South Africa has expressed is outrage following the grim discovery of a mass grave containing the remains of nearly 300 Palestinian civilians at Nasser Hospital in Gaza.
The bodies were discovered by the Gaza Civil Defence workers following the withdrawal of Israeli Defence Forces from the facility. It also follows the reported discovery of mass graves at Al-Shifa Hospital.
Following the grim findings, South Africa has called for immediate and comprehensive investigations to ensure justice and accountability.
“Israel continues to disregard the rulings by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and UN Resolutions unabated amid the unrelenting bombardment of Gaza, particularly the ICJ’s ruling, which granted South Africa’s Urgent Request of 6 March 2024 for further provisional measures to prevent Israel from causing irreparable harm to the rights invoked by South Africa under the 1948 Genocide Convention in respect of the ongoing siege of Gaza.
“The Court was unambiguous when it agreed with South Africa’s assertion that the situation in Gaza had deteriorated significantly since the Court’s Order of 26 January 2024 as a result of Israel’s failure and responsibility to comply with the Court’s rulings,” read a statement from the Department of International Relations and Cooperation.
South Africa said the lack of accountability by Israel is increasingly clear, adding that it concurs with the assertion made by the UN’s Special Rapporteur on the right to health, Tlaleng Mofokeng, when she aptly stated that Israel’s war in Gaza has from the start been a “war on the right to health” and has “obliterated” the Palestinian territory’s health system.
South Africa also highlighted that they also agreed with the assertion of UN’s Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Palestinian territories, Francesca Albanese, when she recently highlighted that the continuation of Israel’s impunity and exceptionalism is no longer viable, especially in light of the binding UN Security Council Resolution, which called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
“In this respect, we call on the international community to act to bring the perpetrators to justice and ensure accountability for the victims and their families.
We note that the evidence of mass killings of civilians points to the perpetration of war crimes, crimes against humanity, including murder and extermination, and genocide as defined in Articles 6, 7 and 8 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, as well as violations of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, specifically the Fourth Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, as well as Customary International Humanitarian Law,” added the statement.
South Africa called on the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC to urgently lead a thorough and impartial investigation into the discovery of the mass graves, which complies with international legal standards, to establish the facts and bring those responsible to justice.
The discovery also come after the World Health Organization (WHO) warned that it is extremely challenging to resupply and support hospitals working to strengthen and restore services.
“WHO has documented nearly 890 attacks on health care in the Occupied Palestinian Territory since 7 October.
This includes 443 attacks in Gaza.
Of the 36 hospitals in the Gaza Strip, 32 have been damaged.
In the West Bank, reports 446 attacks on health care,” read a statement from WHO.
