UK submits argument to ICC over jurisdiction to prosecute Israelis in Gaza case

Judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) ruled on Thursday the UK can submit legal arguments regarding the prosecution’s request for arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Yoav Gallant.

According to court documents made public, the UK, an ICC member state, filed a request earlier in June to provide written information on whether “the court can exercise jurisdiction over Israeli nationals, in circumstances where Palestine cannot exercise criminal jurisdiction over Israeli nationals [under] the Oslo Accords”, referring to the 1993 agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO).

The UK argues that Palestinian authorities cannot have jurisdiction over Israeli nationals under the accords and, therefore, cannot transfer that jurisdiction over to the ICC to prosecute them.

Other interested parties may submit their requests on the issue before 12 July.

Granting the UK’s request could delay the judges’ pending decision on arrest warrants for Netanyahu and Gallant, Reuters reports.

In Gaza, two Israeli strikes on Deir al-Balah killed four people, including a woman and a child, according to the Wafa news agency.

These attacks follow last night’s Israeli strike on a civil defence team in their workplace in Gaza’s Nuseirat, which killed three members and injured others.

An Israeli soldier was also killed on Thursday, according to the Israeli army. The military says he is the 316th soldier killed in the war and that he died fighting in southern Gaza.

Meanwhile, the controversial Gaza pier, set up by the US military for $230m, could be removed as soon as today due to difficult sea conditions, according to the AP.

Two US officials told the agency Washington will look for other ways to get aid into Gaza.

This would mark the third time the pier has been removed due to weather disruptions.

The UN and other aid organisations have paused humanitarian aid distributions from the pier, pending a security review following claims that the pier may have played a role in the Israeli military’s Nuseirat massacre on 8 June, which resulted in the rescue of four Israeli hostages but the killing of more than 270 Palestinians.