Türkiye joins South Africa's lawsuit against Israel in the Court of Justice... and Hamas calls for the formation of a united front to end the occupation

Turkey on Wednesday filed an official request to join South Africa's genocide lawsuit against Israel before the International Court of Justice.

The head of the legal committee in the Turkish parliament, Cüneyt Yuksel, said that his country "will provide evidence of the ethnic cleansing committed by the Israeli army and its massacres in the Gaza Strip," accusing Israel of using the weapon of starvation and thirst in Gaza.

Yuksel added - in a press conference in front of the court - that there is conclusive evidence that Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians, stressing that the Republic of Turkey, as a state and a people, stands with the Palestinian cause, noting that his country is optimistic that the International Court of Justice will be able to force Israel to implement its decisions.

The head of the committee confirmed that they are following the genocide case in the International Court of Justice in their capacity as the legal delegation of the Turkish Parliament in The Hague, and explained that if the application to join is accepted, “Turkey will participate in the entire trial process, and will make its statement about Israel’s genocide in Gaza clearly.”

Request to join

The Turkish Foreign Ministry said that Turkey's decision to intervene in the genocide case filed against Israel at the International Court of Justice is a reflection of the importance our country attaches to resolving the Palestinian issue within the framework of law and justice.

The Foreign Ministry said in a statement on Wednesday that Turkey is closely following the lawsuit filed by the Republic of South Africa at the International Court of Justice against Israel regarding the latter's violation of its obligations arising from the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

So far, Nicaragua, Colombia, Libya, Mexico, Palestine and Spain have requested to join South Africa's application to the International Court of Justice, but the court has not yet ruled on these requests.

On December 29, South Africa filed an 84-page lawsuit presenting evidence that Israel (the occupying power) violated its obligations under the United Nations Charter, and its involvement in “committing acts of genocide against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip.”

The court set October 28, 2024, as a deadline for Pretoria to submit its opinion in the case, and the deadline for Israel to submit its opposing view was set on July 28, 2025.

With American support, the Israeli occupation has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7, leaving more than 131,000 Palestinian martyrs and wounded, most of them children and women, and more than 10,000 missing, amid massive destruction and deadly famine.

In disdain for the international community, Tel Aviv continues the war, ignoring the UN Security Council resolution to stop it immediately, and the orders of the International Court of Justice to take measures to prevent acts of genocide and improve the catastrophic humanitarian situation in Gaza.

Source: Agencies