Actions by Israel in the Gaza war in 2014 and rocket fire by Palestinian militants are likely to come under scrutiny.
The International Criminal Court announced on Wednesday that it was opening an investigation into allegations of war crimes by Israel and Palestinian militant groups in territories occupied by Israel in 1967. The decision, bound to infuriate the Israelis and be welcomed by the Palestinian leadership and its supporters, comes six years after the court began a preliminary investigation of Israeli actions in the territories and just weeks after a ruling by the court that it had jurisdiction in the territories. The court’s outgoing chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, said in a statement on Wednesday that the investigation would cover crimes within the jurisdiction of the court that were alleged to have been committed since June 13, 2014, shortly before the start of that summer’s devastating,50-day Gaza war.
