Israel on Friday rejected as "a grossly distorted story" accusations brought by South Africa at the U.N.'s top court that its military operation in Gaza is a state-led genocide campaign aimed at wiping out the Palestinian population.
South Africa, which filed the lawsuit at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in December, asked judges on Thursday to impose emergency measures ordering Israel to immediately halt the offensive.
Israel is not seeking to destroy the Palestinian people in its war in Gaza, it told the International Court of Justice on Friday, as it hit back at South Africa's genocide case against it.
"What Israel seeks by operating in Gaza is not to destroy a people but to protect a people, its people, who are under attack on multiple fronts," lawyer Tal Becker told the court in The Hague.
Israel's military actions in Gaza are acts of self-defence against Hamas and "other terrorist organisations", the legal advisor for Israel's foreign ministry said at the opening of the second day of hearings at the World Court in The Hague on Friday.
The adviser, Tal Becker, said South Africa on Thursday had brought "a grossly distorted story" as it accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza in the first day of the hearings of the case it brought to the UN's top court.
"If there were acts of genocide, they have been perpetrated against Israel," Becker said.
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