HAGUE / PNN/

The International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor today stressed the Court had jurisdiction to investigate Israeli nationals and urged the judges to urgently decide on arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, and his ‘Defence’ Minister, Yoav Gallant.

In Court filings made public Friday, Prosecutor Karim Khan urged judges weighing the arrest warrants sought against Israeli officials to not delay.

“Any unjustified delay in these proceedings detrimentally affects the rights of victims,” he said.

Khan stressed that the Court had jurisdiction over Israeli nationals who commit atrocity crimes in the Palestinian Territories and asked the judges to dismiss legal challenges filed by several dozen governments and other parties.

“It is settled law that the Court has jurisdiction in this situation,” the filing said, dismissing legal arguments based on provisions in the Oslo Accords and assertions by Israel that it is carrying out its own investigations into alleged war crimes.

Israel has proceeded with its genocidal offensive on the war-torn Strip in complete disregard of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which ordered Israel in a legally binding decision to halt its military offensive in Rafah, which may violate its obligations under the Genocide Convention.

Israel has been waging a devastating war on Gaza since October 7, killing at least 40,265 Palestinians and injuring over 93,144 others.

Moreover, at least 10,000 people are unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes throughout the Strip.

Palestinian and international organizations say that the majority of those killed and wounded are women and children.

The Israeli aggression has also resulted in the forceful displacement of nearly two million people from all over the Gaza Strip, with the vast majority of the displaced forced into the densely crowded southern city of Rafah near the border with Egypt – in what has become Palestine’s largest mass exodus since the 1948 Nakba.