THE HAGUE 

A group of peace activist lawyers filed a criminal complaint with the International Criminal Court (ICC) against 12 Israeli officials, including Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, for alleged crimes committed by Tel Aviv in Gaza.

Speaking to Anadolu on behalf of Lawyers for Peace, a group consisting of about 200 attorneys, lawyer Ibrahim Yildirim said they applied to the ICC Prosecutor's Office in The Hague against Prime Minister Netanyahu, Defense Minister Yoav Gallant, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, Foreign Minister Israel Katz, Minister for the Advancement of Women's Status May Golan, and seven senior commanders.

"Our application consists of 163 pages and is one of the most comprehensive among the criminal complaints filed so far. We have applied to the ICC Prosecutor's Office against a total of 12 Israeli officials," Yildirim said.

He underlined that the application text was prepared by a team of nine experts.

"We sent the criminal complaint to the ICC Prosecutor's Office yesterday on behalf of our group. We have also launched a campaign where those who want to support this petition can add their signatures. The number of signatories has already exceeded 500," he said.

"This is an effort that we have been preparing for a long time. Our complaint has a strong legal basis and is supported by many pieces of evidence," Yildirim noted.

He urged the ICC Prosecutor's Office to take action and issue warrants for the arrest of the 12 Israeli officials.

Israel has waged a brutal military offensive on the Gaza Strip in retaliation for a cross-border attack led by Hamas, which killed about 1,200 people.

Nearly 34,700 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, the vast majority of whom have been women and children, and 78,000 others injured, according to Palestinian health authorities.

Nearly seven months into the Israeli war, vast swathes of Gaza lay in ruins, pushing 85% of the enclave’s population into internal displacement amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water and medicine, according to the UN.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January said it is "plausible" that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza, and ordered Tel Aviv to stop such acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza.

*Writing by Zehra Nur Duz