Friday, November 7, 2014

ICC Says Israel Likely Committed War Crimes During Gaza Flotilla Raid

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The Israeli army committed war crimes during a raid on an aid flotilla heading to the Gaza Strip, Fatou Bensouda, the Chief Prosecutor, International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, said.

Bensouda said on Thursday that although crimes were committed, the culprits would not be prosecuted.
She said  “no case will be opened on the 2010 raid, as the matter was not of `sufficient gravity’ to merit the court’s intervention.”
Ten people, all Turkish citizens, including one who held dual U.S. citizenship, were killed during the raid, which put an immense strain on Turkey’s relations with Israel.
The Gaza Strip had been under tight blockade imposed by Israel, and at times Egypt, for the past eight years.
The flotilla was using the Comoros flag.
As that country was a party to the Rome Statute that set up the world’s only permanent court for war crimes, the case was able to come under investigation by the prosecutor.
Turkey and Israel are not part of the international court, which has over 120 member states.
Bensouda said ” have concluded that there is reasonable basis to believe that war crimes under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court were committed on one of the vessels.
“However, the court can only open cases into incidents that carry sufficient gravity.’’
Meanwhile, Comoros has the right to request ICC judges to review Bensouda’s decision.

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