The Palestinian Authority has repeatedly threatened to resort to the International Court in its dispute with Israel (Al Jazeera)
The International Criminal Court announced that 5 countries have submitted a request to investigate the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip.
ICC prosecutor Karim Khan said his office had received "a request to investigate the situation in the State of Palestine issued by the five States parties — Bangladesh, Bolivia, Comoros and Djibouti."
"Upon receipt of the request, my office confirms that it is currently conducting an investigation into the situation," he said in a statement.
Since October 7, Israel has launched an aggression against the Gaza Strip that has killed more than 12,<> Palestinian civilians, mostly children and women.
In accordance with the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, any State Party may refer to the Prosecutor a situation in which one or more crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court appear to have been committed and request the Prosecutor to investigate the case for the purpose of determining whether one or more specific persons should be charged with such crimes.
"Since the beginning of my mandate in June 2021, I have for the first time formed an ad hoc team to advance the investigation into the situation in the State of Palestine," the ICC prosecutor said.
Khan said his mandate would apply to crimes suspected of having been committed during Israel's current aggression on the Gaza Strip.
South Africa said it had applied for a referral with "other countries that share the same concerns" for the ICC to pay "urgent attention to the gravity of the situation" in the current situation.
The South African Foreign Ministry statement stressed that Pretoria "encourages other signatories to the Rome Statute to accede to this request for transit, or to submit requests for referral independently".
The ICC opened an investigation in 2021 into suspected war crimes committed by the Israeli occupying forces.
Source: Agencies