By Esra Tekin
ISTANBUL (AA) – Türkiye will seek to be part of South Africa’s case at the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of committing genocide in the Gaza Strip, said the nation’s foreign minister on Wednesday.
“Türkiye has decided to seek to join in South Africa's genocide case against Israel at the ICJ,” Hakan Fidan told a joint news conference alongside his Indonesian counterpart Retno Marsudi.
During a meeting in the capital Ankara, the two discussed Palestine and the situation in Gaza, among other subjects.
“With this step, we hope that the process in front of the ICJ will progress in the right direction,” Fidan added.
Stating that Türkiye’s efforts on its application have been ongoing for “a very long time,” Fidan said Ankara will soon complete its legal work on the case.
"Meanwhile, we will continue to work with all friendly and allied countries on what more can be done on this issue and which countries can further apply,” he added.
Fidan said that Ankara will continue to stand by the Palestinian people “under all circumstances.”
Late last year, South Africa filed a case at the International Court of Justice accusing Israel of committing genocide in the Gaza Strip.
An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.
Israel has waged an unrelenting offensive on the Palestinian enclave since a cross-border attack by Hamas last Oct. 7 which killed some 1,200 people.
More than 34,500 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and thousands injured amid mass destruction and severe shortages of necessities.
Israel has also imposed a crippling siege on the seaside enclave, leaving most of its population, particularly residents of northern Gaza, on the verge of starvation.
More than six months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine, according to the UN.