ICC prosecutor sees 'no real effort' by Israel to probe alleged Gaza war crimes

ICC Prosecutor defends war crimes allegations against Israeli PM, despite U.S. sanctions, urging Israel to investigate allegations.

International Criminal Court Prosecutor Karim Khan has defended his decision to bring war crimes allegations against Israel's prime minister, saying Israel had made "no real effort" to investigate the allegations itself.

In an interview with Reuters, he stood by his decision over the arrest warrant despite a vote last week by the U.S. House of Representatives to sanction the ICC in protest, a move he described as "unwanted and unwelcome".

EDITORIAL | ​Moral stain: On Israel and the ICC arrest warrants

ICC judges issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, former Israeli defence chief Yoav Gallant and Hamas leader Ibrahim Al-Masri last November for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity during the Gaza conflict.

The Israeli prime minister's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Mr. Khan's remarks to Reuters.

Israel has rejected the jurisdiction of the Hague-based court and denies war crimes. The United States, Israel's main ally, is also not a member of the ICC and Washington has criticised the arrest warrants against Mr. Netanyahu and Mr. Gallant.

"We're here as a court of last resort and ...as we speak right now, we haven't seen any real effort by the State of Israel to take action that would meet the established jurisprudence, which is investigations regarding the same suspects for the same conduct," Mr. Khan told Reuters.