Can the ICC issue arrest warrants over Israeli actions in Lebanon?
Israel’s brutal escalation in Lebanon over the past month has drawn the attention of international onlookers, including legal experts.
From the attacks on communications devices on 17 and 18 September that killed dozens and wounded thousands, to air strikes in densely populated areas and recent attacks on United Nations peacekeepers, Israeli forces have been accused of committing war crimes.
The attack on pagers and walkie talkies likely fell foul of international humanitarian law, as Israel would have been required to assess whether civilians could be harmed in every single one of the thousands of detonations, experts told Middle East Eye last month.
It may also have violated conventions that Israel is party to around the specific use of booby traps during conflicts.
Since then, Israel has bombed several civilian infrastructures, including medical facilities. Intentional attacks against healthcare and relief workers are considered war crimes under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, and a breach of the Geneva Convention.
Similar accusations of war crimes and crimes against humanity have been brought in relation to Israeli actions in Gaza over the past year, too.
Since the state of Palestine is a signatory of the Rome Statute and a member of the 124 member International Criminal Court, the Hague-based body has the power to issue arrest warrants over crimes committed in the occupied West Bank, Jerusalem or Gaza.
On that basis, in May this year, the ICC announced that it was seeking warrants for the arrest of Israeli and Hamas leaders.
MEE takes a look at whether similar indictments could be issued in relation to actions carried out along the northern front of the war.
Read more: Can the ICC issue arrest warrants over Israeli actions in Lebanon?
