CAPE TOWN — South Africa’s President Cyril Ramaphosa said the Gaza ceasefire deal will not affect the country’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
“The peace deal that has been struck, which we welcome, will have no bearing on the case that is before the International Court of Justice,” Ramaphosa told parliament on Tuesday, saying the deadline to do so is January.
“The case is proceeding and it now has to go to the stage where Israel must respond to our pleadings filed in court.”
In December 2023, South Africa filed the case, accusing Israel of genocidal acts in Gaza.
South Africa handed in a 500-page detailed submission in October 2024, with Israel’s counter-arguments due by January 12, 2026. Oral hearings are anticipated in 2027, with a final judgement expected in late 2027 or early 2028.
The ICJ has issued three provisional measures, ordering Israel to prevent genocidal acts and allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, though Israel has largely failed to comply.
More than 67,800 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since October 2023, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
Ramaphosa confirmed that real healing requires the case being properly heard.
“We cannot go forward without the healing that needs to take place, which will also result from the case that has been launched being properly heard,” he said.
Several countries have joined, or declared an intention to do so, in the ICJ case to support South Africa, including Spain, Ireland, Turkiye and Colombia, whose president, Gustavo Petro, wrote that governments risk becoming “complicit in the atrocities” if they fail to act.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, who has been a vocal critic of Israel, echoed similar sentiments, telling Spanish radio that the ceasefire should not mean impunity for Israel.
“There cannot be impunity”, Sanchez said, adding that “the main actors of the genocide will have to answer to justice”.
Several rights groups, including Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and Israeli B’Tselem, have accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. A UN commission of inquiry found in September 2025 that Israel had committed genocide. –QNN
