GAZA CITY, Palestine

The Palestinian resistance group Hamas urged Germany on Sunday to reconsider its decision to back Tel Aviv before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague in the Netherlands in the genocide case filed by South Africa against Israel.

The statement was made by Hamas leader Izzat al-Rashq two days after the German government announced that it would intervene as a third party in the case, arguing that Israel has not violated the Genocide Convention during its war on the Gaza Strip since Oct. 7.

“We call on Germany to stop all forms of support for the Zionist crimes and to reject and criminalize the genocide being committed against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip,” said al-Rashq in a statement.

Al-Rashq condemned Germany's stance towards the genocidal war, ethnic cleansing and forced displacement carried out by the Zionist occupation.

He pointed out that Germany's attempt to absolve itself of its historical Nazi crimes does not come through supporting the crimes of the “new Nazis” (Israel) against the Palestinian people.

Germany is planning to intervene in the ongoing genocide case against Israel at the UN’s top court, a government spokesman said Friday.

South Africa, which brought the case before the ICJ, accused Israeli authorities of perpetrating genocide against Palestinians in Gaza during their military assault. It also requested provisional measures from the court to protect the Palestinian people, including by calling upon Israel to immediately halt military attacks.

Israel has launched relentless air and ground attacks on the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Hamas on Oct. 7, which Tel Aviv claims killed 1,200 people in Israel.

At least 23,968 Palestinians have since been killed, mostly women and children, and 60,582 injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.

According to the UN, 85% of the population of Gaza is already internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave’s infrastructure is damaged or destroyed.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio