Egypt has declared that it will formally join South Africa’s petition before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) accusing Israel of violating its responsibilities under the Genocide Convention during its war on the Gaza Strip, informing the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) that if Israel does not halt its operation in Rafah, it will cancel the Camp David Accords.
The Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said on Sunday that its submission to the court “comes in light of the worsening severity and scope of Israeli attacks against Palestinian civilians in the Gaza Strip, and the continued perpetration of systematic practices against the Palestinian people, including direct targeting of civilians and the destruction of infrastructure in the Strip, and pushing Palestinians to flee,” Al Jazeera reported on Sunday.
South Africa filed a complaint against Israel in January, accusing it of “committing genocide” against Palestinians in Gaza. According to Palestinian officials, the death toll from Israel’s war on Gaza, which began in October, has topped 35,000, with women and children accounting for the majority of the deaths.
The principal judicial organ of the United Nations, the ICJ in January issued an interim verdict finding a “probable risk” of genocide in the enclave and ordered Israel to implement a set of temporary measures, including measures to prevent any genocidal crimes from occurring.
The court dismissed South Africa’s second appeal for emergency measures, submitted in March in response to Israel’s then-threat to strike Rafah.
Egypt will now formally apply to join the action before the ICJ against Israel, along with Turkey and Colombia. This month, Turkey indicated it will seek to join the case after the South American country asked the ICJ last month to allow it to join the case to safeguard “the safety and, indeed, the very existence of the Palestinian people.”
Egypt stated that it is asking Israel “to comply with its obligations as the occupying power and to implement the provisional measures issued by the ICJ, which require ensuring access to humanitarian and relief aid in a manner that meets the needs of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.”
The former head of Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Alon Liel, told Al Jazeera that Egypt’s move was an “unbelievable diplomatic blow to Israel.”
“With Egypt joining South Africa now in The Hague, it’s a real diplomatic punch. Israel will have to take it very seriously,” he added.
Egyptian authorities informed CIA Director William Burns, who was visiting Egypt, that the US must “put more pressure” on Israel to cease its operation in Rafah. If not, Egypt will cancel the Camp David Accords, Israeli publication Maariv reported on Friday.
According to the newspaper, in response to increased media pressure from Egyptian agencies pushing for the revocation of the Camp David Accords, Israeli officials reached out to their Egyptian counterparts to determine the form, extent, and significance of these requests.
Maariv also reported that, for the first time since the start of the conflict, Egypt ordered aid truck drivers to leave the Rafah crossing area on the Egyptian side of the border, while also beefing up security measures there, possibly due to concerns about deteriorating security conditions in the border region.
According to Extra News on Friday, the source emphasized the substantial progress made by Egyptian negotiators in recent weeks during ceasefire discussions.
The most recent round of discussions, which took place in Cairo earlier this week, included mediators from Egypt, Qatar, and the United States, but it ended without a truce having been reached.
Significant points of dispute remain between Hamas and Israel. Hamas has requested a permanent ceasefire of hostilities, but Israel has refused.
Israel seeks a truce that involves the release of the remaining hostages in Gaza, but won’t commit to ending the war with Hamas.
The death toll in Gaza has now risen to 35,034 since the conflict began on October 7, with more than 78,755 people injured during the last 7 months of the war. The vast majority of the dead and injured are women and children.