Chile has filed a formal request to the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to take part in the proceedings against Israel, the court in The Hague says, Al Jazeera reports.

South Africa filed its case in December, alleging that Israel was committing genocide in its military assault on Gaza.

Nicaragua, Colombia, Mexico, Libya, Palestine and Spain have filed formal requests to participate in the proceedings and are waiting for the ICJ to grant approval to join the case.

Chile was among a group of countries that had taken the political step of announcing their intention to join the case, but its declarations of intervention had yet to be filed.

The international court said in a statement that it had received the application on Thursday.