ANKARA

Cuba on Friday decided to join in South Africa’s case against Israel before the International Court of Justice.

According to Radio Havana Cuba, under its obligations to the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, Cuba will exercise its right as a third state to present its interpretation of the convention, which it asserts Israel has flagrantly violated in the Gaza Strip.

The case seeks to halt the atrocities against the Palestinian people due to the Israel's disproportionate and indiscriminate use of force in the illegally occupied Gaza territory.

Cuba stressed that Israel, shielded by US complicity, has consistently ignored its obligations as an occupying power under the Geneva Convention.

Cuba said genocide, apartheid, forced displacement, and collective punishments have no place in today's world and should not be tolerated by the international community. It called for justice and adherence to the UN Charter and international law.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its operation in Rafah, where more than 1 million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded in May.

Flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, Israel has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an Oct. 7 attack by Hamas.

Over 37,000 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and more than 85,000 others injured, according to local health authorities.

More than eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.