Palestine to file war crimes case against Israel in ICC in April: PLO

PLO to take Israel to International Criminal Court

RAMALLAH: The Palestinians are to lodge their first complaint against Israel for alleged war crimes at the International Criminal Court on April 1, said a senior official on Monday.

"One of the first important steps will be filing a complaint against Israel at the ICC on April 1 over the (2014) Gaza war and settlement activity," said Mohammed Shtayyeh, a member of the executive committee of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO).

United Nations (UN) Secretary General Ban Ki-moon had accepted Palestine's request to join the International Criminal Court in January 2015, a move that opened the way for war crimes complaints against Israel.

The decision grants the Hague-based ICC jurisdiction to open cases as of April 1 on serious crimes committed in the Palestinian territories, including war crimes committed.

Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas had signed requests to join the ICC and 16 other conventions, a day after the Security Council failed to adopt a resolution paving the way to full statehood.

Almost 2,200 Palestinians were killed in July and August during the 50-day war in Gaza, including more than 400 children, according to UN estimates.