Radiance News Service
Nov. 9, 2023
A case has been filed with the International Criminal Court (ICC) by three Palestinian Human Rights organizations: Al Haq, Al Mezan, and the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, asking the ICC to investigate Israel for crime and genocide in Gaza. According to Gaza health officials, more than 10,500 Palestinians have been killed in which more than half are children.
The organizations want the ICC to take serious allegations of genocide and apartheid into account as part of its current investigation into the state of affairs in Palestine. The lawsuit further claims that Israel’s activities in Gaza amount to war crimes and seeks arrest warrants for a number of Israeli officials, including President Herzog, Prime Minister Netanyahu, and Defence Minister Gallant.
As per Al Jazeera report, the lawsuit, filed on Wednesday by human rights organisations called for “urgent attention to the continuous barrage of Israeli airstrikes on densely populated civilian areas within the Gaza Strip”, which have killed more than 10,500 Palestinians, almost half of them children, according to Gaza health officials. The document also asked the body to expand its ongoing war crimes investigation by looking into “the suffocating siege imposed on [Gaza], the forced displacement of its population, the use of toxic gas, and the denial of necessities, such as food, water, fuel, and electricity”.
These acts amount to “war crimes” and “crimes against humanity”, including “genocide”, the lawsuit said.
In yet another development, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh has also called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) to issue arrest warrants for Israeli leaders on Monday.
“The ICC must issue arrest warrants for criminals as a precautionary step to stop the killing machine,” Shtayyeh said during a Cabinet meeting in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
“I salute the countries that will submit referrals to the ICC to prosecute criminals,” he added, without providing any further details.
