The Hague

A group of 20 Palestinians filed a criminal complaint with the Dutch Public Prosecutor's Office against Israel this week for impeding and influencing an investigation by the International Criminal Court (ICC) into the genocide in Gaza.

The complaint came following the publication in May this year of an extensive investigation jointly carried out by media outlets The Guardian, +972 Magazine and Local Call.

Speaking to Anadolu, the group’s lawyer, Barbara van Straaten, noted that the complaint is based on Article 70 of the Rome Statute and Dutch criminal law.

“All states that are party to the Rome Statute are required to include crimes committed against the administration of justice in their national laws. The Netherlands has done this. Since the ICC and therefore the prosecutor's office are located on Dutch territory and the crime of obstruction of justice occurred on Dutch territory, Dutch courts will have jurisdiction," she said.

Straaten’s office, in a separate statement, underlined that media reports revealed “how Israeli leaders and security forces engaged in an almost decade-long campaign against the prosecutor’s office of the ICC to prevent it from carrying out an effective criminal investigation.”

Israeli officials tried to attack the ICC prosecutor’s integrity, for example by offering former prosecutor Fatou Bensouda concealed bribes, or setting up a smear campaign against her husband to pressure her into dropping the investigation.

Israeli security forces also conducted a widespread surveillance operation that was aimed at gathering information on the ongoing investigation, including monitoring telecommunication.