Government has nothing to do with an event where a delegation from Hamas could possibly be in attendance.

Rumours have been doing the rounds that a three-member team of Hamas is expected to attend the fifth global convention of Solidarity with Palestine.

It's not clear where the event will be held, but it's scheduled to take place between 2 and 5 December.

On Thursday, Minister in the Presidency Khumbudzo Ntshavheni briefed the media on the outcomes of a Cabinet meeting held earlier in the week.

"The presence of individuals in the country… we don't have a Hamas office in South Africa. I don't have that evidence. But there is no United Nations Declaration that classifies Hamas as a terrorist organisation. If organisation and groups are classified as terrorists, they must be done so by the United Nations otherwise, the ANC wouldn't be declared a terrorist organisation because the apartheid regime called us that," she said.

South Africa's position on the war between Israel and Hamas has been called into question on several occasions.

This follows after International Relations and Cooperation Minister Naledi Pandor was criticised for holding a phone call with the leader of Hamas just 10 days after the Palestinian militant group launched a deadly attack on Israel on 7 October.

South Africa laid a charge against Israel for war crimes at the International Criminal Court (ICC) and plans to petition the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to declare it an apartheid state.

On 17 November, South Africa, along with the Comoros, Djibouti, Bolivia, and Bangladesh, jointly referred the situation in Palestine and Israel to the ICC.

ICC prosecutor Karim Khan said in a statement his office had received the referral and confirmed his office was investigating the situation in Palestine.

In Parliament, the National Assembly passed an amended motion that South Africa's diplomatic relations with Israel should be suspended.

Several parties, most notably the Economic Freedom Fighters, have used this motion to advocate for the complete severing of ties with Israel.

The parties that expressed their opposition to the motion during last week's debate – the Democratic Alliance, Inkatha Freedom Party, Freedom Front Plus, and African Christian Democratic Party – also opposed the amendment with a similar argument: that closing the Israeli embassy would leave South Africa without influence as a potential peace broker.

Government has made it clear though that there has been no decision to close its embassy in Israel.