Hamas welcomes ICC decision to open probe into Israeli war crimes in Palestinian territories
The Palestinian Islamic resistance movement, Hamas, has praised an announcement by the International Criminal Court (ICC) to launch an investigation into war crimes committed by the Israeli regime in the occupied Palestinian territories.
"The Hamas movement welcomes the decision of the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to open an investigation into war crimes committed by the [Israeli] occupation against Palestinian people,” Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem told AFP on Saturday.
"All evidence actually confirms the existence of war crimes committed by the occupation against our people," he added.
He urged the ICC to carry out the planned investigation and not to allow the Israeli regime to impose its own conditions, emphasizing that it is time that Israel was held "accountable and punished for all the crimes it committed" against the Palestinian people on all international forums.
"The importance of this decision lies in the actual beginning of the procedures of this decision and the start of the penalization of the occupation for all the crimes it committed against Palestinian people," the spokesman added.
In a statement on Friday, ICC prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said the court will launch a full investigation into war crimes in the Palestinian territories, expressing her satisfaction that there is a “reasonable basis" to probe into the situation in Palestine.
"In brief, I am satisfied that war crimes have been or are being committed in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem (al-Quds), and the Gaza Strip," she added, without specifying the perpetrators of the crimes.
The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates in a Friday statement welcomed the ICC plan, saying, "Palestine welcomes this step as a long overdue step to move the process forward towards an investigation, after nearly five long and difficult years of preliminary examination."
Israel and the US, however, slammed the court's decision.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu lashed out at what he called a "dark day for truth and justice," and said the decision made by the Hague-based court was a "political tool" to delegitimize Israel.
The US, a staunch ally of Israel, also claimed that the "unjustified inquiry" will "unfairly" target Tel Aviv.
In a statement on Friday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said the US did not believe Palestinians qualify as a sovereign state, adding, "We do not believe the Palestinians qualify as a sovereign state, and they therefore are not qualified to obtain full membership, or participate as a state in international organizations, entities, or conferences, including the ICC."
Israel and the US have both refused to sign up to the ICC, which was set up in 2002 to be the only global tribunal trying the world's worst crimes, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
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