The war between Israel and Hamas has resulted in the deaths of thousands of civilians since the terror group’s attack on Israeli civilians on October 7. A toll that can only increase as hostilities intensify. Both warring parties are accused of war crimes.
The international NGO Human Rights Watch cites war crimes as the deliberate killing, hostage-taking and torture of Israeli civilians by Palestinian armed groups, as well as Israeli air-land-sea counterattacks in Gaza in which Israelis were killed. Thousands of Palestinian non-combatants.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called for the protection of Palestinian civilians and expressed concern about “flagrant violations of international humanitarian law” in Gaza. The Hamas attack did not take place “in an empty space”.
Israel’s U.N. ambassador criticized Guterres for justifying the attack that killed about 1,400 Israelis, most of them civilians. He demanded his resignation. Israel’s foreign minister accused Guterres of justifying terrorism.
Israel has been under investigation by the ICC since 2021
Since 2021, the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague has been investigating war crimes and crimes against humanity allegedly committed by Israel in the occupied Palestinian territories. She has not yet issued an arrest warrant.
Former International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said the investigation covered events in the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza since June 2014, when war broke out between Israel and Palestinian activists. This conflict resulted in the deaths of 2,251 Palestinians, including 1,462 civilians, while on the Israeli side 67 soldiers and six civilians were killed.
After a five-year investigation, Bensouda said there was a “reasonable basis” to believe crimes had been committed by both sides, the Israeli military and Hamas, which has controlled Gaza since 2007, as well as other Palestinian armed groups.
Both sides are currently in a fifth war and have been involved in numerous small skirmishes.
Israel is not cooperating with the investigation and says the ICC has no authority to investigate the Jewish state or its officials. The country never ratified the treaty creating the court. Like the United States. The Palestinian Authority in the occupied West Bank has been part of the ICC since 2015.
Israel even accused the International Criminal Court of “anti-Semitism” for initiating the investigation and waged a media campaign to try to block it. When the ICC declared itself responsible, its decision was immediately rejected by Jerusalem and Washington. Vice President Kamala Harris reiterated the United States’ opposition to any investigation by the court into possible Israeli war crimes in the Palestinian territories since 2014.
War crimes: parallel between Ukraine and Gaza?
Britain’s Karim Khan, who replaced Fatou Bensouda as the ICC’s chief prosecutor, has every intention of continuing his investigation.
On May 19, 2023, Russia issued a search and arrest warrant against Karim Khan in retaliation for the international arrest warrant issued by the International Criminal Court against Vladimir Putin. The Hague court accuses the Russian president of committing war crimes in Ukraine by deporting Ukrainian children to Russia. Who will Khan target for war crimes against children in Gaza and Israel?
