(The Hague) Around a hundred relatives of Israeli hostages still held in the Gaza Strip demonstrated on Wednesday in front of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague, from which they intend to demand prosecution for “crimes against humanity” against Hamas leaders.
Relatives of hostages from Israel were joined by protesters, many carrying Israeli flags and photos of hostages, and chanting “Bring them back now!” “.
Images of the October 7 attacks on Israeli territory were projected on screens, and relatives of hostages spoke out to recount the day during which armed Palestinian militants killed more than a thousand people and took 250 hostages .
“They entered our homes, beat us, raped us, killed us,” said Yamit Ashkenaz, whose sister Doron Steinbrecher was taken hostage.
“They took my sister from her bed, where she was supposed to be safest,” she added.
Hostages were released, but Israeli authorities believe that 130 of them are still being held in Gaza, of whom 29 are believed to be dead.
Efraim Zuroff says he is there to support neighbors, whose son was taken hostage.
“Those who need medication or treatment don’t have it. They are treated like animals,” he said.
“Every day is an eternity”
Raz Ben Ami is a former hostage, released after 54 days, but her husband Ohad is still captive.
“Today is Valentine’s Day and Ohad, the love of my life and the father of my daughters, is still in captivity in Gaza,” she said.
“Every day without him feels like an eternity,” added this woman.
The ICC was established in 2002 as an independent international tribunal to examine and prosecute charges of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and crimes of aggression.
In 2021, it opened investigations into possible war crimes carried out in the Palestinian territories by both Israel and Hamas, which were extended to acts committed since the October 7 attack.
But ICC investigators have not been allowed to enter Gaza or investigate in Israel, which is not a member of the court.
The war was sparked by the October 7 attack by Hamas commandos infiltrated in southern Israel, which resulted in the deaths of more than 1,160 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP count made from official Israeli data.
Israel vowed in retaliation to “destroy” Hamas, which it considers a terrorist organization along with the United States and the European Union, and launched an offensive that left 28,576 dead in Gaza, the vast majority civilians, according to the Islamist movement’s Ministry of Health.
Legal experts close to the Court told AFP that both Hamas and Israel could find themselves accused before the Court for this conflict.
“For all the Jews of the world”
“We are not here as the State of Israel. We are the families of those who were struck by the terror of October 7,” said Udi Goren, a 42-year-old photographer and tour guide whose cousin was shot dead by the attackers, and his body taken to Gaza.
“We are doing this for all the people of Israel, for all Jews around the world, and for everyone who believes our region deserves a better future,” he added.
Haïm Rubinstein, a representative of the Collective of Hostage Families, announced before going to The Hague that the approach aimed to obtain prosecutions “against the members of Hamas and their collaborators to ensure that they pay the high price for the crimes against humanity that they have committed and are still committing at this very moment,” during a televised press briefing from Ben Gurion Airport in Tel Aviv.
The families of hostages continue to put pressure on the Israeli authorities for the release of their loved ones, whose fate has haunted society for more than four months.
A truce at the end of November between Hamas and Israel, which is carrying out military operations in the Gaza Strip in retaliation for the October 7 attack, allowed the release of around a hundred people, in exchange for the release of detained Palestinian prisoners. by Israel.