Israel has vehemently denied committing genocide in Gaza as it faced a world court.

Lawyers from the Jewish state dismissed the accusation as “profoundly distorted” at the United Nations International Court of Justice yesterday.

The case, brought by South Africa, says Israel is trying to destroy the Palestinian enclave in its war against Hamas terrorists.

It follows Hamas’ October 7 massacre of around 1,200 Israelis and the taking of around 240 hostages.

Israeli lawyers told ICJ judges in The Hague, Netherlands, that South Africa’s close ties with Hamas undermined the case’s credibility.

Dr Tal Becker, legal adviser to Israel’s foreign affairs ministry, said while civilian suffering in Gaza was “tragic”, Hamas sought “to maximise civilian harm to both Israelis and Palestinians, even as Israel seeks to minimise it”.

He added South Africa “has regrettably put before the court a profoundly distorted factual and legal picture [and] the entirety of its case hinges on a deliberately curated, decontextualised and manipulative description of the reality of current hostilities”.

South Africa says Israel’s actions “are intended to bring about the destruction of a substantial part of the Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group”.

That, it said, included “killing Palestinians in Gaza, causing them serious bodily and mental harm, and inflicting on them conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction”. The country has urged judges to order an immediate halt to the Israeli operation.

Its governing African National Congress has a long history of solidarity with the Palestinian cause and sees parallels with its own struggle against apartheid.

Meanwhile, police struggled to keep hundreds of Palestinian and Israeli demonstrators apart outside the court. People waving Palestinian flags called for a ceasefire and Israel supporters showed images of hostages still held in Gaza.

The case is not a criminal trial and judges could rule quickly on the request for Israel to suspend its military campaign. But a final ruling on whether it is committing genocide could take years.

Earlier, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu said: “No, South Africa, it is not we who have come to perpetrate genocide, it is Hamas. It would murder all of us if it could.” ICJ rulings are legally binding on its signatories, which include Israel and South Africa, but not enforceable.”

In 2022, the court ordered Russia to “immediately suspend military operations” in Ukraine – an order Vladimir Putin ignored.