The International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Tuesday scheduled further hearings in the genocide proceedings against Israel for its military operations against militants from the Palestinian organization Hamas in Rafah.
The highest court of the United Nations will on Thursday and Friday deal with the urgent application by South Africa, it announced in The Hague.
South Africa is demanding Israel's immediate withdrawal from Rafah in the south of the Gaza Strip to prevent genocide against Palestinians.
The attacks threaten "severe and irreparable harm" to the population in Gaza and extreme peril to humanitarian aid supplies, basic services and the healthcare system, according to South Africa's suit.
Filed against Israel at the end of 2023, it accuses the country of violating its obligations under the Genocide Convention, which was drafted in the wake of the Holocaust.
In an urgent ruling, the UN court ordered Israel to take protective measures to prevent genocide. Israel must also allow more humanitarian aid for the people in the Gaza Strip.
However, in view of the recent escalation around Rafah, South Africa believes the measures ordered are not sufficient. It is not yet known when the court will rule on the renewed urgent appeal.
The ICJ is the United Nations venue for resolving disputes between states. Its decisions are binding.
Israel has dismissed the allegations as "baseless," while accusing South Africa as acting as the legal arm of the Islamist Hamas.
Israel also invokes its right to self-defence after thousands of gunmen from Hamas and other extremist groups attacked southern Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people and abducting around 240.
Some 35,000 Palestinians have been killed in the war so far, according to Gaza's Hamas-controlled health authority.
The main proceedings on the accusation of genocide could drag on for years.