“On 24 May 2024, Mexico, invoking Article 63 of the Statute of the Court, filed in the Registry of the Court a declaration of intervention in the case concerning Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel)”, according to the press release available on the ICJ’s official website.
Based on Article 63 of the Statute, in addition to relevant countries to the case, any other country can enter the court proceedings.
“In accordance with Article 83 of the Rules of Court, South Africa and Israel have been invited to furnish written observations on Mexico’s declaration of intervention”, the ICJ said in the press release.
Mexico's move places it on a growing list of countries willing to join the case accusing Israel of violating the UN's 1948 Genocide Convention.
South Africa brought its case against Israel in January, accusing the regime of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza where more than 36,000 people, mostly women and children have been killed since launched it war on October 7, 2023.
The top UN court issued an interim ruling that found there was a “plausible risk of genocide” in Gaza and ordered Israel to take a series of measures, including preventing any genocidal acts from taking place.
The court rejected a second South African application for emergency measures in March over Israel’s threat to invade the southern Gaza city of Rafah which is overcrowded by Palestinians displaced elsewhere in the besieged strip.
But last week, the ICJ on yet another plea from South Africa, issued a legally binding order for Israel to halt its invasion of Rafah after the regime reduced entire neighborhoods to rubble and forcefully displaced hundreds of thousands of people.
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