ANKARA

Türkiye will officially apply to be part of South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the chairman of the Turkish Grand National Assembly's Justice Committee said Wednesday.

“After the decision to join (the case) is made by our esteemed President, we will submit our official application following legal work. As we have done until today, we will continue our efforts with determination to ensure the condemnation of Israel, which has been condemned by the conscience of humanity, and also in the eyes of the law,” said Cuneyt Yuksel in a written statement.

Pointing to Israel's 75 years of "apartheid," 56 years of "occupation" and 16-year siege aimed at the colonization and annexation of Palestinian territories, Yuksel said “the Palestinian issue, envisaged to be based on the rule of law and international law, is a matter that could even affect the sustainability of the current international order and lead to global consequences.”

He said that Israel blatantly violates the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

Emphasizing that international law must be applied equally to everyone without any exceptions or privileges under any circumstances, Yuksel expressed his belief that the ICJ would act in accordance with this principle.

He said they expect the world court to reveal the genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes committed by Israel and to promptly initiate the adjudication process.

Türkiye’s foreign minister confirmed the plans.

“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.

“With this step, we hope that the process in front of the ICJ will progress in the right direction,” Fidan added.

Israel has waged an unrelenting offensive on Gaza since a cross-border attack by the Palestinian group 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.

*Writing by Esra Tekin in Istanbul