The UN's International Court of Justice will hold hearings on Thursday and Friday to discuss new emergency measures sought by South Africa over Israel's attacks on Rafah during the war in Gaza, the tribunal said Monday.

The hearings on May 16 and 17 will deal with South Africa's request to the court to order more emergency measures against Israel over its attacks on Rafah, the tribunal added, part of an ongoing case which accuses Israel of acts of genocide against Palestinians.

Israel has previously said it is acting in accordance with international law in Gaza, and has called South Africa's genocide case baseless and accused Pretoria of acting as "the legal arm of Hamas."

A breakdown of Egyptian-Israeli ties?

It was announced two days ago that Egypt, a country with longstanding positive relations with Israel which came about after years of war, will be joining South Africa in its legal case against Israel.

Military operations in Rafah have been a sore point for Egypt, with the country refusing to facilitate the tranferral of aid while Israeli forces occupy the Palestinian side of Rafah; despite the worsening Humanitarian situation in Gaza.

This is a developing story.