More countries must recognise a Palestinian state and stand up to Israel to stop its “genocidal activities”, South Africa’s Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola told AFP in an interview Tuesday.
Pretoria has been a leading critic of Israel’s actions in Gaza, bringing a case before the UN’s top court in December 2023 arguing that its war in the Palestinian territory amounted to genocide.
As some of Israel’s allies “are now also saying, no, this can’t continue, it means that it is bringing us closer and closer to the Israel regime to stop the genocidal activities”, Lamola said.
This will also boost efforts to “allow humanitarian access to the people of Gaza” and “to agree to go into a negotiation table to cease the fire”, he said.
“We really welcome this development, and we call for more countries to continue to recognise Palestine.”
“We welcome the intention to recognise by France, Canada, and all countries of the world. This will put the pressure so that we can end up with ceasefire,” Lamola said.
South Africa’s case before the International Court of Justice argues that the war in Gaza, which began with the militant group Hamas’s October 7, 2023 attack on Israel, breached the 1948 United Nations Genocide Convention. Israel has strongly denied that accusation.
Several nations have added their weight to the proceedings, including Spain, Bolivia, Colombia, Mexico, Turkey, Chile and Libya.
The leaders of France, the United Kingdom and Canada have meanwhile said they plan to recognise a Palestinian state in September, and urged other nations to do so.
The announcements by some of Washington’s closest allies have displeased US President Donald Trump.
Lamola said that had the world acted when South Africa made its case at the ICJ, “we would not be where we are”.
“It’s clear starvation is emerging, famine, and all these are things we warned about in our ICJ case — that this will lead to famine, will lead to complete cleansing of the population,” he said.
“It’s rather late, yes, but it’s better than never. So let them act, let them support, let them put the pressure.”
