ANKARA: Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said on Tuesday that Turkiye decided to submit its declaration of official intervention in South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

Earlier this month Fidan announced the decision to join the case launched by South Africa as Ankara stepped up measures against Israel over its assault on Gaza, which has killed more than 35,000 people and launched after Hamas’ October 7 rampage.

“We condemned civilians being killed on October 7,” he told a press conference with his Austrian counterpart.

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“But Israel systematically killing thousands of innocent Palestinians and rendering a whole residential area uninhabitable is a crime against humanity, attempted genocide, and the manifestation of genocide,” he added.

A foreign ministry official said Turkiye had not yet submitted the formal application to the ICJ.