Israel has received a letter from the International Criminal Court (ICC) formally detailing the scope of its investigation into Israeli war crimes in the occupied Palestinian territories.
According to news reports the one-and-a-half page letter briefly laid out the three main areas it intends to cover: the 2014 Israeli war on the Gaza Strip; Israeli settlement policy; and the Israeli killing of participants in the 2018 Great March of Return protests on Gaza border.
ICC gave Israel 30 days to respond to its letter amid Israeli attempts to delay the probe until current ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda is replaced in June by British lawmaker Karim Khan whom the Israeli government hopes may yield to pressures and cancel the probe.
Recently a number of Israeli officials voiced concern that the ICC might have already started procedures to issue arrest warrants against former army officers soon.
Earlier this month Bensouda announced that ICC would initiate an investigation into claims of Israeli war crimes in the Palestinian territories.
