The US, Hungary and Fiji have lined up behind West Jerusalem, while more than a dozen others support South Africa’s lawsuit.
Several more states are poised to join the Gaza genocide case at the UN’s top court, deepening international divisions over Israel’s military operation in the Palestinian enclave, according to the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
The case, brought by South Africa in December 2023 amid a worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza as a result of Israel’s occupation, alleges the Jewish state violated the 1948 UN Genocide Convention. Since then, more than a dozen countries have applied to join the trial.
In a statement on Friday, the ICJ said Namibia, the US, Hungary and Fiji had each filed declarations of intervention on March 12 in proceedings under Article 63, which allows states to set their own interpretation of the treaty when in dispute. Iceland and the Netherlands submitted similar declarations a day earlier.
South Africa argues that Israel’s conduct in Gaza – including mass killing, widespread destruction and the creation of living conditions that threaten the survival of Palestinians – amounts to genocide. Israel denies the accusation and insists its campaign against Hamas after the October 7 attack was an act of legitimate self-defense.
The US, Hungary and Fiji have filed legal arguments supporting Israel’s position and urging a strict reading of the genocide convention, warning that lowering the bar for proving genocidal intent could undermine international law. Washington characterized the case as legally flawed and urged the ICJ to reject the charge of genocide, arguing that the extremely high threshold for proving genocidal intent had not been met.
Namibia, Iceland and the Netherlands have joined more than a dozen countries that have aligned themselves with South Africa, calling for a broader interpretation of the Genocide Convention that considers Israel’s overall behavior, conditions in Gaza and the wider impact of the war.
The Gaza War was triggered by a Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, in which the militants killed nearly 1,200 people and took more than 250 hostages. West Jerusalem responded with a blockade, airstrikes and ground operations in Gaza that killed more than 72,000 Palestinians, according to the enclave’s health officials.
Despite a US-brokered ceasefire in October 2025, more than 650 Palestinians have been killed and more than 1,740 injured, with Israel and Hamas accusing each other of routinely violating the agreement.
