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Momentum grows for ICC action on Gaza

Most PLO factions, and the vast majority of Palestinians, support having the International Criminal Court investigate possible Israeli war crimes in the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian Foreign Minister Riad al-Malki (2nd R) speaks to the media as he leaves the International Criminal Court after his visit, at the Hague August 5, 2014. Al-Malki said on Tuesday after meeting prosecutors at the International Criminal Court that there was "clear evidence" that Israel committed war crimes in Gaza. The visit took place shortly after Israel and the Islamist Hamas movement entered a 72-hour truce mediated by Egypt in an effort to pave the way for an extended ceasefire. Israel and the P

As the sounds of gunfire in the Gaza Strip begin to cease, international human rights organizations, legal experts and political activists are speaking up about the need for the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate whether war crimes were committed during the Gaza conflict this summer.

The ICC, created by means of the 1998 Rome Statute with the aim of prosecuting individuals for war crimes and amended a few times, became legal in 2002. Legal experts and the ICC’s own bylaws say that it is a court of last resort. This means that the ICC will only intervene when a country is found to be unwilling or unable to carry out its own investigation.

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