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Israel slams ICC for probing war crimes in 2010 Marmara raid

Xinhua, July 17, 2015 Adjust font size:

Israel slammed on Thursday the International Criminal Court (ICC)'s decision to reopen a probe into possible war crimes during the Israeli raid on the Gaza-bound Mavi Marmara flotilla in 2010.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the Israeli commandos involved in the raid acted "in self-defense in stopping an attempt to break a blockade established in accordance with international law."

Nine activists were killed in the clashes that followed the raid on the Mavi Marmara, which was part of the "Gaza Freedom Flotilla" convoy of humanitarian aid and construction materials to the Gaza Strip.

Most of the casualties were Turkish citizens with the Humanitarian Relief Foundation, a Turkish charity group, according to a UN report.

Netanyahu charged that "at a time when in Syria, Assad slaughters hundreds of thousands of his own people, when Iran sends hundreds to death, and Hamas in Gaza uses children as human shields, the court has chosen to deal with Israel for cynical political reasons."

Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely also lashed out at the ICC's decision, charging that "the International Court in The Hague has turned with this decision into a tool for Palestinian propaganda."

In a 2-1 majority, the ICC decided Thursday to accept an application from relatives of casualties of the attack to reconsider a former decision by ICC chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda not to investigate the attack.

The judges told Fatou Bensouda that she has not seriously considered the possibility that high number of casualties was a "systematic or resulted from a deliberate plan or policy to attack, kill or injure civilians."

They requested Bensouda to launch a full criminal investigation into the incident.

Following the Mavi Marmara flotilla incident, Turkey demoted the level of its diplomatic relations with Israel.

In 2013, U.S. President Barack Obama mediated for a phone call between Netanyahu and then Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, in which the Israeli leader apologized for the killing of the Turkish civilians during the Mavi Marmara incident. Endit