Ireland joins South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at ICJ

Ireland has formally submitted a declaration to join South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the top U.N. court confirmed Monday.

“Ireland, invoking Article 63 of the Statute of the Court, filed in the Registry of the Court a declaration of intervention in the case concerning Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip,” or South Africa versus Israel, the court said in a statement.

Irish Foreign Minister Micheal Martin confirmed last month that the government had approved the move to join the case under the Genocide Convention.

Under Article 63, any state party to a convention that is under judicial consideration has the right to intervene, making the ICJ’s interpretation of that convention binding on them as well.

In December 2023, South Africa filed an application against Israel, claiming violations of the Genocide Convention in relation to Palestinians in Gaza. Since then, several countries have joined the case, including Nicaragua, Colombia, Libya, Mexico, Palestine, Spain, and Türkiye.

Israel has continued its offensive on Gaza since a Hamas attack in October 2023, despite a U.N. Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire.

Nearly 46,000 people, mostly women and children, have been killed and over 105,000 injured, according to local health authorities.

The Israeli onslaught has displaced almost the entire population of Gaza amid an ongoing blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, clean water, and medicine.