A thick column of smoke rises into the sky over Alma al-Shaab after Israeli bombardments, April 25, 2024. (Credit: AFP)
BEIRUT — Human Rights Watch (HRW) on Saturday praised Lebanon’s cabinet decision, issued on Friday, to instruct the Foreign Affairs Ministry to file a declaration with the International Criminal Court (ICC) registrar, accepting the "court’s jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute crimes within the court’s jurisdiction on Lebanese territory since Oct. 7, 2023."
Hezbollah and Israel have been engaged in daily exchanges of fire along the Israel-Lebanon border since Oct. 8, one day after the beginning of the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza.
On Friday, Lebanon's cabinet asked the Lebanese Foreign Ministry to file a declaration with the ICC accepting the court's jurisdiction to investigate and prosecute all Israeli crimes committed against journalists, paramedics and civil defense volunteers," according to Lebanon's state-run National News Agency.
"Filing a declaration would give the court’s prosecutor a mandate to investigate serious crimes committed in Lebanon, regardless of the nationality of the suspects," HRW said Saturday in reaction to the Lebanese cabinet's decision.
"Acceptance of the court’s jurisdiction through a declaration is distinct from ratifying the ICC’s founding treaty to become a formal member of the court," the organization added.
Lama Fakih, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch, said that "the Lebanese government has taken a landmark step toward securing justice for war crimes in the country."
"The Foreign Affairs minister should swiftly file a declaration accepting the International Criminal Court’s jurisdiction and create a pathway for victims of war crimes, including those committed by Israeli forces, to obtain justice," she added. "This is an important reminder to those who flout their obligations under the laws of war that they may find themselves in the dock.”
On Oct. 13, the Israeli army attacked an area where journalists were set up and reporting, killing Reuters journalist Issam Abdallah and severely injuring AFP journalist Christina Assi, among others.
A report, published by the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) last month, found that an Israeli tank crew killed Abdallah by firing two shells at a clearly identified group of journalists and then "likely" opened fire on them with a heavy machine gun in an attack that lasted 1 minute and 45 seconds.
The Lebanese government also decided on Friday to adopt the report issued by TNO on the killing of Abdallah "as an official document" to be used by the Foreign Affairs Ministry in upcoming complaints before international bodies and organizations.
HRW had previously stated that the killing of Abdallah was "apparently deliberate and thus a war crime."
In November, three children and their grandmother were killed by an Israeli drone strike that targeted their vehicle on the road between Aitaroun and Ain Ibl. HRW also described this attack as "an apparent war crime."
HRW has also exposed the "Israeli military’s use of white phosphorus in operations in Lebanon since Oct. 7."