March 7 (UPI) — As a famine and mass starvation loom in Gaza, South Africa on Wednesday again asked for urgent provisional measures to be added to a January order by the World Court against Israel to reflect the dire situation in the Palestinian enclave.
South Africa’s urgent filing to the International Court of Justice asks that its judges add to its Jan. 26 order five additional provisions including a demand that Israel must take actions to address famine, starvation and “the adverse conditions of life faced by Palestinians in Gaza.”
That single provision, if adopted, would order Israel to immediately suspend military operations in Gaza, lift its blockade of the enclave, rescind policies that obstruct Palestinians’ access to humanitarian assistance and basic services and ensure the provision of food, water, fuel, shelter, clothing, sanitation and medical assistance, including supplies and support.
“The urgent application has been necessitated by widespread starvation in Gaza, which has claimed the lives of at least 15 children in the past week alone, with the actual numbers believed to be much higher,” the Presidency of South Africa said in a statement.
“United Nations experts warn that the number of deaths will increase exponentially unless military activities are halted and the blockade is lifted.”
South Africa had asked the court in late December to take up a case against Israel concerning alleged violations committed under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide over its treatment of Palestinians in Gaza amid its war in the enclave against Hamas.
On Jan. 26, the court ordered Israel to take immediate steps to end atrocities being committed in Gaza as they could violate the genocide convention, as it considers a finally decision on the case, which could take years.
The African nation has previously asked the court to adopt additional provisions to reflect the deteriorating situation in Gaza, and which were accepted earlier this month.
Israel has not complied with the order, criticizing the proceedings, along with Western partners, as baseless.
Additional provisions requested by South Africa on Wednesday include a demand that all parties immediately halt fighting and release all hostages and detainees, and that they take measures to comply with the genocide conventions.
The World Court said in a statement that South Africa has asked it to consider adopting the measures without a hearing “in light of the ‘extreme urgency of the situation.'”
The filing comes as the humanitarian situation continues to deteriorate in Gaza.
According to the United Nations’ humanitarian coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, at least 20 children, including a two-week old baby, have died of starvation in Gaza.
“Hunger has reached catastrophic levels,” the U.N. official, Jamie McGoldrick, told journalists Wednesday.
“Children are dying of hunger.”
A day earlier, U.N. experts accused Israel of “intentional starving the Palestinian people” since its war against Hamas began on Oct. 7 after the Iran proxy militia killed 1,200 Israelis and kidnapped 253 others in a surprise attack on the Middle Eastern country.
In the nearly five-month-old war, Israel has killed more than 30,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, while displacing 1.9 million people, representing 85% of the enclaves population.
“Israel must end its campaign of starvation and targeting of civilians,” the experts said.