British lawyer Andrew Cayley to oversee ICC Gaza probe

Barrister and former military prosecutor Andrew Cayley has been appointed to oversee the International Criminal Court's (ICC) investigation into Israeli war crimes in Palestine, according to The Guardian.

A spokesperson for the prosecutor confirmed Cayley had joined the court as "a principal trial lawyer" overseeing the unit of investigators responsible for the case on Palestine.

Cayley joined the ICC after being chosen by the court's chief prosecutor, Karim Khan, to lead the high-profile investigation.

The former prosecutor had worked at the ICC in the early 2000s and played a key role in the process that led to the ICC prosecutor's decision to abandon an investigation into allegations of war crimes by UK military personnel in Iraq in 2020.

The new appointment comes as Khan is moving to accelerate the ICC's investigation into war crimes perpetrated by Israel, which opened in 2021. He also provided additional resources after 7 October.

Khan faces considerable legal and operational hurdles with the investigation. Israel rejects the ICC's authority and its political leaders have shown open hostility toward the court.

In March 2021, the ICC's former chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, launched a probe into Israel's alleged war crimes in the occupied Palestinian territories of Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem dating back to 2014.

The Lebanese Press Syndicate is setting to take Israel to the International Criminal Court over the killing of media workers in its war on Gaza and Lebanon ⬇https://t.co/g3mAH4oQDh

— The New Arab (@The_NewArab) March 6, 2024

Six years later, the ICC accepted that the prosecutor had the jurisdiction to pursue a full criminal investigation. Khan replaced Bensouda after she completed her nine-year term.

The International Criminal Court is an intergovernmental organisation and international tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, that prosecutes individuals.

Al Jazeera reported that three Palestinian human rights groups based in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip have filed a lawsuit against Israel with the International Criminal Court (ICC), accusing it of "apartheid" and "genocide".