The International Court of Justice said on Monday that the Palestinian authorities requested to join as a party in the genocide case in the Gaza Strip that South Africa filed against Israel.

The court added, in a statement, that the Palestinian authorities “submitted a request to be allowed to intervene in the case (South Africa v. Israel).”

The court, based in The Hague in the Netherlands, did not say whether the request was approved or when it would be responded to.

Two days ago, Chilean President Gabriel Buric announced that his country would join South Africa in its lawsuit against Israel before the International Court of Justice, on charges of committing genocide in the Gaza Strip.

It is noteworthy that at the end of December 2023, South Africa filed a lawsuit against Israel before the International Court of Justice, on the grounds that it violated the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention of Genocide.

The International Court of Justice issued a preliminary ruling in the case in late January, ordering Israel to take all measures within its authority to prevent acts that could fall under the Genocide Convention.

The court also ordered Tel Aviv to prevent and punish genocide, ensure the flow of aid to Gaza, and preserve evidence of crimes committed in the devastated Strip.

Last May, the court issued a mandatory order to stop the military operation in Rafah, but Israel refused to comply with the decision and is still continuing its attacks.

An expanding circle

Since the initial rulings, several countries have come forward to intervene in the case using a clause in the Statute of the International Court of Justice that allows third parties to join the proceedings, if they consider that they have “an interest of a legal nature that may be affected by any decision in the case.”

So far, several countries have submitted requests to join the case, including Chile, Mexico, Turkey, Libya, Nicaragua, and Colombia.

Since last October 7, Israel has been waging a devastating war on the Gaza Strip, leaving more than 118,000 Palestinians dead and wounded, most of them children and women, and about 10,000 missing amid massive destruction and famine that claimed the lives of children and the elderly.