South Africa Accuses Israel of Defying ICJ Orders, Submits New Gaza Evidence Dossier

South Africa's Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) said on August 28, 2026, that Pretoria had submitted a substantial dossier to the ICJ on August 25. The submission is meant to assist the Committee of Judges responsible for monitoring the implementation of the provisional measures and recommending potential options for the Court.

The case, formally titled "Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel)," was filed by South Africa on December 29, 2023, under the 1948 Genocide Convention. The latest submission is not a new judgment. The Court is still considering the underlying case and has not issued a final ruling on whether Israel committed genocide.

South Africa's dossier concerns three provisional-measures orders the ICJ issued on January 26, March 28 and May 24, 2024. In the first, the Court directed Israel, under its obligations to the Genocide Convention, to take all measures within its power to prevent acts covered by Article II of the Convention in relation to Palestinians in Gaza, including killing members of the group, causing serious bodily or mental harm, deliberately inflicting destructive conditions of life and imposing measures intended to prevent births. It also ordered Israel to ensure its military committed none of those acts.

On March 28, 2024, the Court reaffirmed its earlier measures and ordered additional steps in response to the worsening humanitarian situation, directing Israel to ensure, without delay and in full cooperation with the United Nations, the unhindered provision at scale of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance, including food, water, electricity, fuel, shelter, hygiene and sanitation supplies, as well as medical supplies and care. On May 24, 2024, the Court again reaffirmed the earlier measures and ordered Israel, subject to the conditions it set out, to immediately halt its military offensive or any other action in the Rafah Governorate that could create conditions of life capable of bringing about the physical destruction of the Palestinian group in Gaza, in whole or in part. The ICJ has said provisional-measures orders issued under Article 41 of its Statute are binding on the parties.

In its August 2026 statement, South Africa said Israel had not complied with the orders and argued that continued non-compliance undermines their protective purpose. Pretoria warned that Palestinian rights protected under the Genocide Convention could be further destroyed before the ICJ reaches its final decision, and argued that the continued failure to implement the Court's orders affects not only the protection of Palestinians but also the administration of justice and the ICJ's own legitimacy.

South Africa said that, as of August 2026, at least 73,407 Palestinians had been killed and 174,335 injured in Gaza since October 7, 2023, figures South Africa cited from statistics reported by Gaza's Health Ministry on August 19, 2026. Pretoria also cited an estimate that about 46,000 surviving Palestinians in Gaza, including children, are living with severe conflict-related injuries, among them amputations and traumatic brain and spinal-cord injuries.

The dossier also sets out allegations about the treatment of Palestinians. According to DIRCO, South Africa alleged that Palestinians had been arbitrarily detained and deported to Israeli prisons and detention centres, where they were subsequently subjected to torture, sexual and gender-based violence, and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment. South Africa further alleged that local journalists had been killed, foreign journalists barred from Gaza and UN-mandated investigative bodies prevented from entering the territory, actions Pretoria said have made documenting events more difficult. These remain allegations made by the South African government and have not been established as findings by the ICJ.

South Africa said that since the announcement of what it described as a "so-called ceasefire," an average of one Palestinian child had been killed every day by the Israeli military. The broader claim of continuing child deaths has also been reported independently: the Associated Press reported that Israeli strikes in Gaza continued on August 28, 2026, despite the U.S.-brokered ceasefire. South Africa additionally said miscarriage rates in Gaza had risen more than threefold in 2026, a figure contained in the South African government's own statement rather than an independent ICJ determination.

The dossier is the latest step in South Africa's continuing legal campaign to press Israel toward compliance with the ICJ's provisional measures and does not, on its own, establish that Israel violated the Genocide Convention. The proceedings continue while the Court considers the underlying case. In January 2024, the Court identified a real and imminent risk of irreparable prejudice to rights South Africa claims under the Genocide Convention, which the Court found plausible, and issued the provisional measures to protect those rights pending the outcome of the case.

South Africa has previously submitted evidence dossiers to other UN bodies, including the UN Security Council, as part of its broader diplomatic and legal campaign. According to DIRCO, such dossiers were submitted in May 2024, February 2025 and September 2025, while additional dossiers on starvation went to the UN General Assembly and the UN Economic and Social Council in October 2025.

The ICJ's provisional-measures orders are binding on Israel, but the Court has not yet ruled on the merits of South Africa's underlying genocide allegations.