JERUSALEM – The International Criminal Court’s (ICC) chief prosecutor has opened a formal investigation into alleged war crimes in the Palestinian territories.
Fatou Bensouda said the probe will cover events in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem, and Gaza Strip since June 2014.
Last month, the Hague-based court ruled it could exercise its criminal jurisdiction over the territories.
Israel rejected Bensouda’s decision, while Palestinian officials praised it.
The ICC has the authority to prosecute those accused of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes on the territory of states party to the Rome Statute, its founding treaty.
Israel has never ratified the Rome Statute, but the court ruled it had jurisdiction because the United Nations secretary general accepted the Palestinians’ accession to the treaty in 2015.
Israel occupied the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem in the 1967 Middle East war.(BBC)
