Palestinian FM to sue Israel at ICC over war crimes in Gaza

Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad al-Malki is pushing for a war crimes case at the International Criminal Court (ICC) against Israel due to the Zionist regime’s brutal aggression of the besieged Gaza Strip.

“Everything that has happened in the last 28 days is clear evidence of war crimes committed by Israel, amounting to crimes against humanity,” al- Malki told reporters after meeting prosecutors at the ICC on Tuesday.

“There is no difficulty for us to show or build the case. Evidence is there … Israel is in clear violation of international law,” he added.

The complaint filed by Palestine details war crimes committed by the Israeli army over the past few weeks in Palestine.

Legal experts say the complaint is valid although the Palestinian Authority (PA) has yet to sign up to the Hague-based ICC.

Palestine is a non-member observer state at the United Nations and its ICC membership has been delayed only because of political quarrels.

Al-Malki has also asked the UN to end what he called Israel’s impunity, saying Tel Aviv must be held accountable for its crimes in Gaza.

The development comes days after the UN Human Rights Council passed a resolution calling for an independent probe into Israel’s war crimes in Gaza.

Meanwhile, Amnesty International has urged the United States to halt fuel shipments to the Israeli military due to mounting evidence of war crimes.

The Israeli military aggression has taken the lives of more than 1,880 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and wounded over 9,600 others in Gaza since July 8.

The Tel Aviv regime has not even spared hospitals in its large-scale military offensive and continues to pound the medical centers that are in desperate need of medicine and equipment.

International bodies and human rights groups say civilians account for the majority of the victims of the ongoing Israeli war. Women and children make the bulk of the civilian casualties there.