THE HAGUE (Dispatches) – Palestinian Foreign Minister Riyad al-Maliki on Tuesday submitted a request asking the International Criminal Court to investigate human rights violations linked to the Zionist regime’s settlement policies.
The application goes further than a 2015 request for prosecutors to examine alleged crimes in the region and could fast-track the process to a full investigation.
Al-Maliki also urged the ICC to conduct a thorough investigation into the Zionist regime’s atrocities following the latest massacre of dozens of Palestinians in the besieged Gaza Strip.
At least 65 Palestinians were killed by Zionist troops on May 14 as they protested the U.S. decision to relocate its embassy from Tel Aviv to occupied al-Quds.
More than 2,700 others were also wounded during the clashes near the Gaza fence on the eve of the 70th anniversary of Nakba Day (Day of Catastrophe), which coincided this year with the opening of the U.S. embassy in al-Quds.
The Palestinian Authority joined the ICC in January 2015.
The occupied territories have witnessed new tensions ever since U.S. President Donald Trump on December 6, 2017 announced Washington's recognition of al-Quds as the Zionist regime’s "capital” and said the U.S. would move its embassy to the city.
The dramatic decision triggered demonstrations in the occupied Palestinian territories as well as Iran, Turkey, Egypt, Jordan, Tunisia, Algeria, Iraq, Morocco and other Muslim countries.
Muslim leaders have called for an international force to be deployed to protect Palestinian people against the regime’s crimes.