Micheál Martin's comments came as the Irish parliament passed a non-binding motion agreeing that "genocide is being perpetrated before our eyes by Israel in Gaza."

South Africa in December brought a case before the ICJ, arguing that the war in Gaza breached the 1948 United Nations Genocide Convention, an accusation Israel has denied.

Several nations, including Spain, Bolivia, Colombia, Mexico, Turkey, Chile, and Libya, have contributed to the proceedings.

Ireland had said it would file a submission to the court once South Africa had submitted a document supporting its claims, which it did on Monday.

"The government's decision to intervene in the South African case was based on detailed and rigorous legal analysis," Martin told lawmakers in the Irish parliament, the Dail.

"Ireland is a strong supporter of the court's work and is deeply committed to international law and accountability."

Israel has failed to comply with an ICJ ruling in late January, which concluded that there were reasonable grounds to believe that Israel was committing acts of genocide against 2.3 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip and stipulated several provisional directives aimed at preventing further harm to the Palestinian population and ensuring Israel's compliance with the Genocide Convention.

The ICJ directive required Israel to take all necessary measures to prevent acts falling within the scope of Article II of the Genocide Convention.

The provision of Article II defines acts of genocide as killing members of a particular group, causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group, deliberately inflicting conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part, and imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group.

This directive aimed to prevent any further genocidal acts from occurring in the Gaza Strip. It placed an obligation on Israel to actively take preventive measures to ensure the safety and well-being of the Palestinian population.

The Israeli war on Gaza has killed at least 43,469 Palestinian people and wounded 102,561 since 7 October 2023, the Gaza health ministry said in a statement on Thursday.

Thousands of other dead people are most likely lost in the rubble of the territory, according to Palestinian health officials.

The Israeli embargo on the entry of food, water, and medicine in necessary quantities to the strip has left most of the population, displaced by widespread Israeli destruction of most residential buildings and homes, on the brink of starvation for months.

On Monday, South Africa announced that it had filed a so-called memorial with the ICJ, citing evidence of a genocide committed by Israel in the Gaza Strip.

The document cannot be made public, but it had "over 750 pages of text, supported by exhibits and annexes of over 4,000 pages," said the office of President Cyril Ramaphosa.

On Monday, an official for the Hague-based court confirmed that the document had been received but declined to give further details.

Ireland has been among the most outspoken critics of Israel's war on Gaza.

Irish government parties did not oppose a symbolic motion brought by opposition groups on Thursday accusing Israel of genocide against Palestinians, meaning it passed during a sparsely attended session.

On Tuesday, Ireland confirmed the appointment of a complete Palestinian ambassador for the first time after Dublin formally recognised a Palestinian state earlier this year.

Ambassador Jilan Wahba Abdalmajid told the Irish Times in an interview published on Thursday that Israel should be suspended from the UN for cutting ties with the body's aid agency for Palestinians, UNRWA.

She said: "If you are a member of the UN and you do not abide by the rules of this organisation, then what is the meaning of being a member?"

Failure to suspend Israel would allow other nations to follow suit, added Abdalmajid, whose parents taught in UNRWA-run schools in Gaza.