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Wednesday morning at Tel Aviv airport: A hundred relatives of Hamas hostages travel to Amsterdam on an El Al plane. There they brought charges against the Hamas leadership for “crimes against humanity” at the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
Thore Schröder: "This is a lengthy legal process and today it's just the beginning, a symbolic act. And we're going on board and want to find out from the relatives what hope they have with it."
Inbar Goldstein, hostage relative: »We have to make up for the absence of our government in this matter. We are doing everything we can to bring the hostages back. We are here to demand justice for those murdered, abducted, wounded and survivors of the October 7 attack.”
On Monday morning, Israeli special forces freed two hostages in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip. This video released by the Israeli army is intended to show the action. The hostage relatives now want to ensure that the 134 hostages still held by Hamas are released. Around 30 of them
are said to be dead already.
“Bring her home, now!”
The relatives gather for a demonstration in front of the International Criminal Court to once again draw attention to their fate.
“Hunger, fear, loneliness and sexual abuse – that is the everyday life of Hamas hostages.”
Her legal representative submitted a dossier containing more than 1,000 pages of evidence to the criminal court last week.
Yuval Sasson, lawyer: »I am confident that the material we have presented provides a comprehensive and serious legal basis for the prosecution's actions. It is at the sole discretion of the prosecutor to decide whether to proceed with the matter.”
“Bring her home, now!”
Israel is not a party to the International Criminal Court. However, the chief prosecutor has already stated that he will look into the crimes of October 7th.
Thore Schröder: “And there have been investigations and witness interviews here in the last few weeks. Victims and survivors have already been interviewed. However, it is completely questionable how long the investigation will take and whether in the end there will actually be charges and then convictions of Hamas leaders.
Also in The Hague, at the International Court of Justice, proceedings initiated by South Africa against Israel are currently underway. The court is investigating suspected “genocide” in the Gaza Strip.
And with the mediation of Qatar, Egypt and the USA, negotiations are currently underway for the release of the hostages and a ceasefire. However, no agreement has yet been reached. One of the reasons why the relatives came to The Hague to demonstrate was to put pressure on the people they were talking to.