[JURIST] The President of Palestine, HE Mahmoud Abbas, and other Palestinian foreign officials met with the chief prosecutor [ICC press release] of the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] on Friday, where the Palestinian officials presented documents that purportedly contain evidence of war crimes by Israel. The ICC prosecutor’s office, led by Fatou Bensouda, opened an preliminary investigation [ICC report] into the matter on January 1. After the meeting, the Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki informed [Centre for Research on Globalization report] the press that the documents contain evidence of “extrajudicial killing, home demolition, [and] collective punishment” by Israeli troops. According to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the latest wave of violence [UN report] in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has led to “58 Palestinian deaths, and 2100 wounded and 11 Israeli deaths, with 127 wounded.”

The Israel-Palestine conflict [HRW backgrounder] has intensified in recent weeks and international human rights experts have encouraged immediate action. Two weeks ago, UN Special Rapporteur Makarim Wibisono expressed “serious concern” over the violence [JURIST report] in the region. In July Amnesty International [advocacy website] released a report [document; JURIST report] that points to evidence of war crimes committed by Israel in the August 2014 retaliation for the capture of an Israeli soldier by Hamas. In June Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki presented documents to the ICC [JURIST report] to assist in the investigation of alleged Israeli war crimes.