ICC prosecutor 'continuously monitoring' Palestine situation

The International Criminal Court's prosecutor is "continuously monitoring" the situation in Palestine, his office said on Wednesday, after Israel carried out a deadly raid on the Jenin refugee camp in the occupied West Bank.

The Hague-based war crimes tribunal opened a formal investigation in 2021 into the Israeli-occupied Palestinian territories, including alleged crimes by Israeli forces and by Hamas and Palestinian armed groups.

Israel, which is not a member of the ICC, has refused to cooperate with the probe or recognise its jurisdiction.

"The Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) is continually monitoring the situation and developments in Palestine inasmuch as they are relevant to OTP's ongoing investigations," ICC prosecutor Karim Khan's office told AFP when asked for a reaction to events in Jenin.

The prosecutor's office gave no further comment or update on the ICC's investigation, which covers possible crimes going back to the 2014 war in Gaza.

The probe is backed by the Palestinian Authority but has enraged Israel.

Palestinian groups have meanwhile urged the ICC to speed up its investigation, which is competing for resources against the underfunded court's probes into Ukraine and other war zones.

The large-scale Israeli assault, involving hundreds of forces, drone strikes and armoured bulldozers, lasted two day, with Israeli forces withdrawing from their positions in the camp late on Tuesday.

The Israeli army said one of its soldiers died, while 12 Palestinians had been killed and dozens were injured.

Images from Jenin showed widescale destruction, with much of the crowded city left charred and in rubble from the attack which displaced at least 3,000 residents.

The raid involved hundreds of forces, drone strikes and armoured bulldozers.