International Criminal Court opens inquiry into possible Israeli war crimes

(Image credit: Lior Mizrahi/Getty Images)

Fatou Bensouda, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, opened preliminary inquiries into possible Israeli war crimes in Palestinian territories on Friday, The New York Times reports.

The investigation comes just a few weeks after Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas took steps to join the ICC — a move that was decried by both the U.S. and Israel as unilateral and combative in nature. Bensouda and her team will investigate whether Israel's actions during last summer's 50-day Gaza fighting qualify as war crimes, as the Palestinians assert. The inquiry could take years, and Bensouda described the examination in a Friday statement as required procedure. And, the team could charge Palestinians for similar war crimes against Israel.

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Sarah Eberspacher

Sarah Eberspacher is an associate editor at TheWeek.com. She has previously worked as a sports reporter at The Livingston County Daily Press & Argus and The Arizona Republic. She graduated from Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.