Residents of the City of Ramallah in central West Bank, Palestine, plan to converge around a statue of the late president Nelson Mandela on Wednesday.

According to the mayor of Johannesburg, Kabelo Gwamanda, who spoke to the mayor of Ramallah, Issa Kassis, the gathering at 17:00 recognises and appreciates SA's application to the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

The court will hold public hearings on Thursday and Friday at the Peace Palace in The Hague, the seat of the court, in the proceedings instituted by South Africa against Israel.

The application argues that Israel's response to the deadly 7 October attack by Hamas, which resulted in the deaths of 1 200 people and the abduction of 240 others, violated the provisions of the Genocide Act. 

Gwamanda was invited to address the people of Ramallah via video-link.

In a statement on Wednesday, Gwamanda said the City of Johannesburg unashamedly associated with the people of "our sister city, Ramallah, in their quest for freedom and the liberation of Palestine".

"We cannot condemn enough the continued senseless killings of Palestinian women and children, and the destruction of Ramallah and other Palestinian territories by apartheid Israel," he said.

Gwamanda said Johannesburg had a history of struggle against injustice, oppression, racism and segregation.

He said there was a "moral and political duty" to lend its support to the people of Palestine "as they confront the abhorrable actions [sic] of the Israeli Defense Force and its allies".

Gwamanda assured Kassis that the City of Johannesburg would continue to lend its voice of protest in solidarity with the residents of Ramallah - and it would continue to push for an escalation of protest and boycott "until the people of Palestine are protected from the genocidal actions of Israel".

He added that South Africans believed in equality, and the peaceful and legal resolution of conflict.

According to the ICJ, in its request to be heard over the two days, South Africa will ask the court to indicate provisional measures to "protect against further, severe and irreparable harm to the rights of the Palestinian people under the Genocide Convention" - and "to ensure Israel's compliance with its obligations under the Genocide Convention not to engage in genocide, and to prevent and to punish genocide".