International Criminal Court Rules Jurisdiction Over Palestine

The International Criminal Court (ICC) ruled that it has jurisdiction over war crimes committed on Palestinian grounds despite opposition from Israel. The decision will trigger an investigation.

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The ruling clarifies that the ICC's territorial jurisdiction in Palestine "extends to the territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely Gaza and the West Bank, including East Jerusalem."

The decision came after a prosecutor for the ICC requested a ruling on the court's scope in this zone. The ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda denounced two years ago that "war crimes have been or are being committed in the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip."

The prosecutor considers that the Israeli Defense Forces and armed Palestinian groups such as Hamas could be responsible for the crimes against the Palestinian people. As human rights organizations qualified the decision as "pivotal," the Palestinian Foreign Ministry said that it was a "historic day for the principle of accountability."