Ceasefire between Israel and Hamas extended for another day
International Criminal Court (ICC) chief prosecutor Karim Khan is visiting Israel at the request of Israeli survivors and the families of victims of the October 7 Hamas attacks, the court said on Thursday (30).
Khan will also visit Ramallah in the occupied West Bank to meet with Palestinian officials, the ICC said.
The visit will have no investigative purpose, the ICC said, adding that it “represents an opportunity to express condolences to all victims and initiate dialogue.”
Last month, families of Israeli victims of Hamas attacks appealed to the International Criminal Court to order an investigation into the killings and kidnappings.
The families called on Khan to focus his investigation on Hamas’s Oct. 7 actions in southern Israel, including enforced disappearances, which the court considers a crime against humanity.
According to Israel, Hamas gunmen killed 1,200 people and took 240 hostages. That triggered an air and ground counterattack by Israel that confirmed more than 15,000 deaths among Gazans, according to Palestinian health officials considered credible by the United Nations. Another 6,500 are missing, with many fearing they are still buried under the rubble.