Palestinian foreign minister promises cooperation with international courts on visit to The Hague

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) — The Palestinian Authority’s foreign minister told reporters Thursday that he fully supports an International Criminal Court investigation into the Palestinian territories, and he called for a full cease-fire to bring humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip.

The court in The Hague investigates and prosecutes people for war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. Palestinian Foreign Affairs Minister Riyad al-Maliki met with chief prosecutor Karim Khan twice during a two-day visit to the Netherlands to drum up international support for an ICC investigation.

Asked by journalists if he would support the court looking into Hamas’ surprise Oct. 7 attacks in southern Israel, he said that the Palestinian Authority would not interfere with the investigation. “We cannot say ‘Investigate here, don’t investigate there,’” al-Maliki said.

The international court launched an investigation in 2021 into alleged crimes in the Palestinian territories, focusing on military operations against Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip and the expansion of Jewish settlements in east Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank.

Khan confirmed last week that his mandate would extend to Palestinians who carried out crimes against Israelis. The investigation was spurred by the last major conflict in Gaza, but can analyze war crimes allegations from the current Israel-Hamas war.

Israel argues the ICC has no jurisdiction in the conflict because Palestine is not an independent sovereign state. Israel isn’t a party to the treaty that underpins the international court and is not one of its 123 member states.

After his visit to court, al-Maliki said Israel was waging a war of revenge on Gaza that has violated international law. “It has no real objective other than the total destruction of every livable place in Gaza,” he said.

He urged world leaders to back a U.N. General Assembly resolution put forward by Arab nations that calls for a cease-fire to allow in humanitarian aid.

While in The Hague, the Palestinian delegation also made submissions to the International Court of Justice, which is considering the legality of Israeli policies in the occupied West Bank and east Jerusalem.

The U.N. General Assembly passed a resolution asking the U.N.’s highest judicial body to give its opinion on the situation last year. Hearings in those proceedings are scheduled for February 2024.

The war is the deadliest of five Gaza wars for both sides.

More than 1,400 people have been killed in Israel, mostly in the initial Hamas rampage. Israel has responded with a series of bombing strikes that, according to al-Maliki, have killed some 7,000 people and left more than 20,000 injured. He also accused Israel of focusing airstrikes on the southern part of Gaza after telling Palestinians living in the north to relocate.