The Hague: The International Criminal Court’s (ICC) prosecutor yesterday opened a preliminary probe into possible war crimes committed against Palestinians, a move blasted by Israel as “scandalous”.
Fatou Bensouda said her office would conduct an “analysis in full independence and impartiality” into alleged war crimes, including those during last year’s Gaza war.
Her decision comes after Palestine formally joined ICC earlier this month, allowing it to lodge war crimes and crimes against humanity complaints against Israel as of April. Nearly 2,200 Palestinians and 73 Israelis were killed in last summer’s war.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu reacted angrily to the prosecutor’s decision, calling it “scandalous” and “absurd” since “the Palestinian Authority cooperates with Hamas, a terror group that commits war crimes, in contrast to Israel that fights terror while maintaining international law, and has an independent justice system.”
Gambian-born Bensouda earlier stressed that “a preliminary examination is not an investigation but a process of examining the information available... on whether there is a reasonable basis to proceed with an investigation.” She will decide later whether to launch a full investigation. While 123 countries have ratified the Rome Statute (that governs ICC), Israel and the US have not. AFP
