By Bongiwe Dlamini

MBABANE:The appeals chamber of the International Criminal Court (ICC) has rejected one of Israel’s legal challenges seeking to block an investigation into its actions in the genocidal war against the Palestinian people in Gaza, dealing a blow to Israel’s efforts to derail the case, Aljazeera reported on Monday.

It has been reported that, in their decision issued on Monday, Judges refused to overturn a lower court decision allowing the ICC Prosecutor to investigate alleged crimes in Israel’s war on Gaza following the Hamas-led attack on southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

“The decision clears the way for the continuation of the court’s Palestine investigation, which led to the issuance of arrest warrants in November last year for Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant over alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity. Israel does not recognise the jurisdiction of the Hague-based court and has repeatedly denied committing war crimes in Gaza,” reads the Aljazeera report in part.

On another note, the ICC had also issued an arrest warrant for Hamas leader Ibrahim al-Masri, but later withdrew it after credible reports of his death.

But the appeal was focusing on whether the ICC Prosecutor was required to issue a fresh notification to Israel before investigating events that took place after October 7, 2023. 

Israel argued that the post-October 7 assault on Gaza constituted a new situation, triggered by additional referrals submitted to the court by seven other countries since November 2023, including South Africa, Chile and Mexico.

Judges rejected that argument, ruling that the original notification issued in 2021 – when the ICC formally opened its investigation into alleged crimes in occupied Palestine-already covered later events.