LONDON, January 16. /TASS/. South Africa has legal grounds to take Israel to the International Court of Justice for its actions in the Gaza Strip, Russian Ambassador to the United Kingdom Andrey Kelin said in an interview with the LBC radio station.
"The goal of Israel [in Gaza] is to remove [the local population]," he said. "I would say there are reasons for South Africa to raise this issue with the International Court of Justice."
"You cannot contain Palestinians like that forever. You need to give them a state, a [two]-state solution, this is what is most important and this is what [neither] Israel [nor] the United States are willing to do," Kelin added.
Commenting on the host’s remarks, the Russian ambassador said it would be incorrect to draw parallels between the events in Gaza and Ukraine.
"We have never <…> tried to expel the population from cities, like it is in Gaza," he said.
Russia "detests any terrorist activity," but, on the other hand, "we do not support at all what is going on in Gaza right now," Kelin continued.
"We do not support it at all, and we appeal that violence should stop in Gaza. Not as a pause, but forever. And negotiations should take place in order to arrange a two-state solution," he said.
South Africa filed a lawsuit at the International Court of Justice in The Hague claiming that Israel was violating the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. The lawsuit argues that Israel's actions in the Gaza Strip can be described as genocide because they are carried out with the specific intent "to destroy Palestinians in Gaza as part of the broader Palestinian national, racial and ethnic group." As part of the lawsuit, South African is seeking a court ruling that Israel is in breach of its obligations under the convention and must cease all hostilities in the Gaza Strip as well as pay reparations.
Israel rejected the allegations, accusing South Africa of hypocrisy, and motioned for the court to dismiss the case. Israeli Foreign Minister Israel Katz asserted that South Africa itself violates the Genocide Convention by supporting Hamas, which Israel had designated as a terrorist organization and is currently targeting in its military operation in Gaza.