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A view of the ICJ court room. (Photo: ICJ website)

South Africa has instituted proceedings against Israel at the International Court of Justice over the regime’s "genocidal" onslaught on Gaza, which has so far killed over 21,000 Palestinians.

The lawsuit says Israel’s actions are "genocidal in character because they are intended to bring about the destruction of a substantial part of the Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group".

"The acts in question include killing Palestinians in Gaza, causing them serious bodily and mental harm, and inflicting on them conditions of life calculated to bring about their physical destruction," the lawsuit said.

The application said Israeli attacks breach the UN’s Genocide Convention, and urged the court to "order Israel to cease killing and causing serious mental and bodily harm to Palestinian people in Gaza".