Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
- The New York Times received a preview of part of Israel’s defence against South Africa’s World Court allegations of genocide in Gaza.
- These, Israel hopes, will show it never intended genocide because it was planning for the health and well-being of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
- But there are big gaps in the coverage of the declassified materials, the newspaper said, and at key times in the conflict.
Israel will offer the International Court of Justice (ICJ) a set of newly declassified documents to counter South Africa’s arguments of genocidal intent, the New York Times reported from Jerusalem on Thursday, including the text of orders to military units.
The documents have not yet been made public, but the paper reported on a preview of the set on Thursday, just before the ICJ was due to rule on provisional measures in the case.
They cover more than 30 orders from top military and government leaders, the paper said, including material such as:
- An order from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in late October that fuel and water be sent to Gaza.
- A summary of a cabinet meeting in mid-November, where Netanyahu is said to have stressed “time and again” humanitarian aid to Gaza must be increased.
- A meeting four days later, where Netanyahu emphasised humanitarian aid must continue to flow.
- Email exchanges between the Israeli military and aid workers around arranging supplies of food, medicine, and vaccines.
Earlier this month, in arguments about preliminary anti-genocide measures, South Africa told the ICJ there was clear evidence of Israel committing genocide in Gaza.
The public statements of Israeli politicians, including Netanyahu, showed this genocide was being perpetrated with intent, South Africa said.
Israel countered emotional and political statements were no substitute for the orders soldiers received, and those orders were to protect civilians while rooting out Hamas.
READ | SA’s ‘Amalek’ genocide complaint is historically ignorant, says Israel’s Netanyahu
The declassified materials seem to show Israel was taking into consideration the needs of civilians in Gaza – at various points during the war.
There were clear gaps in the material, said the New York Times, such as during the first days of the war, when Israel said it would shut off water and electricity to Gaza.
The materials were “curated”, said the paper, and they did not seem to cover a significant portion of the military orders issued to Israeli soldiers, or the decisions made by its cabinet.
South Africa will only file its main argument, and Israel will only respond to that, after the ruling around provisional measures on Friday.