On Sunday, Egypt said that it would support South Africa’s case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, citing the rising magnitude of Israel’s operations in Gaza and their impact on civilians.
The move underlines rising tensions between the two countries as Israel’s operation in Rafah puts long-term accords and security cooperation to the test.
“The announcement of the intervention in the case comes in light of the expansion in scope and scale of Israeli violations against civilians in Gaza”, the Egyptian foreign ministry stated, without elaborating on the intervention’s details. Previously, Egypt has presented arguments in the case.
South Africa requested the court on Friday to order Israel to withdraw from Rafah as part of additional emergency measures in an ongoing case accusing Israel of genocide.
Egyptian security officials stated that Egyptian officials blamed Israel’s actions for the strained bilateral relations and the breakdown of ceasefire talks held in Cairo by delegations from Hamas, Israel, the United States, Egypt, and Qatar.
Hamas applauded Cairo’s ICJ move.
In a statement, Hamas said, “We appreciate the announcement by the sister Arab Republic of Egypt of its intention to join the lawsuit filed by the Republic of South Africa”.
When asked about the 1979 treaty between the two nations in light of the Rafah operation, Egyptian foreign minister Sameh Shoukry said on Sunday that the treaty was necessary to protect security and that it has mechanisms in place to handle any violations, but did not elaborate.
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