Sources within the International Criminal Court have reported that staff in two Gaza hospitals have been interviewed by their investigators for the war crimes probe of the current hostilities in the area, Reuters reported Monday.
The two facilities were identified as Al Shifa and Nasser Hospitals.
Since the start of the October war, both institutions have been the scene of fighting between Israel, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad, as the participating terrorist organizations have frequently used the two medical centers as staging grounds for their attacks.
Earlier this month, Israeli defense officials reported that they captured ‘dozens’ of terrorists and a significant cache of weapons during a raid at Nasser Hospital.
In March, IDF forces eliminated a senior Hamas leader, Faiq Mabhouh, and 20 of his associates who were operating out of the Shifa Hospital.
On March 26, Israel released interrogation videos of captured militants from Shifa, who confirmed that there were as many as 1,000 of their operatives garrisoned on the campus.
International law requires that health care infrastructure be demilitarized during times of conflict, and using it to carry out military operations negates the statutory protections that are given.
Jerusalem has always maintained that its fighters abide by international standards and that their presence in and around the two locations since the start of the war has only been in response to the embedded combatants in them.
Despite any conclusions that the ICC may come to, Israel, like the United States, does not recognize the world body’s jurisdiction in any matter.
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