The families of 11 victims of Hamas’ October 7 attack on Israel on Friday filed a complaint in the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, accusing the terrorist organization of “crimes against humanity.”
More than 1,400 people in Israel were killed, most of them civilians, during Hamas’ massive surprise attack last month. Another roughly 240 were taken hostage, of which Israeli officials believe about 220 remain captive in Gaza, but fear that at least 20 have been killed.
The complaint before the ICC in The Hague concerns 11 victims who were either killed or wounded on Israel borders. Several had been at the Nova music festival near the Gaza-Israel border, where more than 260 people were slaughtered by Hamas gunmen on October 7.
Francois Zimeray, an attorney with Paris Bar and the ICC who lodged the complaint, said Friday of October 7, “It was the execution of a genocidal plan assumed by its perpetrators. In the face of denial in real time, the truth must be defended, these atrocities must be known and engraved in the collective memory.”
His law firm, Zimeray & Finelle, asserts that the “material facts” in the case cannot be disputed as Hamas has “amply documented and broadcast” its actions.
Zimeray is asking the prosecution at the ICC to “consider the advisability of issuing an international arrest warrant for the leaders of Hamas,” based on the world organization’s own example from earlier this year, when it issued an arrest warrant for Russian Russian President Vladimir Putin for war crimes related to his alleged involvement in the abduction of Ukrainian children.
The lawsuit was filed just days after ICC Chief Prosecutor Karim Khan visited the Middle East to investigate Hamas’ actions as “war crimes” and where, from Egypt, he warned that impeding the flow of humanitarian aid into Gaza could also constitute a war crime.
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