Families of hostages file war crimes complaint against Hamas at the ICC

The complaint charges Hamas with ‘kidnapping, crimes of sexual violence, torture and other serious allegations.’

By Vered Weiss, World Israel News

A delegation consisting of family members of hostages, legal experts and human rights advocates are traveling to the International Criminal Court at The Hague to file complaints of war crimes against Hamas at the court.

The delegation includes 100 people, most of them representatives of hostage families and a few dozen lawyers who have drafted a submission to the ICC.

The International Criminal Court is empowered to prosecute individuals for violations of the Geneva Conventions which include war crimes if those who are prosecuted are citizens of signatory states and entities, and the Palestinian Authority falls under the heading.

Israel, which hasn’t ratified the Rome Statute, a founding document of the ICC, isn’t officially subject to the jurisdiction of the court, although it can file a complaint.

The submission being prepared by the team of lawyers includes 1,000 pages of forensic evidence of Hamas atrocities as well as eyewitness testimony from survivors, freed hostages and first responders.

The Hostages and Missing Families Forum and the Raoul Wallenberg Center for Human Rights have signed the complaint which charges Hamas with “kidnapping, crimes of sexual violence, torture and other serious allegations.”

Chief Prosecutor of the ICC Karim Kahn has already said he has opened an investigation into alleged Hamas war crimes,  but the delegation hopes that the submission will put pressure on the ICC to further their investigations and arrest individual Hamas terrorists responsible for the atrocities during the October 7th massacre and against hostages currently held in Gaza.

Addressing the delegation at Ben Gurion airport before the flight, Ofri Bibas, the sister of Yarden Bibas who was kidnapped from kibbutz Nir Oz with his wife and young children, called Hamas the successors of the Nazis, and like them, must be brought to justice.

She said, “All of humanity must stand firm in the face of a global terrorist army in which Hamas is one battalion operating in its service.”

“The human monsters who harmed us and the members of our family are the successors of Hitler, Eichmann, and Goebbels, people who have already been brought to account,” she added.

“The time has now come to do this again. This is not just our story. If we don’t stop this, tomorrow it will be story of the entire world.”

hamas hostageshamas war crimesICC