International Criminal Court rejects Israel’s plea to block Gaza probe
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Hague: The International Criminal Court (ICC) has dismissed Israel’s bid to block investigations into its war crimes and genocide in Gaza. This is a blow to Israel’s effort to derail the case involving its persecution of Palestinians in Gaza, according to a report by Al Jazeera.
On Monday, the ICC judges refused to overturn a lower court decision allowing the ICC prosecutor to investigate alleged crimes in Israel’s war in Gaza.
The fresh ruling will allow the court to continue the investigation in Palestine, which had led to the issuance of an arrest warrant to the Prime Minister of the Zionist regime in Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu, and former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, in November last year. Both are accused of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Al Jazeera report points out that Israel does not recognize the jurisdiction of the ICC and has repeatedly maintained that it never committed war crimes in Gaza.
According to the news agency, Israel’s appeal focused on whether the ICC prosecutor was required to issue a fresh notification to Israel before investigating events that took place after October 7, 2023. The Netanyahu administration argued that the post-October 7 assault on Gaza constituted a new situation, triggered by additional referrals submitted to the court by seven other countries since November 2023, including South Africa, Chile, and Mexico.
However, ICC judges rejected the argument and ruled that the original notification issued in 2021, when the ICC formally opened its investigation into alleged crimes in occupied Palestine, already covered later events, Al Jazeera reports.
Saying that no new notification was required, the judges stated that the arrest warrants against the Zionist leaders remain valid.