South Africa’s Department of International Relations and Cooperation (DIRCO) has expressed concern over the safety of Minister Naledi Pandor.
As reported by SABC News, this comes after Pandor told the media on the sidelines of the State of the Nation Address (SONA) last week that she was worried about the safety of her family.
Pandor, who is South Africa’s International Relations and Cooperation Minister, has been publicly condemning Israel’s military operations in Gaza.
South Africa took Israel to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) over allegations of genocide in Gaza in the ongoing conflict in the Palestinian enclave.
DIRCO Director-General Zane Dangor said that the department will ensure the safety of the Minister and her family. Said Dangor:
I think the Minister is doing well and she will be cared for. Her safety is of paramount concern to all of us. So the Minister is doing fine.
South Africa has since sent a letter to the court in The Hague in the Netherlands requesting it to add provisional measures against Israel.
This was in response to the latest Israeli military attack on Gaza’s overcrowded city of Rafah which resulted in the death of 67 Palestinians in an overnight attack, according to the Hamas-run Health Ministry.
Hamas (Harakat al-Muqawama al-Islamiya), which translates to the Islamic Resistance Movement, runs the Gaza Strip.
On 07 0ctober 2023, Hamas launched the deadliest attack against Israel since the state’s establishment in 1948, killing more than 1 200 people and taking others hostage.
Since that attack, Israel has been bombarding Gaza to destroy Hamas and to rescue the more than 200 hostages but the conflict has resulted in the death of more than 28 000 Palestinians, most of them women and children.
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