THE HAGUE: Three Palestinian human rights groups said they have asked the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate Israel, accusing it of committing war crimes including genocide by bombing and besieging Gaza.
Israel — which is not a member of the Hague-based court and does not recognize its jurisdiction — did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
It has previously said allegations of genocide are deplorable and that its actions target Hamas militants, not civilians.
The three rights groups — Al Haq, Al Mezan and the Palestine Human Rights Campaign — said they had asked the ICC to focus on Israeli air strikes on densely populated civilian areas in Gaza, the siege of the territory and the displacement of the population.
“These actions amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity, including genocide and incitement to genocide,” they said in a joint press statement.
The ICC said on Friday it had received a communication from the three groups and would assess the information, without going into detail on its contents.
Israel unleashed its assault on Gaza in response to a cross-border Hamas raid on southern Israel on Oct. 7 in which gunmen killed 1,400 people, mostly civilians, and took about 240 hostages, according to Israeli tallies.
Palestinian officials say Israel’s actions in Gaza have since killed more than 10,000 people.
The ICC can investigate nationals of non-member states in certain circumstances, including when crimes are said to have been committed in the territories of member states. The Palestinian territories are listed among the ICC’s members.
Last week, families of Israeli victims of the Oct. 7 attacks also filed papers at the ICC urging the court to look into Hamas crimes.
Palestinian groups ask war crimes court to investigate genocide accusations
https://arab.news/zyk33
Palestinian groups ask war crimes court to investigate genocide accusations
- Israel has previously said allegations of genocide are deplorable and that its actions target Hamas militants, not civilians
- The three rights groups said they had asked the ICC to focus on Israeli air strikes on densely populated civilian areas
Three brothers arrested over US embassy blast in Oslo
- The brothers, who were Norwegian citizens of Iraqi origin, had been arrested in Oslo and police were investigating the motive
- While none of the brother were previously known to police, Hatlo said investigators were not ruling out links to “criminal networks“
OSLO: Norwegian police said Wednesday three brothers had been arrested on suspicion of a “terrorist bombing” over a weekend explosion at the US embassy in Oslo, which caused minor damage but no injuries.
Police prosecutor Christian Hatlo told a press conference the brothers, who were Norwegian citizens of Iraqi origin, had been arrested in Oslo and that police were investigating the motive.
“We are still working from several hypotheses. One of them is whether this is an order from a government entity,” Hatlo said.
“This is quite natural given the target — the US embassy — and the security situation the world is in today,” he said.
Hatlo said the investigation would seek to clarify exactly what roles the brothers, who were in their 20s, had played.
“We believe that one of them is the person who placed the bomb outside the embassy and that the other two were complicit in the act,” Hatlo told reporters.
Oystein Storrvik, a lawyer for one of the suspects, told broadcaster TV 2 that his client had admitted “to being involved in the case.”
“He admits that he placed the bomb there,” Storrvik told the broadcaster.
Storrvik added that his client had been questioned by police.
“He has explained what happened, and I have no further comments at this time,” he said.
- ‘Proxy actors’ -
While none of the brother were previously known to police, Hatlo said investigators were not ruling out links to “criminal networks.”
In its annual threat assessment, Norwegian security service PST said last month that Iran, which it considers one of the main threats to the country, could rely on “proxy actors,” including “criminal networks,” to commit acts.
On Tuesday, Iran’s ambassador in Oslo denied any involvement by his country in the embassy explosion.
“It is unacceptable that we are being singled out,” Alireza Jahangiri told Norwegian newspaper Verdens Gang.
According to police, the perpetrators of the bombing, described as “powerful,” may also have acted out of their own motives.
US embassies have been placed on high alert in the Middle East due to American strikes on Iran. Several have faced attacks as Tehran responds by targeting industrial and diplomatic facilities.
The blast took place at around 1:00 am (0000 GMT) on Sunday at the entrance to the embassy’s consular section.
On Monday, two images were released from surveillance camera footage showing a suspect dressed in dark clothing with a hood over his head and wearing a backpack.
Roughly at the time the incident occurred, a video had been uploaded to the Google Maps page for the US embassy.
The video, which has since been taken down, appeared to show Iran’s late supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, who was killed on the first day of the US-Israeli strikes in Iran.
According to Norwegian public broadcaster NRK, the person who uploaded the video wrote in Persian: “God is great. We are victorious.”
Police have also opened an investigation into this.
