Who is Adila Hassim, the lawyer fighting 'genocide' case against Israel at ICJ?

Adila Hassim, one of the lawyers representing South Africa's Gaza genocide case at the International Court of Justice, on January 10 provided one of the damming indictments of Israel's action in the besieged city.

The South African lawyer's fiery speech in front of the 15-judge panel in a full courtroom drew immense applause online.

Here's what we know about the ace lawyer picked by the government:

Hassim has been involved in socio-economic rights matters for decades. Her preferred areas of practice include constitutional, administrative, health, and competition law.

Hassim has been an acting judge and has published various legal and health journals. She is also the co-founder of the anti-corruption organisation Corruption Watch.

South Africa vs Israel at ICJ

A continent away from the war in Gaza, South Africa accused Israel of committing genocide against the Palestinians and pleaded with the United Nations’ top court on Thursday to urgently order a halt the country’s military operation. Israel has vehemently denied the allegations.

South African lawyers said during the opening arguments that the latest Gaza war is part of a decadeslong oppression of the Palestinians by Israel.

They asked judges to impose binding preliminary orders on Israel, including an immediate halt to Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.

And South Africa insisted Israel committed genocide by design.

"For the past 96 days, Israel has subjected Gaza to what has been described as one of the heaviest conventional bombing campaigns in the history of modern warfare," South African lawyer Adila Hassim told the judges and audience in the packed, ornate room of the Peace Palace in The Hague.

Hassim said that the destruction of Palestinian towns and insufficient aid reaching the Palestinian people "renders essentials to life unobtainable.”

South African lawyer Tembeka Ngcukaitobi added that Israel had "genocidal intent" against Palestinians in Gaza, with a "clear pattern of conduct" that targeted civilian infrastructure.

Israel’s offensive has killed more than 23,200 Palestinians in Gaza, according to the Health Ministry in the Hamas-run enclave.

The dispute strikes at the heart of Israel’s national identity as a Jewish state created in the aftermath of the Nazi genocide in the Holocaust, during which 6 million Jews were murdered.

It also evokes issues central to South Africa’s own identity: Its governing party, the African National Congress, has long compared Israel’s policies in Gaza and the West Bank to its own history under the apartheid regime of white minority rule, which restricted most Blacks to “homelands” before ending in 1994.

(With AP inputs)

Also watch: International Court of Justice opens hearings into genocide allegations against Israel