International Criminal Court prosecutor visits Israel

International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan speaks about the violence in Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories, in The Hague, Netherlands, on Oct. 12, 2023. [Reuters] International Criminal Court prosecutor Karim Khan visited Israel "at the request and invitation" of the survivors and families of the victims of Hamas' October 7 attacks, the ICC said on Thursday. "The visit, while not investigative in nature, represents an important opportunity to express sympathy for all victims and engage in dialogue," the court wrote on X, formerly Twitter. Khan is also to travel to Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, where he will meet with senior Palestinian officials, the ICC said. Hamas militants took about 240 captives from southern Israel during an unprecedented October 7 attack that Israeli officials say killed around 1,200 people, most of them civilians. In response, Israel has vowed to eliminate Hamas, an Islamist movement with an armed wing. A relentless Israeli air, sea and ground offensive has killed more than 15,000 people, according to Gaza's Hamas rulers. A weeklong truce that has paused weeks of deadly conflict is set to expire early Friday. Since its inception in 2002, the ICC has been the world's only independent court set up to investigate the gravest offenses including genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. It opened an investigation into Israel as well as Hamas and other armed Palestinian groups for possible war crimes in the Palestinian territories in 2021. Khan has previously said this investigation now "extends to the escalation of hostilities and violence since the attacks that took place on October 2023." ICC teams have not been able to enter Gaza or investigate in Israel, which is not an ICC member. Legal experts have told AFP that Hamas and Israel could face war crimes charges over the conflict. Five countries in mid-November called for an ICC investigation into the Israel-Hamas war, with Khan saying his team had collected a "significant volume" of evidence on "relevant incidents."

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