Spain has said it will join the case filed by South Africa at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which accuses Israel of violating its obligations under the Genocide Convention in its war on the Gaza Strip.
The announcement was made by Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares on Thursday.
“We made this decision in light of the continuation of the military operation in Gaza,” Albares said in a news conference. “We also observe with enormous concern the regional extension of the conflict,” he added.
Spain took the decision to not only “let peace return to Gaza and the Middle East” but also due to its commitment to international law, Albares said.
South Africa brought its case against Israel in January, accusing it of committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. The death toll from Israel’s war on Gaza, which began in October, has surpassed 36,500, according to health officials in the besieged and bombarded territory.
Israel launched the assault after the Palestinian group Hamas led an attack on southern Israel from Gaza, killing about 1,140 people.
At least 27 Palestinians have been killed including many kids by Israeli forces in an air strike on a UN school sheltering displaced people in the Nuseirat refugee camp.
Israel admitted it targeted a Gaza school on Thursday and claimed it contained a Hamas compound, while the local media reported that the strike killed people seeking shelter.
Ismail Al-Thawabta, the director of the local public media office in Gaza, rejected Israel's claims that the UN school in Nuseirat, in central Gaza, had hidden a Hamas command post.
"The occupation uses lying to the public opinion through false fabricated stories to justify the brutal crime it conducted against dozens of displaced people," Thawabta told Reuters.
Israel has said there will be no halt to fighting during ceasefire talks.
The Gaza Strip faces disease outbreaks during hot summer months caused by piles of uncollected waste, fuelling further misery for residents already suffering from food shortages and other basic services, NGO Action Against Hunger warned.
Fenia Diamanti, project coordinator of emergencies at the non-governmental organisation, told Reuters that what to do with rubbish is one of its main concerns as it can't be removed from the war-torn territory and nor do inhabitants have access to dumps.
"This amount of solid waste all over the strip causes multiple hygiene and sanitation problems," Diamanti told Reuters.
The health ministry in Hamas-run Gaza said Monday that at least 36,479 people have been killed in the territory during nearly eight months of war between Israel and the Palestinian resistance group.
The toll includes at least 40 deaths over the past 24 hours, a ministry statement said, adding that 82,777 people have been wounded in the Gaza Strip since the war began between Israel and Hamas on October 7.
