Israel is to host a working group of the International Criminal Court as it weighs whether to probe alleged war crimes in the 2014 Gaza war, an Israeli official said. The 50-day military aggression, which ended on August 26, 2014, killed almost 2,200 Palestinians, including 577 children. The families of the fallen soldiers have slammed the Israeli government for permitting humanitarian aid to enter Gaza without addressing the issue of the return of their relatives’ remains, Haaretz reports. The latest Commission of Inquiry, led by Justice Mary McGowen-Davis, found “credible evidence of war crimes”, when it reported in 2015.
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The Palestinians formally asked the ICC a year ago to investigate the Jewish state, which has not signed up to the ICC, for alleged war crimes. “There are 23 counts in all, including seven war crimes relating to last year’s Gaza war”.
The official could not say if the group would be given access to the West Bank and Gaza Strip, to which Israel controls all passage except across the largely closed Gaza-Egypt border. A United Nations delegation tasked with investigating military operations was refused entry to Gaza in 2009, and again in 2014. Another 80 complaints were not investigated, prompting UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon to criticize Israel’s “low rate of investigations. into these serious allegations”.
If Hague prosecutors feel that Israeli authorities are unable or unwilling to conduct credible investigations themselves, they can take over jurisdiction.
A representative from the Israeli Foreign Ministry could not be immediately reached.
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Israel continues to carry out attacks on the Palestinian enclave from time to time.
