Nicaragua seeks to join South Africa's genocide case against Israel
Several other states have signaled they might want to intervene in the global case.
Nicaragua has applied to join South Africa in its genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice, the global court said on Thursday.
The court in a statement said that Nicaragua considers Israel's conduct in its war against Hamas to be in "violation of its obligations under the Genocide Convention."
Pretoria and Israel have been asked to provide written responses regarding Nicaragua's request to intervene as a part of the case.
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Such interventions are historically rare and not often granted by the ICJ.
Several other states have signaled they might want to intervene in the global case, but none have formally done so before Nicaragua.
Germany was the first to say it would intervene, on Israel's behalf, a month ago, rejecting the genocide allegation and stating that Israel was "defending itself" after the onslaught by Hamas on October 7.
South Africa accused Israel of breaching the 1948 Genocide Convention during its conflict with Hamas in Gaza, filing a genocide case against Israel in December.
Last month, the World Court ordered Israel to prevent acts of genocide against Palestinians and do more to help civilians, although it stopped short of ordering a ceasefire as requested by South Africa.
At least 28,064 people have been killed and 67,611 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The death toll in Israel from the October 7 Hamas attacks stands at 1,139.
