The International Court of Justice announced, on Monday, that “the State of Palestine submitted, on May 31, a request for permission and a declaration to intervene in the lawsuit filed by South Africa against Israel for violating the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.”
The court, headquartered in the Dutch city of The Hague, said in a statement, “The State of Palestine submitted, on May 31, a request for permission and a declaration to intervene in the lawsuit filed by South Africa against Israel, based on Articles 62 and 63 of the Court’s Statute.”
The State of Palestine called on all states parties to the International Convention to Prevent and Punish Genocide to join the lawsuit procedures filed by South Africa, “to protect the Palestinian people from the crime of genocide,” according to the same source.
The statement added that the State of Palestine calls on all countries "to abide by the precautionary orders issued by the International Court of Justice with the aim of protecting against further serious and irreparable harm to the rights of the Palestinian people under the Genocide Convention."
For his part, the Palestinian Assistant Foreign Minister for United Nations Affairs and its specialized organizations, Omar Awadallah, said that the importance of the State of Palestine’s step lies in “showing that Israel is committing the crime of genocide, to punish and hold it accountable, and first to stop this crime against our people.”
He added in an interview with the official Palestinian News Agency (Wafa): “The request means that the State of Palestine not only supports what South Africa did in bringing Israel to trial for committing the crime of genocide against the Palestinian people, especially in the Gaza Strip, but rather it will present an oral and written plea before the Court of Justice.” International".
He pointed out that "the State of Palestine is not a member state of the court, but it is a member of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide."
He stated that "the State of Palestine will plead before the court orally, and it will submit a written plea before the court about Israel committing this crime against the Palestinian people."
He said, "States that do not adhere to the precautionary orders of the International Court of Justice are practically admitting to committing the crime, and third parties, namely other countries, must impose consequences on the country that does not comply, which is Israel."
At the end of December 2023, South Africa filed a lawsuit against Israel before the International Court of Justice on the grounds that it had violated the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention of Genocide.
Later, several countries submitted requests to join the case, including Türkiye, Libya, Nicaragua, Colombia, and Mexico.
Since October 7, Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza with absolute American support, leaving more than 118,000 Palestinians martyred 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.
Israel continues this war, ignoring a Security Council resolution demanding that it stop the fighting immediately, and orders from the Court of Justice to stop its attack on Rafah, and take immediate measures to prevent acts of “genocide” and “improve the humanitarian situation” in Gaza.
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