China announced it will join South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the International Criminal Court, signaling a major escalation as global powers take sides in the high-profile legal battle.

China praised South Africa’s role in dragging Israel to the UN’s top court over alleged genocide in the besieged Palestinian enclave of Gaza, according to a joint statement issued Monday.

Beijing “commended the positive role that South Africa has played in activating the role of the international community in the conflict in Gaza,” it said.

The statement was released after Chinese President Xi Jinping hosted his South African counterpart Cyril Ramaphosa in Beijing for bilateral talks.

Ramaphosa is in China on a state visit and to attend the 2024 Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), which will be held in the capital from Sept. 4-6.

The statement said Beijing is “willing to work” with Pretoria toward a “comprehensive, just and lasting settlement” of the Palestine conflict at an early date.

South Africa brought a case against Israel at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Hague in late 2023, accusing it of failing to uphold its obligations under the 1948 Genocide Convention.

While Türkiye and Spain have joined South Africa’s case, several other nations including Chile, Egypt, Maldives and Ireland have declared their intention to join the case against Israel at the ICJ.

China also delivered a verbal statement at the ICJ in February this year.

Addressing the top UN court, it said the Palestinians’ use of armed struggle to gain independence from foreign and colonial rule was “legitimate.”

“In pursuit of the right to self-determination, the Palestinian people’s use of force to resist foreign oppression and complete the establishment of an independent state is (an) inalienable right well founded in international law,” said the Chinese Foreign Ministry’s legal adviser, Ma Xinmin.

South Africa expressed its appreciation to China for successfully inviting various Palestinian factions to hold a reconciliation dialogue and later signing the Beijing Declaration towards forming a national government.

China and South Africa expressed “concern about the serious humanitarian disaster” in Gaza caused by the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and its spillover effects, the statement added.

The two sides also called for the earnest implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 2728 and an immediate cease-fire and end to all fighting and supported resuming a process of political settlement of the Palestinian question, it added.