The South African government will provide 50 million Rand (approximately $2.7 million) in humanitarian aid to Gaza, Justice Minister Ronald Lamola announced at a conference in Jordan.
“In addition to our International Court of Justice (ICJ) case, our government has approved a contribution of 50 million Rand for humanitarian aid to Palestinians to be channelled through UNRWA (UN agency for Palestine refugees),” Lamola, who is representing President Cyril Ramaphosa at the “Call for Action: Urgent Humanitarian Response for Gaza” conference, said in his address via video link on Tuesday.
Lamola pledged that South Africa will continue to support the long-term humanitarian response as well as Gaza reconstruction so that Palestinians can live in peace and dignity.
“South Africa supports efforts by the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to hold accountable all responsible for genocide and massacre in the Gaza Strip,” he said.
Israel has faced international condemnation for its continued sweeping offensive against Gaza, which has reduced wide swathes of the coastal territory to ruins amid shortages of necessities and ongoing Israeli restrictions on aid deliveries.
Lamola said South Africa has welcomed the UN Security Council’s resolution on a cease-fire in Gaza.
“The State of Israel, as an occupying power, has to allow unhindered access of humanitarian aid into Gaza. This is an international humanitarian law… there should be no exception, and Israel is not above international law,” he remarked.
He added that South Africa recognizes and supports the role the UNRWA, Jordan and Egypt have played in delivering aid to Gaza.
He said Israel’s ongoing defiance of UN resolutions and international law impedes the delivery of humanitarian aid to Palestinians in dire need.
All states are bound by international humanitarian law, and they are unable to comprehend why some, like Israel, believe they are above it, he said, emphasizing the importance of accountability.
He expressed South Africa’s condemnation of Israel’s raid on the Nuseirat Refugee Camp on June 8, which killed hundreds of Palestinians.
Nearly 37,200 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group Hamas on Oct. 7 last year which precipitated the current war, most of them women and children, and more than 84,800 others injured, according to local health authorities.
Around 1,200 Israelis and foreigners were killed in the attack.
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its operation in Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.