Will Israel Be Dragged to the International Criminal Court?

Karim Khan, ICC prosecutor, said this request was submitted by South Africa, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Comoros and Djibouti. In a statement from the prosecutor's office, it was stated that the office had collected a lot of evidence and documents related to crimes in occupied Palestine. South African President Cyril Ramaphosa said he had complained to the ICC of Israel for war crimes. South African Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor also said that the world must force Israel to stop anti-human crimes in Gaza. "Israel is an occupying regime, and must respect the Geneva agreement; Israel cannot declare war on people under occupation," he added. Not long ago, the Arab Organization for Human Rights in the UK, in a petition signed by dozens of political, legal and academic figures, asked the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to address the dire situation in Palestine and the crimes committed by the Zionist regime in the occupied territories.

The signatories of this letter asked Karim Khan, prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, to process the case of Zionist crimes against the Palestinian people, which was referred to this court 9 years ago. Although the Zionist regime's inhumane actions against Palestinians have been condemned many times by human rights organizations and international institutions, the current war in Gaza and the brutal killings of women and children have caused various countries to once again request an international court to investigate including International Criminal Court. In Article 8 of the Statute of the International Criminal Court, cases such as intentional killing, detention or torture, causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health, wholesale destruction or confiscation of property not justified by military necessity, illegal deportation or transfer and imprisonment, attacking or bombing cities, villages and residential areas that are not military targets, as well as causing starvation of civilians, are examples of war crimes. Therefore, judging from the nature of the problem, what Israel is doing in the occupied territories, especially in Gaza, is a clear example of the crimes mentioned in the ICC statute, including war crimes.

In her special report to the UN Human Rights Council, Francesca Albanese, the UN human rights rapporteur, considered Zionist actions in the occupied territories equivalent to "international crimes" and stressed that Tel Aviv's actions required an immediate investigation by the International Criminal Court. The request for an investigation into Israel's crimes comes as the International Criminal Court continues to investigate allegations of war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Palestinian territories since 2021; However, due to pressure from Western countries, it has not issued any verdict. In fact, Washington has repeatedly covered up Tel Aviv's crimes against Palestinians, and because Washington has prevented the adoption of resolutions against Israel in the UN Security Council, Washington has also obstructed this court's investigation and its procedures. In this regard, we can mention the case of the murder of Al Jazeera reporter Shireen Abu Akle, which the US prevented from being sent to the International Criminal Court. During the Russo-Ukrainian war, America repeatedly requested the creation of a war crimes tribunal to handle cases alleged by the Russian military. However, the Zionist regime's aggression in Gaza and the West Bank continues, and international organizations warn of an impending humanitarian crisis in the Palestinian territories, but the Zionist occupation forces, ignoring these warnings, continue to destroy hospitals and kill patients, medical staff and refugees. who took refuge in the hospital.