The Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court said today, Wednesday, that her office will open a formal investigation into war crimes in the Palestinian territories, and will include the two parties to the conflict, in a move that Israel criticized as "moral bankruptcy."
This decision came after the court ruled on February 5 that it had jurisdiction over the case, a step that raised objections from the United States and Israel, and the Palestinian Authority welcomed the decision.
"The decision to open an investigation came after a painstaking preliminary examination that lasted nearly 5 years," the outgoing Prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, said in a statement.
In December 2019, Bensouda said that "war crimes have been or are being committed in the West Bank, especially East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip."
Bensouda identified the Israeli army and Palestinian groups such as the Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) as possible perpetrators.
The next step will be to determine and assess whether Israel or the Palestinian authorities have conducted investigations themselves.
Bensouda: War crimes were or are being committed in the West Bank, especially East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip (Anatolia)
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Hamas welcomed this step, as Hazem Qassem, a spokesman for the movement in Gaza, said, "Hamas welcomes the decision of the International Criminal Court to investigate the crimes of the Israeli occupation against our people."
"Our resistance is legitimate resistance and comes within the framework of defending our people, and it is a legitimate resistance guaranteed by all international laws and laws," he added.
On the other hand, Israeli Foreign Minister Gabi Ashkenazi rejected the decision of the International Criminal Court to investigate war crimes in the Palestinian territories, describing it as "moral and legal bankruptcy."
Ashkenazi said - in a statement today, Wednesday - that "the decision to open an investigation against Israel is an exception to the court's mandate, and a waste of the international community's resources by a biased institution that has lost all legitimacy."