Mexico, Chile refer Israel's Gaza invasion to ICC over potential war crimes

Mexico and Chile have expressed "growing worry" over "an escalation of violence" after several months of Israel's war on Gaza in a referral to the International Criminal Court (ICC) over possible war crimes.

In a statement, Mexico's Foreign ,inistry argued that the ICC was the proper forum to establish potential criminal responsibility, "whether committed by agents of the occupying power or the occupied power."

"The action by Mexico and Chile is due to growing worry over the latest escalation of violence, particularly against civilian targets," it said.

Israel is not a member of the Hague-based court and does not recognise its jurisdiction. But the ICC's prosecutor has stressed his court has jurisdiction over potential war crimes carried out by Hamas resistance fighters in Israel and by Israelis in besieged Gaza.

Mexico cited "numerous reports from the United Nations that detail many incidents that could constitute crimes under the ICC's jurisdiction."

Chile's Foreign Minister Alberto van Klaveren told reporters on Thursday in Santiago that his nation was "interested in supporting the investigation into any possible war crime" wherever they might occur.

Genocide case at ICJ

Mexico said it was closely following the case presented last week before the International Court of Justice [ICJ] in which South Africa accused Israel of carrying out genocide in Gaza and demanded that the court order an emergency suspension of Israel's military invasion.

Israel has rejected the accusation.

Both the ICJ and the ICC handle cases of alleged genocide, with the former resolving disputes between states and the latter prosecuting individuals for war crimes.

Karim Khan, the chief prosecutor for the ICC, said in December that investigating possible crimes by Hamas and Israel was "a priority."

Israel has devastated besieged Gaza since Hamas' unprecedented blitz on Israel that resulted in the death of about 1,140 people.

Hamas says its coordinated attack was in response to Israel's desecration of Al Aqsa Mosque in occupied East Jerusalem, Islam's third holiest site, and increased state-sanctioned Israeli settler violence across the occupied Palestinian territories.

Since then Israel has conducted an air and ground invasion that has killed more than 24,600 Palestinians — around 70 percent of them women, children and adolescents — and wounded 61,504 people.

According to the UN, 85 percent of the population of Gaza is already internally displaced amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine.