ICC Prosecutor Ordered to Reexamine 2010 Gaza Flotilla Incident

In a 3-2 majority ruling, appeals judges have ordered International Criminal Court prosecutor Fatou Bensouda to reconsider her decision not to open a formal investigation into the deadly 2010 raid by Israeli forces on a Turkish vessel attempting to breach the maritime blockade of the Gaza Strip. Bensouda chose not to move ahead with the case, in which members of the Hamas-linked Turkish IHH group attacked Israeli commandos as they were boarding the vessel. While 10 Turks were killed in the ensuing violence, Bensouda concluded that the event did not warrant an official ICC probe, although she suggested that war crimes might have been committed. The tiny island nation of Comoros, under whose flag the Mavi Marmara was sailing, appealed the decision and has since repeatedly fought for further judicial review. Israel is not a party to the Rome Statute, the founding charter of the ICC, and thus argues that the court has no jurisdiction.