A relative of Palestinian gunman Naji al-Zaneen, who was killed in an Israeli air strike, reacts during his funeral in the northern Gaza Strip October 17, 2018. (photo credit: SUHAIB SALEM / REUTERS)
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With Israeli-Gaza fighting heating up, the International Criminal Court Prosecution on Wednesday gave its sternest warning yet to Israel on Hamas and the Khan al-Ahmar dispute.
“I am…alarmed by the continued violence, perpetrated by actors on both sides, at the Gaza border with Israel,” Chief Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said in a statement.
Continuing, she said, “As Prosecutor seized of the situation in Palestine, I therefore feel compelled to remind all parties that the situation remains under preliminary examination by my Office. I continue to keep a close eye on the developments on the ground and will not hesitate to take any appropriate action, within the confines of the independent and impartial exercise of my mandate under the Rome Statute, with full respect for the principle of complementarity.”
While the statement had several qualifications to it which could still allow the ICC Prosecution to decide to stay out of criminally investigating Israel and Hamas for alleged war crimes relating to the ongoing border conflict, the timing and the threat were unmistakable.
Following rocket fire from the Gaza Strip early Wednesday morning, which destroyed a home in the city of Beersheba, and an IDF strike on the Palestinian coastal enclave in response, IDF Spokesperson Brig.-Gen. Ronen Manelis held Palestinian faction Hamas responsible for the attack.
Rocket sirens were heard in Gaza border communities on Wednesday morning at 8:32 a.m. In response, the Israeli Air Force hit several terror targets across the Gaza Strip. According to Palestinian reports, at least ten Gazans were injured and one was killed in the strikes which occurred across the coastal enclave.
Her unprecedented statement also seemed to tip its hand toward considering demolitions of Beduin housing as war crimes.
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Bensouda said, “I have been following with concern the planned eviction of the Bedouin community of Khan al-Ahmar, in the West Bank. Evacuation by force now appears imminent, and with it the prospects for further escalation and violence.”
“It bears recalling, as a general matter, that extensive destruction of property without military necessity and population transfers in an occupied territory constitute war crimes under the Rome Statute,” said the statement.
Palestinians have turned to the International Criminal Court over Israel’s plan to demolish the West Bank shantytown of Khan al-Ahmar.
Bensouda was originally brought into the picture by a request by the Palestinian Authority in January 2015 to examine whether she had jurisdiction to criminally investigate Israel for war crimes related to the settlement enterprise and the 2014 Gaza war.
However, once she ruled, based on the UN General Assembly, that Palestine was a state, she has indicated that her jurisdiction is ongoing – meaning any fighting between Israel and Hamas which could be war crimes by either side could be within her purview.
Israel maintains that Palestine is not a state and that its own legal system for investigating alleged war crimes bars the ICC Prosecution from getting involved.
Additional reporting by Anna Ahronheim, Khaled Abu Toameh and Tovah Lazaroff
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