In a brief press statement, the ICJ said that Ireland had on Monday joined Nicaragua, Colombia, Mexico, Libya, Bolivia, Turkey, the Maldives, Chile, Spain, and the State of Palestine in asking to intervene in the case.

In December 2023, South Africa filed a case against Israel in front of the UN’s highest court, accusing Israel of committing genocide against the Palestinians in its war that started on 7 October 2023.

In mid-December 2024, the Irish government, an outspoken critic of the Israeli war on Gaza since its start, approved to intervene in the South African genocide case against Tel Aviv.

In January 2024, the ICJ ordered Israel to do all it could to prevent death, destruction, and any ‘acts of genocide’ in its war on Gaza.

However, Tel Aviv flouted the ICJ ruling, accusing the court of being anti-semitic, and continued its deadly war on the strip.

Since the ICJ’s ruling, Israel has killed and wounded tens of thousands while also embarking on a campaign of ethnic cleansing in northern Gaza since October 2024.

EDITORS NOTE: Graphic content / A man checks the bodies of children who were killed in an Israeli strike in Gaza City on January 8, 2025 at Ahli Arab Hospital, also known as the Baptist Hospital. AFP

The case for genocide
 

Since 7 October 2023, Israeli airstrikes and bombardment of the strip have killed more than 45,885 Palestinians and wounded more than 110,000, most of them women and children.

Israeli strikes have destroyed most homes and residential units in Gaza, leaving 90 percent of the 2.4 million population displaced in tents.

The casualty figures, excluding those killed under the rubble, amount to a whopping eight percent of the population of the strip.

An Israeli blockade on food, water, and medicine has left the majority of the population on the verge of starvation.

The Israeli destruction of most schools and hospitals deprived hundreds of thousands of Palestinians of basic education and medical services.

Dublin recognizes
 

Back in March 2024, during a St Patrick's Day reception by Pro-Israel President Biden at the White House, then-Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar made an impassioned plea for a ceasefire in Gaza, urging that Palestinians "need the bombs to stop.”

"The people of Gaza desperately need food, medicine, and shelter, and most especially they need the bombs to stop," Varadkar said, as Biden, who has come under pressure both internationally and at home over his support for ally Israel, looked on.

"The aspirations of the Palestinian people to have a homeland and a fully-fledged state in the land of their forefathers is equal to that of Israel's," said Varadkar, who has been one of Europe's most critical leaders of Israel's war on Gaza.

“The Irish people are deeply troubled about the catastrophe that's unfolding before our eyes in Gaza," Varadkar said.

Two months later, on 28 May 2024, Ireland joined 124 countries in recognizing a Palestinian state.

In September, Ireland formalized diplomatic relations with the State of Palestine and accepted the appointment of a full Palestinian ambassador.

In retaliation, a beleaguered Israel closed its embassy in Dublin in December 2024 to protest the Irish government's plan to intervene in South Africa’s genocide case.

"I utterly reject the assertion that Ireland is anti-Israel. Ireland is pro-peace, pro-human rights, and pro-international law," Ireland's Prime Minister Simon Harris wrote on X.

"Ireland wants a two state solution and for Israel and Palestine to live in peace and security. Ireland will always speak up for human rights and international law. Nothing will distract from that," he added.

In parallel with the ICJ case, numerous world capitals and international legal and humanitarian organizations have accused Israel of committing acts of genocide and ethnic cleansing in Gaza.

In November, the ICJ issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former defence minister Yoav Gallant, accusing them of war crimes and crimes against humanity in connection with the Gaza war.