Palestine said it submitted a request to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to join the genocide case filed by South Africa against Israel, local media reported Monday.
Palestine filed “an application for permission to intervene and a declaration of intervention in South Africa’s case against Israel concerning the Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip” at the court’s registry office on May 31, according to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA.
The agency said the request “comes in the context of Palestine’s commitment to legitimacy and international law as a basis for ending historical injustice,” including holding Israel accountable for its crimes.
It urged all states that are parties to the Genocide Convention “to join the lawsuit procedures filed by South Africa, protect the Palestinian people from the crime of genocide, ensure the non-repetition of this heinous crime in the future and to preserve the viability of the international law-based system.”
Chile is the latest country to join South Africa’s case before the ICJ, as announced by its President Gabriel Boric on Saturday.
Since January, at least nine countries have either formally approached the ICJ or declared their intention to do so, including Nicaragua, Colombia, Libya and Mexico.
Türkiye said in early May that it would officially apply to be part of South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the ICJ, according to Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan.
Israel has continued its brutal offensive on Gaza following a cross-border attack on Oct. 7 last year by the Palestinian group Hamas, despite a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire.
More than 36,400 Palestinians have since been killed in the enclave, the vast majority being women and children, and over 82,600 others injured, according to local health authorities.
Nearly eight months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine.
Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which in its latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.