Genocide, war crimes: South Africa refers Israel's military op in Gaza to ICC

Cyril Ramaphosa, the South African president has announced that efforts are underway to drag the State of Israel before the International Criminal Court (ICC) for genocide.

He said the ongoing military action by Israel in Gaza has turned the Palestinian town into a concentration camp.

He reiterated South Africa's position on the ongoing Israel-Gaza conflict stating that the world must unite to stop the carnage.

“Gaza is now a concentration camp where genocide is taking place.

“We have accordingly…referred this whole Israeli government operation to the International Criminal Court …because we believe that war crimes are being committed there,” he said in an interview.

South Africa became the first African country to openly criticize Israel's military operation which started after Hamas' October 7 attack on Israeli territory.

Pretoria has also recalled its diplomats from Israel in the wake of the development.

Ramaphosa made the comments on the sideline of his state visit to Qatar.

Speaking in Qatar today, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said Gaza has been “turned into a concentration camp” where “genocide is taking place” & announced that South Africa, alongside other countries has referred the Israeli govt action to the Intl Criminal Court pic.twitter.com/YBYjeB4Mel

— Samira Sawlani (@samirasawlani) November 15, 2023