JERUSALEM (JTA) — The Palestinian Authority will bring Israel before the International Court of Justice for war crimes, its foreign minister said.
“We will go to the ICJ [International Court of Justice], and put our signature on it,” Riyad al-Malki, told the French news agency AFP from Bogota, Colombia, on Saturday, using the common reference to the ICC. “Very soon we will be a [sovereign] state. That is enough for the court to start an investigation.”
Before attending the inauguration of Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos, Malki was in The Hague last week to discuss asking the court to open a case against Israel for its military operation in Gaza over the past month.
“I asked the ICJ to start an official investigation, to see if what Israel has done in the past 33 days reaches the level of war crimes,” Malki said.
The P.A. is not a member of the court and its status as a country is unclear.
Following a 72-hour cease-fire that ended Friday morning, Palestinian factions in Gaza began firing rockets again into Israel. Israel responded with targeted rocket and naval attacks, but did not not enter Gaza with ground troops. The two sides agreed Sunday to a new 72-hour cease-fire that begins at midnight Monday.
Israel has been accused of war crimes and violating international humanitarian law for the deaths of Gaza civilians, as well as striking United Nations buildings sheltering displaced Gazans.
