policy that Israel is using against the Palestinians in clear violation of international law, which represents another war crime that Jordan has confronted with all its capabilities.

"There are 43 Arab and Islamic countries that are members of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of Genocide, and one of the decisions of the joint Arab-Islamic summit was to assign the general secretariats of the Arab League and the OIC to prepare legal files, and we are now working on formulating a joint effort to follow up."

Israel has so far killed at least 22,600 Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and committed indiscriminate bombardment, mass arrests, and field executions.

Israel has placed a complete siege on Gaza, depriving residents of food, fuel and water and exacerbating suffering in the Palestinian territory. Aid has been allowed into Gaza, but only in amounts way short of what is needed to sustain the population.

Safadi said that Jordan was among the first countries to call on the United Nations to hold Israel and Israeli officials accountable for war crimes committed in Gaza.

He also decried Israeli aggression in the West Bank, where nearly 5,000 people have been arrested and over 300 killed since October, as well as in Lebanon.

An Israeli strike on the Lebanese capital Beirut killed Hamas senior official Saleh al-Arouri on Tuesday, while the Israeli army has been engaging in clashes with Hezbollah at the Israel-Lebanon border.

Malaysia has also said that is backing South Africa's case at the ICJ, calling it a "timely, tangible step towards legal accountability", while reiterating calls for Israel to "immediately end its atrocities" in Gaza.

Jordan has also aired concern over rhetoric from far-right Israeli politicians who have called for the expulsion of Palestinians from Gaza and the West Bank.