Ukraine in Arabic | No charge against Israel over Gaza-bound flotilla
KYIV/Ukraine in Arabic/ Israeli forces may have committed war crimes when they stormed an aid flotilla boat heading to Gaza, but the possible crimes aren’t grave enough to merit a prosecution at the International Criminal Court, the court’s prosecutor said Thursday.
The move by lawyers at the International Criminal Court is likely to enrage Ankara which accused its erstwhile ally Israel of mass murder after the commandos abseiled onto a flotilla challenging an Israeli naval blockade of the Gaza Strip.
"The information available provides a reasonable basis to believe that war crimes under the Court's jurisdiction have been committed in the context of interception and takeover of the Mavi Marmara by IDF (Israeli Defense Forces) soldiers on 31 May 2010," read the paper seen on Wednesday.
Fatou Bensouda said this was despite a "reasonable basis to believe that war crimes... were committed on one of the vessels, the Mavi Marmara".
She said the ICC had to prioritized war crimes committed on a large scale.
Nine Turkish activists were killed on the ship as it attempted to breach a blockade of the Hamas-run territory.
Ten Israeli soldiers were injured in the incident, which caused deep rift between Israel and Turkey, former allies.
Sufficient gravity
Ms. Bensouda said she did not want to minimize "the impact of the alleged crimes on the victims and their families" but she had to be guided by the Rome Statute, the founding treaty of the ICC.
"I have concluded that the potential case(s) likely arising from an investigation into this incident would not be of 'sufficient gravity' to justify further action by the ICC," she said in a statement.
Ms. Bensouda said she had referred to the reports of the various inquiries that had previously examined the incident in making her decision.
In total, there were six ships in the flotilla that were boarded in international waters about 130km (80 miles) from the Israeli coast on 31 May 2010.
The activists, many from a pro-Palestinian Turkish group called the IHH, had said they wanted to deliver aid to the Palestinian enclave by breaking Israel's naval blockade. Israel imposed the sea blockade after Hamas, which it has designated a terrorist group, won elections in Gaza in 2006.
Israel says the IHH is closely linked to Hamas.
Commandos landed on the largest ship, the Turkish-owned Mavi Marmara, by descending on ropes from helicopters.
Clashes broke out immediately and the commandos opened fire, although a UN inquiry was unable to determine at exactly which point the commandos used live rounds.
An Israeli inquiry found the actions of the navy and the blockade were legal under international law, although there was some criticism of the planning of the military operation.
A UN panel in September 2011 agreed that the naval blockade was legal but said that the loss of life and injuries resulting from the use of force by Israeli troops was "excessive and unreasonable".
The panel's report said the commandos did face "significant, organized and violent resistance", requiring them to "use force for their own protection".
Israel maintains its blockade of Gaza to try to prevent weapons or materials reaching Hamas militants, while allowing humanitarian aid into the territory. Palestinians say the policy is tantamount to collective punishment.
Israel and Turkey are not members of the ICC, which only has jurisdiction over its members and cases referred to it by the UN Security Council.
Ms. Bensouda opened a preliminary investigation into the flotilla raid last year after the Comoros - an ICC member - filed a complaint as the Mavi Marmara, although Turkish-owned, was flying a Comorian flag.
She said her office would continue to execute its mandate "without fear or favor" where the court's jurisdiction was established.
