For 9 years, Israel tried to undermine the ICC

Blatantly disregarding the International Court of Justice’s order to halt its military offensive in  Rafah, which began on May 6, Israel continued its overnight shelling and airstrikes there last Tuesday. It also announced it would pursue the war in Gaza throughout 2024.

The bombardments killed at least 37 displaced Palestinians sheltering in tents. The Sunday before that, 45 people in a tent camp perished in a blaze presumed to have been triggered by similar airstrikes. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it happened because of a “tragic mishap.” 

As we know, Israel has been waging war for eight months now, intent on dismantling the Palestinian armed movement Hamas. On Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attacked Israel, killing 1,250-plus Israelis and taking a couple of thousand hostages. Israel wants to take the latter back home, alive or dead.

More than 35,000 Palestinian civilians, including women and children, have been killed. Most of them have died in the type of warfare described above, which has destroyed much of Gaza and forced over a million Palestinians to take refuge in Rafah, where there is a dire lack of food, medicines and amenities.

Last week, the International Criminal Court’s chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, decided to seek arrest warrants from ICC judges against Netanyahu and his defense minister, Yoav Gallant, for alleged war crimes.

 The case that Khan is pursuing basically dates back to 2015, when his predecessor, Fatou Bensouda, opened a preliminary examination into the “situation in the Palestinian territories.” Her inquiry aimed to make an initial assessment of allegations of crimes committed by individuals in Gaza, the West Bank, and East Jerusalem.

(Filipinos will recall that Bensouda also investigated former president Duterte’s “drug war” which has resulted in the present case against Duterte et al now before the tribunal.)

Bensouda’s decision angered Israel, fearing its officials could be prosecuted. Spurning the ICC, Israel had long opposed the court, refusing to recognize its authority. What Israel has been doing since then has been the subject of a remarkable project of investigative journalism.

This week, the reportage was detailed by