ISTANBUL: Turkiye on Wednesday filed its official request to join South Africa’s genocide case against Israel over its conduct in the war in Gaza in the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague, the foreign ministry said.

Turkiye had announced in May that it had decided to join the case — formally known as submitting a declaration of official intervention — and would make the necessary legal preparations.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said it had made the formal request on Wednesday.

“The international community must do its part to stop the genocide and exert the necessary pressure on Israel and its supporters,” Fidan said in a post on X.

“Turkiye will make every effort to do so,” he added. The court will make the final decision of admission to the case.

South Africa brought its case against Israel in December, accusing it of state-led genocide in Gaza.

In January, the ICJ ordered Israel to refrain from any acts that could fall under the Genocide Convention and to ensure its troops commit no genocidal acts against Palestinians.

Israel has repeatedly dismissed the case’s accusations of genocide as baseless, arguing in court that its operations in Gaza are self-defence and targeted Hamas fighters who attacked Israel on Oct 7 last year and killed 1,200 Israelis and foreigners. In 10 months of subsequent warfare, more than 39,600 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, hundreds of thousands displaced, and most of the enclave laid to waste as a humanitarian crisis has unfolded.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan said in January that Turkiye was providing documents for the case at the ICJ, also known as the World Court. In June, Spain said it had asked to intervene in the case at the ICJ, the highest legal body of the United Nations.

Published in Dawn, August 8th, 2024