By: Natasha Archary
President Cyril Ramaphosa declared that South Africa is one of many countries who have taken steps calling for the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate Israel for war crimes.
Ramaphosa who is on a State Visit to Qatar made the statement on Wednesday, 15 November at the Amiri Diwan Palace in Doha during a media engagement session.
The South African President said it is clear, especially after the attack on the Al-Shifa hospital in Gaza that war crimes are being committed.
“The events in Palestine, and the growing deaths of civilians, particularly children, grieves us all. South Africa supports all efforts to secure an immediate and full ceasefire, with talks on a political solution to address the legitimate aspirations of the Palestinian people for statehood.
Many people around the world are appalled in what is happening in Gaza. We have joined many countries and organisations that is calling upon the ICC to investigate what is happening.
In fact, as we see it unfolding with our own eyes, we can see that that a real crime, a war crime is underway.
Particularly what has happened at Al-Shifa hospital, we are completely opposed to what is happening and we are calling upon various countries to put pressure on Israel to immediately cease what they are doing.
There is a desperate need for a ceasefire now, innocent lives have been lost and the rules of law are no longer being observed.
Where children are just being killed, almost half of the 11 000 people who have died in Gaza are children, and this is unprecedented in the history of the world, that children and babies should be exposed to such dangerous situations.
Babies taken out of incubators, and have died in the most cruel ways imaginable. There’s a need for the whole world to rise and call upon the Israeli government to ceasefire, to stop what is happening, and we want the ICC to investigate, and of course legal measures must be taken at that global level.
The Israeli government has perfected the way in which he does not follow and implement decisions that are taken at the UN Security Council, they have become a law unto themselves, internationally and this is totally unacceptable.
So, we are once again calling for a ceasefire, and we are saying that there needs to be a follow-up by those international agencies that are supposed to ensure there’s a rule of law, there’s order in the world.”
President Cyril Ramaphosa says South Africa is one of many countries who have take steps calling for the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate Israel for war crimes
The death toll in Gaza has risen to over 11, 200 according to the UN, with over 4 600 of those killed being children.
Media Engagement on Qatari State Visit https://t.co/hGUSy7cr45
— Cyril Ramaphosa 🇿🇦 (@CyrilRamaphosa) November 15, 2023
On Wednesday, 15 November, the Israel Defence Force (IDF) raided the Al-Shifa hospital that was allegedly the ground-base for Hamas.
The IDF says that weapons and ammunition that was sufficient for one Hamas militant was discovered inside the MRI center of the hospital which has since been evacuated.
Israel’s government said they had intelligence that indicated Hamas was operating out of the hospital, and through tunnels under the facility where over 200 Hamas militants were stationed.
Watch as LTC (res.) Jonathan Conricus exposes the countless Hamas weapons IDF troops have uncovered in the Shifa Hospital’s MRI building: pic.twitter.com/5qssP8z1XQ
— Israel Defense Forces (@IDF) November 15, 2023
However, there has been no proof of this and Mohammed Zaqout, the director-general of hospitals in the Gaza Strip, told Al-Jazeera that Al-Shifa is a civilian hospital with no members of Hamas operating there.
Last weekend, Al-Shifa was one of two hospitals in the region to close its doors after generators ran out of fuel.
Three premature babies have died as a result of the incubators being unable to run, and 37 more babies in the NICU have since been moved to an area that still has electricity.
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