At least 1,303 Palestinians, more than 300 of them children, have been killed in Israeli attacks since the Gaza ceasefire of October 2025, Amnesty International said on 1 September. The figure came in a statement backing South Africa’s latest filing at the International Court of Justice.
South Africa has handed the court a submission of evidence that Israel is not complying with the provisional orders issued in the genocide case over Gaza. Amnesty said the filing fits its own findings that Israeli authorities have kept committing genocide against Palestinians there, ceasefire or not.
“Rather than complying with the court’s mandatory measures, Israel is continuing to commit genocide against Palestinians in Gaza,” said Heba Morayef, Amnesty’s Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa. She said the damage to rights protected under the Genocide Convention has continued since the court’s first orders in January 2024.
Israel has rejected the charges since South Africa brought the case on 29 December 2023. Its Foreign Ministry called them baseless and said Israel acts within international law and aims its operations at Hamas.
Aid, evidence and incitement
Amnesty accuses Israel of imposing living conditions meant to destroy Palestinians in Gaza. It points to tight limits on medical supplies, food, fuel and rebuilding material, and to curbs on humanitarian agencies. In January 2024 the court ordered Israel to “take immediate and effective measures to enable the provision of urgently needed basic services and humanitarian assistance.” It repeated the order in March and May that year.
Morayef also raised the killing of Palestinian media workers who were documenting events in Gaza. International media, human rights investigators and UN-mandated bodies are kept out of the territory, she said, and the International Committee of the Red Cross is denied access to Palestinian detainees, despite a ruling by Israel’s own Supreme Court. In her view, this hides “the full horror” of what is happening and breaks the court’s order to preserve evidence.
On incitement, Amnesty said Israel has not investigated or prosecuted any high-ranking politician who made genocidal statements. Dehumanizing rhetoric from senior politicians has kept spreading.
Life after the ceasefire
Amnesty acknowledged some improvement in humanitarian conditions and less intense attacks since the ceasefire. Even so, it said, deadly air strikes, large-scale destruction of civilian property and forced displacement go on.
Tens of thousands of people in Gaza live with life-changing injuries and mental harm, and need long-term treatment that the territory cannot provide. Nearly the whole population has been displaced, many people more than once. Israeli troops and local militias hold close to 65% of the Strip, Amnesty said, and displaced families cannot return to homes and land east of the so-called “yellow line.”
The court’s 24 May 2024 order told Israel to halt its offensive in Rafah. Amnesty says Israel ignored it and went on to destroy most of the city.
What Amnesty wants from other states
Amnesty called South Africa’s filing “an outlier in a crowded field of states” that have not acted to prevent genocide, and in some cases have enabled it. Many third states, it said, have sustained Israel’s impunity, either by not enforcing the court’s measures or by supplying diplomatic cover, money and military support.
“All states must pressure Israel to end violations of international law,” Morayef said, listing an end to arms transfers and military assistance, and an end to trade that feeds the occupation of Palestinian territory, in line with the court’s July 2024 advisory opinion. Amnesty also asked South Africa itself to suspend trade agreements with Israel that could contribute to rights violations, including seaborne thermal coal shipments.
Sources
- South Africa's genocide case against Israel – Wikipedia
- Israel/OPT: South Africa ICJ submission must spur states to press Israel to end its genocide in Gaza
