The Palestinian Authority (PA) is set to sue Israel at the International Criminal Court (ICC) for killing a Palestinian teenager in the occupied West Bank two weeks ago.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said on Friday that the first steps have been taken to file the lawsuit at the ICC in The Hague.
The PA foreign minister, Riad Malki, has been assigned to prepare a file on the teen's death for submission to the ICC, Abbas added.
President Abbas also emphasized that 17-year-old Laith al-Khaldi was killed in cold blood by Israeli forces. He vowed to bring those responsible for al-Khaldi's murder to justice.
On August 1, al-Khaldi succumbed to his wounds a day after being shot in the chest during a demonstration over the killing of Ali Dawabsha, the Palestinian toddler who was burned to death in an attack by Israeli settlers on his house in the village of Duma in the occupied West Bank.
Saad Dawabsha, the father of the slain Palestinian baby later died of burns sustained in the Israeli arson attack. Meanwhile, other members of the toddler’s family, who were also injured in the attack on their house, were fighting for their lives.
Palestinian sources say al-Khaldi is one of at least 22 Palestinians who have been killed by Israeli forces since the start of 2015. The figure does not include those killed in attacks by Israeli settlers or prisoners who died while in Israeli jails.
Palestinian authorities have filed several lawsuits against Israel at The Hague over its aggressive policies.
Senior Palestinian officials say the continuation of Israel’s occupation and settlements paved the way for such crimes. They also accuse Israel of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity, and have called for an investigation into the situation in Palestinian territories
Palestinians filed their first "war crimes" complaint against Israel at the ICC in late June. The documents describe to prosecutors for the first time in detail Israel’s breaches of international law, including serious war crimes in the West Bank and the besieged Gaza Strip.
The Tel Aviv regime started its latest aggression against the Gaza Strip in early July 2014. The war, which lasted for 50 days, claimed the lives of over 2,130 Palestinians, including many children and women, and injured some 11,000 others.