South African official: We are suing Israel

A South African Foreign Ministry spokesman announced Wednesday evening that his country would soon sue Israel at the International Criminal Court. South Africa's Foreign Ministry may appeal to the International Criminal Court to hold Israel accountable for the growing humanitarian crisis due to the war on Gaza. This was stated by South African Foreign Minister Nalendi Pandor, Al-Jazeera reported. “We expected the ICC to react much earlier because thousands of people died. And these are innocent Palestinians who have suffered decades of oppression and occupation,” the minister said. Pandor added that she sees similarities between apartheid, which existed in South Africa from 1948 to 1994, and what is happening in Palestine. As an argument, she recalled that Palestinians could lose property without any compensation, which, according to the diplomat, is “part of apartheid.” Previously, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa had already called Israel an “apartheid country” when speaking at a conference of the ruling party. In November, South Africa withdrew its diplomats from Tel Aviv to protest the bombing of Gaza and is now considering a permanent severance of bilateral relations.