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South Africa on Thursday accused Israel of breaching the UN Genocide Convention, arguing that even the deadly October 7 Hamas attack<\/a> could not justify such alleged actions, as it launched a landmark case at the top UN court.<\/p>\n Pretoria has lodged an urgent appeal at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to force Israel to \u201cimmediately suspend\u201d its military operations<\/a> in Gaza.<\/p>\n Israel has dismissed the case as \u201catrocious\u201d and \u201cpreposterous\u201d and vowed to set out a robust defence on Friday.<\/p>\n \u201cNo armed attack on a state territory, no matter how serious\u2026 can provide justification for or defend breaches of the convention,\u201d said Pretoria\u2019s Justice Minister Ronald Lamola.<\/p>\n \u201cIsrael\u2019s response to the October 7 attack has crossed this line and given rise to the breaches of the convention,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n The Gaza crisis erupted when Hamas launched its unprecedented attack, which resulted in about 1,140 people killed in Israel, mostly civilians, according to an AFP<\/em> tally based on official figures.<\/p>\n Israel has responded with a relentless military campaign that has killed at least 23,469 people, mostly women and children, according to Gaza\u2019s health ministry.<\/p>\n