Israel rejects S Africa's genocide accusations at the World Court

Israel on Friday rejected as false and "grossly distorted" accusations brought by South Africa at the UN's top court that its military operation in Gaza is a state-led genocide campaign against Palestinians.

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Arguing it was acting to defend itself and was fighting Hamas, not the Palestinian population, Israel called on the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to dismiss the case as groundless and reject South Africa's request to order it to halt the offensive.

"This is no genocide," lawyer Malcolm Shaw said. South Africa told the court on Thursday that Israel's aerial and ground offensive - which has laid waste to much of the enclave and killed at least 23,708 and wounded 60,005 people, according to Gaza health authorities aimed to bring about "the destruction of the population" of Gaza.

Israel rejected the accusations, saying it respected international law and had a right to defend itself. Israel launched its war in Gaza after a cross-border rampage on Oct. 7 by militants from Hamas, which is sworn to Israel's destruction. Israeli officials said 1,200 people were killed, mainly civilians, and 240 taken hostage.