"South Africa is presenting the court, for the fourth time, with a picture that is completely divorced from the facts and circumstances on the ground," Israeli representative Gilad Noam told the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague.

Noam said the war in Gaza was tragic, but denied there was genocide, "a crime committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group," according to the UN definition.

Israel has been waging an offensive in the Gaza Strip that has killed more than 35,300 people in seven months, according to figures released Thursday by the health ministry in Gaza, run by the Islamist group Hamas.

Israel's stated aim is to eliminate Hamas, which has controlled Gaza since 2007, and in recent weeks Israeli forces have been concentrated in the southern city of Rafah.

The war was triggered by an unprecedented barrage of rocket fire by Hamas on southern Israel on July 8, which killed one Israeli and wounded hundreds.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday called the battle for Rafah the "decisive" stage of the war, after announcing an intensification of military operations in the city, despite international concern for civilians.

Lawyers for Pretoria told the ICJ on Thursday that Israel's alleged genocide had reached "horrific proportions," citing mass graves, torture and the blocking of humanitarian aid.

"South Africa had hoped, when it last appeared before this court, that an end would be put to this genocidal process to preserve Palestine and its people," said Vusimuzi Madonsela, representing Pretoria.

"Instead, Israel's genocide has continued apace and has now reached new and horrific proportions," he added, according to Agence France-Presse.

Thursday's hearing at the ICJ is to consider a new request by South Africa for additional emergency measures against Israel over its military offensive in the Gaza Strip.

In a January ruling, the ICJ ordered Israel to do everything in its power to prevent any acts of genocide and to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza.

But the court stopped short of ordering a ceasefire and South Africa argues that developments on the ground, particularly the operation in Rafah, require a new order from the ICJ.

Pretoria said the continuing Israeli offensive was "causing irreparable harm to the rights of the Palestinian people," according to the terms of its request to the ICJ, cited by Spain's Europa Press news agency.

The ICJ, which settles disputes between states, is legally binding but has no means of enforcing its rulings.

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