Spain will join South Africa’s case at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) accusing Israel of genocide, Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel Albares said on Thursday.
“We made this decision in light of the continuation of the military operation in Gaza,” Albares said, adding that Spain’s “only objective is to end the war.”
Last December, South Africa filed a case against Israel over its invasion of Gaza at the ICJ, the U.N.’s top court, claiming Israel was in breach of its obligations under the Genocide Convention and seeking an end to the conflict.
Ireland announced in March it would intervene in the lawsuit on South Africa’s behalf, with Dublin calling Israel’s Gaza offensive a “blatant violation of international humanitarian law on a mass scale.”
In May, the ICJ ruled that Israel should “immediately halt its military offensive” in Rafah, the southern Gazan city where more than a million displaced Palestinians have fled. The EU has largely remained silent on the case, with Hungary condemning it as a “legal attack.”
Spain, Ireland and Norway last month said they would officially recognize Palestine as a state, with Slovenia’s parliament voting to do the same this week.
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