Turkey on Wednesday officially submitted its candidacy to join South Africa’s genocide case against Israel over the Gaza war at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Turkish Parliament Speaker Numan Kurtulmuş announced.
“We will continue our efforts to have Israel tried in international courts for the crime of genocide and receive the harshest punishment it deserves for the crimes committed by Netanyahu and his gang,” Kurtulmuş wrote on the social media platform X.
In late December, South Africa took Israel to the highest UN court in The Hague for alleged violations of the Genocide Convention.
South Africa claims that Israel is committing “systematic” genocide in Gaza, citing examples of military violence and statements by Israeli politicians and top military officials.
Israel has described the lawsuit as “completely baseless.”
In late May, the International Court of Justice ordered Israel to immediately end the controversial military operation in Rafah, in the southern Gaza Strip.
In addition to Turkey, several other countries have joined the lawsuit, including Spain as the first EU country.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan has accused Israel of “genocide” over its war against Hamas, the militant group that carried out an unprecedented attack on October 7 that killed some 1,200 people in Israel.
Erdoğan maintains good relations with Hamas.
Ten months after the Israeli air and ground offensive, the Hamas-led Ministry of Health in Gaza reports that more than 39,600 people have been killed in the Palestinian territory.
