A mother bids farewell to the body of her child who was killed in an Israeli airstrike in the central Gaza Strip.    (AFP)

Dublin, December 12 (RHC)-- Ireland has officially joined South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ).

The Irish government granted approval Wednesday for the country to join with the lawsuit and file an intervention case at the ICJ "to broaden its interpretation of what constitutes the commission of genocide by a State," said Foreign Affairs Minister Micheál Martin.

He said that that his country is “concerned that a very narrow interpretation of what constitutes genocide leads to a culture of impunity in which the protection of civilians is minimized."

Ireland has become the latest in the growing list of countries that joined South Africa in its case that accuses the regime of Israel of committing genocide in the Gaza Strip. Brazil, Turkey, Malaysia, Chile, Spain, Pakistan, and Syria have so far joined with the lawsuit.

South Africa filed the case at the top court of the United Nations in December 2023, arguing that Israel violated the 1948 Genocide Convention.  The court, seated in The Hague, ruled in January that “there is a plausible risk of genocide in Gaza and the continuing serious harm to civilians since then.”

The World Court ordered Tel Aviv to take all measures to prevent genocide in Gaza, but stopped short of ordering a ceasefire.