Image Source: International Rescue Committee
World – Presidential Spokesperson Vincent Magwenya said South Africa will continue to follow the example of the children of Soweto in 1976 by confronting injustice with bravery, as the country welcomed a United Nations report finding that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
Magwenya said the report by the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, published on 23 June 2026, documents widespread violations against Palestinian children and reinforces concerns South Africa first raised before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in December 2023.
According to him, the commission found a clear pattern of conduct in which Israeli forces directly targeted Palestinian children, causing severe physical and psychological harm through bombings, shootings, collapsing buildings and the denial of medical care, food and water.
It also concluded that Israel had created living conditions incompatible with the growth and development of children. Magwenya said these findings confirmed the concerns South Africa put before the ICJ more than two years ago.
“These findings unfortunately confirm that the risks South Africa warned about in its application to the International Court of Justice in December 2023 have materialised, and children are bearing the costs of the international community’s inaction,” he said.
Calls for International Action
Magwenya said despite three provisional measures and two advisory opinions from the ICJ, little had changed for Palestinians in the occupied territory. He said a ceasefire was in place, but that Palestinian children were still being killed and wounded as Israel disregarded its obligations under international law.
“A so-called ceasefire is in place, but Palestinian children in Gaza continue to be killed, seriously injured, with continued disregard by Israel for the ceasefire and for the protection owed to the Palestinian children under international law,” he said.
Magwenya said humanitarian organisations and human rights defenders had been forced to halt or scale back their work, leaving Palestinian children with even less protection. He said the obstruction of aid and the pressure placed on relief workers had left violations to continue unchecked.
“Rather than allowing aid at scale, Israel has forced humanitarian organisations and human rights defenders to halt or scale back their work in the occupied Palestinian territory through ‘sustained harassment, threats, bans, sanctions and attacks on their reputations’, leaving Palestinian children ‘even less protected’,” he said.
A Future for Palestinian Children
Magwenya said South Africa would continue to pursue legal and diplomatic avenues in support of Palestinian self-determination and the protection of civilians. He said healing could not begin while the killing continued, arguing that a people had to survive before they could recover.
“Most importantly, healing cannot take place during an ongoing genocide, as it requires the continued existence of a group of people,” he said.
Magwenya invoked the legacy of the 1976 Soweto uprising, casting the country’s stance as a continuation of that generation’s defiance. He expressed hope that the commission’s findings would rally the same kind of global solidarity that followed the Soweto massacre.
“South Africa will continue to follow the example of the children of Soweto in 1976: to confront injustice with bravery,” he said.
