Israel to defend itself at court over genocide claim

Israel dismisses international cases against it as unfair and biased and rarely cooperates.

An Israeli military helicopter flies near the Israeli-Gaza border.

Israel will defend itself before the United Nation’s top court against charges that it has engaged in genocide of Palestinians in Gaza, officials said, a rare engagement with the world body, which Israel often denounces as biased against it.

South Africa launched the case on Friday at the International Court of Justice at The Hague, Netherlands, saying the magnitude of death, destruction and humanitarian crisis in Gaza from the Israeli military campaign against Hamas meets the threshold of genocide under international law.