Turkey will join Colombia in formally requesting to join the case against Israel.

Turkish Foreign Minister Hakan Fidan said Wednesday that his country would join in South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

“Upon completion of the legal text of our work, we will submit the declaration of official intervention before the ICJ with the objective of implementing this political decision,” Fidan said during a joint news conference with Indonesia’s Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi in Turkey’s capital Ankara.

“Turkey will continue to support the Palestinian people in all circumstances,” he said.

The ICJ, also known as the World Court, has ordered Israel to refrain from any acts that could fall under the Genocide Convention and to ensure that its troops commit no genocidal acts against Palestinians after South Africa accused Israel of state-led genocide in Gaza.

Turkey’s President Tayyip Erdogan said in January that Ankara was providing documents for the case at the ICJ.

Turkey will join Colombia in formally requesting to join the case against Israel. Last month, the South American country called on the ICJ to allow it to join the case and to ensure “the safety and, indeed, the very existence of the Palestinian people”.

The top UN court may allow states to intervene in cases and give their views.

The Israel government and its Western allies have described South Africa’s allegations as baseless. A final ruling in the case could take years.

In a separate case on Tuesday, the ICJ ruled against issuing emergency measures over German arms sales to Israel as requested by Nicaragua, which had argued that there was a serious risk of genocide in Gaza during Israel’s assault.

Germany has denied the accusations.

In the emergency measures issued in March, judges at the ICJ also ordered Israel to take all necessary and effective action to ensure basic food supplies arrive without delay to the Palestinian population in Gaza as famine loomed in some parts of the territory.

Crippling food shortages resulted from Israel severely restricting supplies of humanitarian aid and pressing on with its military assault, which began following Hamas’ October 7 attack on southern Israel that saw 1,139 people killed, mostly civilians, and about 250 taken captive by the militants

Palestinian health authorities say Israel’s war in Gaza as a result of the attack has so far killed at least 34,568, mostly women and children. More than 80% of the enclave’s 2.3 million residents have been displaced, and entire neighbourhoods have been reduced to ruins in Israel’s bombardment and ground invasion.