Israel accused South Africa of abusing the International Criminal Court’s jurisdiction by requesting new measures due to plans by the Israeli army to expand its ground invasion into the city of Rafah in southern besieged Gaza, where roughly 1.4 million Palestinians have sought refuge, TRT World reports.

Israel said South Africa’s request was “peculiar” and “improper” instead of addressing the issue of the planned attack.

Tel Aviv said the case brought against it by South Africa for violating the Genocide Convention is “wholly unfounded in fact and law,” “morally repugnant”, and represents “an abuse of both the Genocide Convention and the Court itself.”

In its statements, Israel, claiming to adhere to international law in its attacks in the blockaded enclave, argued that the court had already ruled on certain measures recently and that there had been no significant changes in Gaza necessitating new measures.