Five countries ask International Criminal Court to investigate situation in Palestine

The International Criminal Court’s prosecutor Karim Khan says his office has received a referral from five countries to investigate whether crimes have been committed in the Palestinian territories as part of Israel’s response to the October 7 Hamas terror attacks.

South Africa, Bangladesh, Bolivia, Comoros and Djibouti submitted the referral, Khan said.

“Following the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, a State Party may refer to the Prosecutor a situation in which one or more crimes within the jurisdiction of the Court appear to have been committed requesting the Prosecutor to investigate the situation to determine whether one or more specific persons should be charged with the commission of such crimes,” Khan said in a statement, according to CNN.