The ICC prosecutor says that the Palestinian probe continues with urgency World News

By Stephanie van den Berg

Hague, – The International Criminal Court will continue its investigation into the crimes committed on the Palestinian or Palestinian territories, the prosecutor’s office said on Thursday, despite the withdrawal of an arrest warrant for a Hamas leader.

ICC said on Wednesday that the judges withdrew an arrest warrant for Ibrahim al-Masi, also known as Mohammed Deif, following credible reports on his death.

Deif was sought for atrocities committed during the October 2023 attack in Hamas on the communities of the Israeli southern southern war in Gaza. He was accused by prosecutors of mass killing, rape and hostage. He was killed in an Israeli air attack last year, but the Hamas militant group confirmed his death at the end of January.

On Thursday, the prosecutor said the probe continued and will not hesitate to request arrest warrants for other suspects “if and when he considers that the threshold of a realistic conviction has been fulfilled.”

“By approaching the situation as an urgent priority, the office carries out an active investigation and advances additional and interconnected multiple investigation lines,” he said in an e-mail. In November, the Judges of the ICC also issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former head of defense for war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Gaza war.

The Israeli leader rejected the decision as anti -Semitic and said that the accusations are absurd and false.

Withdrawing the mandate for Deif means that there are now no public arrest warrants for any Palestinian militants connected to the attacks on October 7.

The decision to give up Deif’s case showed that more actions were needed “to end the impunity for atrocities that are still committed by perpetrators from fundamental groups,” said lawyer Yael Vias Gvirsman, who represents Israeli victims at ICC.

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