Hague court must investigate Gaza war crimes-group

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Wed Jan 14, 2009 11:24am EST

THE HAGUE Jan 14 (Reuters) - A Palestinian rights group called on the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague on Wednesday to investigate Israel for committing war crimes during its 19-day-old offensive in the Gaza Strip.

"They are using terrorist weapons to conduct crimes against humanity," said lawyer May Sobhi Khansa, leader of the International Coalition against Impunity.

Khansa handed ICC officials a 25-page petition calling on the ICC to go to Gaza and investigate the "death and injury of hundreds of Palestinians, including women and children".

ICC officials declined to comment on the petition or say whether the court would respond to it.

Set up in 2000, the Hague-based ICC is the world's first permanent court set up to investigate and prosecute war crimes.

Israel and the United States are not among the 108 countries that have signed the Rome Statute creating the court, but that would not prevent the ICC from launching an investigation.

The Palestinian death toll from the Gaza offensive rose to 1,010 on Wednesday, Gaza's Health Ministry said, and the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights said more than 670 of the dead were civilians. Israel says 10 soldiers, and three civilians hit by Hamas cross-border rockets, have been killed.

Khansa said the ICC should also prosecute Israeli and U.S. leaders for war crimes, and said her group planned to file lawsuits against Israel with various national courts.

About 170 people gathered outside the ICC building, including members of the Dutch group Palestinian Platform for Rights and Solidarity, chanting, "Murderers Israel" and "Israel terrorist" as they waved Palestinian flags and banners.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, in the Middle East trying to halt the fighting in Gaza, called for "an immediate and durable ceasefire" on Wednesday.

Last week Navi Pillay, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and a former ICC judge, called for independent investigations into possible war crimes committed by Israeli forces in Gaza. (Reporting by Reed Stevenson, editing by Tim Pearce)



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