Ireland has formally joined South Africa’s genocide case against Israel, according to a statement on Tuesday from the International Court of Justice.
The filing, made on Monday, comes months after Ireland announced plans to intervene in the case before the United Nations’ highest judicial body.
“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,” the court said in a statement on Tuesday.
South Africa brought its case to the I.C.J. in December 2023, accusing Israel of committing genocide in Gaza. Israel has strongly rejected the allegation, describing South Africa’s filing as a “despicable and contemptuous exploitation of the Court.”
In an initial ruling in January 2024, the court ordered Israel to restrain its attacks in Gaza, and in May it ordered the country to immediately halt its military offensive in the city of Rafah, in southern Gaza.
The United Nations allows countries to “intervene” in proceedings if they are parties to the United Nations’ 1948 Genocide Convention.
The Irish government did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Tuesday, but the filing was long anticipated. Last month, the government approved a plan to file its argument in the case, with Micheál Martin, the deputy prime minister and minister for foreign affairs, saying that it would be filed in The Hague, where the court is based, within weeks.
“There has been a collective punishment of the Palestinian people through the intent and impact of military actions of Israel in Gaza, leaving 44,000 dead and millions of civilians displaced,” Mr. Martin said in December, adding that Ireland would ask the court to broaden its interpretation of what constitutes the commission of genocide by a state.
“We are concerned that a very narrow interpretation of what constitutes genocide leads to a culture of impunity in which the protection of civilians is minimized,” he added.
Experts say the court is not expected to rule on the genocide charge for years.
The decision to intervene in the case reflects Ireland’s longstanding support for Palestinian civilians, rooted in part in a shared history of British colonialism and in Ireland’s own experience with a seemingly intractable sectarian conflict — The Troubles, which came to a close with the 1998 Good Friday Agreement.
Last month, Israel announced it was closing its embassy in Dublin, citing what it said were “the extreme anti-Israel policies of the Irish government.” Israeli officials said the action did not mean that Israel was severing diplomatic relations with Ireland.
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