On Thursday, the International Court of Justice announced the dates for new written arguments presented by Israel and South Africa in a case in which the latter accused Tel Aviv of committing “genocide” during its ongoing war on the Gaza Strip for more than half a year.

This came in a court statement dated April 5, published on the “X” platform today.

The statement said: “On February 29, 2024, the President of the Court held a meeting with representatives of the parties, pursuant to Article 31 of the Rules of Court, to ascertain their views regarding the time limits for submitting preliminary written arguments in the case.”

The statement explained that the South African representative at the meeting said that his country’s government “prefers to have a period of 12 months to prepare its memorandum, starting from the date of the order issued on January 26, 2024, which refers to the temporary measures.”

At the same meeting, Israel's Deputy Undersecretary said, according to the statement, that the Israeli government believes that "a period of 6 months is appropriate for each party to prepare its initial written memorandum" on the issue.

The court said in its statement: “Taking into account the views of the parties, each party is given a period of 9 months to prepare its own memorandum, with the time period being calculated as of January 26, 2024.”

Accordingly, the date for submitting written arguments becomes October 28, 2024 for the Republic of South Africa, and July 28, 2025 for Israel,” according to the statement.

In response to the case filed by South Africa on December 29, 2023 against Israel, the International Court of Justice on January 26, 2024 ordered Tel Aviv to take “measures to prevent acts of genocide against Palestinians and to improve the humanitarian situation in the Gaza Strip.”

On March 28, International Justice, in response to a second request from South Africa, issued a decision with new temporary measures demanding that Israel “take all necessary and effective measures without delay to ensure the provision of the necessary humanitarian aid to Gaza.”

In its new decision, the court called on the Israeli army “not to violate the rights of Palestinians protected under the Genocide Convention, including not to obstruct the delivery of urgently needed humanitarian aid in Gaza.”