Palestinians submit case of Jewish arson attack to ICC

The Palestinians on Monday submitted to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague the case of Friday's Jewish arson attack on a Palestinian house near the West Bank city of Nablus, which killed an 18-month-old toddler, officials said.

Reyad al-Malki, the Palestinian Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), said that the case was submitted to the ICC prosecutor and her special team in The Hague.

"The case includes facts related to the crime of the Jewish arson attack on the house of Dawabsha family and the killing of their toddler Ali," said al-Malki, adding that "the case was fully prepared by our ministry."

He also said that the case included facts "related to the Israeli settlement terrorist actions committed against the Palestinian people, including documents, maps, photos and information."

"The prosecutor of the international court received the case which is a continuation to the case we submitted to the court on June 25 which included facts related to the last Israeli military offensive waged on Gaza, the Israeli settlement and the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails," said al-Malki.

He noted that the Palestinian side presented all these documents to the ICC "to speed up international investigation that was launched on Jan. 16 which shows that Israel committed war crimes."

The senior Palestinian diplomat expected that the ICC could reach enough evidences and facts over the issue of Israeli war crimes committed against the Palestinian people, adding that "this will need official investigation."

On Friday, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas assigned al-Malki to head as soon as possible to the ICC in The Hague and submit the case against Israel. Al-Malki said he will then head to Geneva on Tuesday to meet Swiss officials on the same issue.