Israel Bracing For Formal ICC Investigation Into Alleged ‘War Crimes’

Israel’s National Security Council reportedly warned senior parliamentarians that the International Criminal Court will likely open a formal investigation this year into accusations the IDF committed war crimes during the 2014 conflict with Hamas and over construction of Jewish communities in the West Bank. According to Israeli media, the probable development was outlined in a secret presentation, titled “Strategic Situation Assessment for 2018,” to the powerful Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee last week. This comes after the chief prosecutor of the ICC, Fatou Bensouda, issued a report in December on preliminary findings into Palestinian claims against Israel submitted at the beginning of 2015. Israel’s 50-day campaign in the Gaza Strip during the summer of 2014 resulted in the deaths of more than 2,000 Palestinians, approximately 50 percent of them civilians; whereas Jewish “settlements” are deemed by most countries as illegal under international law. For its part, the IDF has repeatedly rejected accusations it targeted civilians in Gaza, instead attributing many of the deaths to Hamas’ “human shield” tactic of operating in densely populated areas. Moreover, many in the Israeli government consider the West Bank as a disputed, rather than occupied, territory, thus rendering inapplicable Article 4 of the Geneva Convention which prevents “the transfer, directly or indirectly, by the occupying power of parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” Lastly, Israel is not a signatory to the Rome Statute, the treaty that established the ICC, and thus argues that the Hague-based court has no jurisdiction to investigate alleged crimes committed within its borders.