A decision opens the door for the prosecutor of the tribunal to open a war crimes investigation.
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has ruled that it has jurisdiction over the situation in the Palestinian territories, paving the way for the prosecutor of the tribunal to open a war crimes investigation.
Judges said Friday that their decision was based on sovereignty rules in the founding documents of a Hague-based court and does not imply any attempt to determine statehood or legal boundaries.
“The territorial jurisdiction of the Court in Palestine… extends to the areas inhabited by Israel since 1967, including Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem,” they said. .
Israel, which is not a member of the court, has denied its sovereignty.
The court’s prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, said in December 2019 that there was “reasonable grounds for believing that war crimes have been or are being committed in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem. and the Gaza Strip ”.
Bensouda has identified Israeli Defense Forces and Palestinian armed groups as Hamas as perpetrators of crime.
She asked judges to rule on whether the situation came under the jurisdiction of the court, before opening a formal investigation.
In a majority decision announced Friday, the judges said yes.
Israel and the United States accepted harsh criticism of the court when the prosecutor made the news. The then US administration of Donald Trump imposed sanctions on the prosecutor and another ICC chief executive in September.
The U.S., which is not a member of the ICC, took to court action following an earlier visa ban on Bensouda and others that did not suspend the court’s war crimes investigation into U.S. military personnel. USA in Afghanistan.
Palestinians have asked the court to look at Israeli actions during the 2014 attack against Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip, as well as how Israel built settlements in the West Bank and Jerusalem. Ear attached to it.
The international community widely believes that the settlements are illegal under international law.